Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of June 5, 2023
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Rated PG for some language, animated action violence and thematic elements
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
In Theaters
This sequel to the hit Oscar-winning animated pic Into the Spider-Verse continues the adventures of Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy as they continue to interact with other universes containing alternate spider-heroes with their own stories and own worlds. In this case, Gwen joins a band of narrative-correcting web-slingers that can move between parallel universes to accomplish their mission, but when Miles sneaks into the world he wasn’t permitted to enter, there is a great fear that he could destroy the canon from which all the heroes must abide by in their story-lines. When the first film of this particular franchise came out, I was incredibly skeptical since we already had the original Spider-man, the Amazing Spider-man and the new MCU Spider-man. I was worried that the field was getting too crowded and it would be hard to accept another new hero into the fold. Also, MCU was starting to wear the whole multi-verse thing out. But the film very quickly earned its keep with a fun-filled adventure told with great screenwriting and animation unlike anything we have ever seen before. Thankfully, this new chapter goes even deeper, with rich story-telling that is only heightened by its spectacular visuals. To make the experience even more intense, the film is packed with a multitude of creative new types of Spider-men (and Spider-animals) that add to the fun and enrich the journey. In a film that is basically about breaking the rules, the filmmakers seem to be also breaking those rules with screenwriting and visuals that bust through the norms, giving us more of what we are craving from this franchise. By the end, we end up thrilled and out of breath and a little bit frustrated that we have to wait until March of next year to finish the adventure with Beyond the Spider-verse. A