Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one of the most beautiful looking films I’ve ever seen in my whole life (surprisingly besting the visuals from the impressive first entry!); take almost any shot from the film and you could frame it and hang it on your wall as art — and it’s all elevated by a killer ahead-of-it’s-time hip-hop pop/rock soundtrack / epic score!

The 2 hour and 20 minute film breezes through its captivating opening, spending an episodic amount of time with both protagonists Gwen and Miles separately, that further develops / fleshes out their characters so well that by the time we get to the two heroes uniting, you understand their motives and are able to relate to the bold actions each take. The middle of the film begins shifting what seemed to be the main conflict and unfortunately disrupted the pacing and flow the film was flawlessly revealing— however, it rapidly goes in an intriguing enough direction that I was thrilled to see where we would end up and the ultimate destination / astonishing cliffhanger will have you anxiously awaiting the 2024 Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse entry!

The screenplay is enjoyably exhausting (like when you finish a good workout- in this case, a mental workout); it expertly feeds you an abundance of information at an unreal whirlwind pace (and as admirable as the craft was, there’s times I wanted the film to slow down as to digest all of it). Nonetheless, the fast structure proves to work as a whole and there’s an ample amount to cherish. The villain, The Spot, was uniquely memorable and proved to be a true threat. 

Note: You do not need to see the first film in order to watch this one, as a recap is provided (although I would recommend doing so due to the sheer fact that it’s a great film and you’ll inevitably feel closer to these characters!)