LIKES:
The Pace For The Most Part
-Comic book movies are an art that requires balance to tell all it has to tell, and Miles' next story.. has A LOT to tell.
-It found a good pace for me to tell the story, giving you the character development, but not at a pace that was too slow and lost on itself, for the most part.
-Yet, the movie did manage to keep it slow enough that there was real development, build up, hints, and appreciation to age like fine wine.
-This dynamic was very impressive to me, keeping an engaging movie for my attention, but not skimping out on the action like some of these deeper movies try to do.
-That takes talent in the cooking pot as big as this, building on the past movie, but yet doing its own thing until the end for the setup.
The Voice Acting
-Everyone rocks in this movie, and I have to agree with my friend that it is grade A on many levels with what you get in live action movies.
-Isaac is still strong as the anti-hero role that he often plays. His moodiness, his anger, his dark edge are mirrored in the character. There is hurt, anguish, and the fire that he shows so well, and I love how his voice is the main focus in his performance and not the looks.
-Hailee Steinfeld is fantastic in Gwen. It's like taking all of her characters from her movie and integrating a piece of them into this Gwen and expanding her far into a character I really liked.
-She was vulnerable and strong, a realistic character whose performance came out in spades and fully awakened the character I think they were going for.
-And Moore... well Moore is just freaking amazing as Morales. That tone, vulnerability, this maturity but still immaturity cascading and once more evolving a character from the first one being believable. A stellar performance and one that I think brought so many things together, engaging with each of the others into this dynamic role.
-It all works so well and I loved the strong talent bringing things to life.
The Storytelling
-There are so many who say that comic movies seldom tell a good story or are telling the same story over and over again. And to a degree... they are right.
-Yet... for Across the Spider-Verse, that story feels fresh, engaging, and grounded to a degree that helps balance reality and super heroism into a great mashup.
-It's not so in your face super adventures that are all about action, violence, and CGI madness, but it also isn't CW bologna about exploring our feelings in colorful underwear.
-This sequel really focuses so much on building up characters, but integrating it into this main comic adventure that works to keep both involved and feel like a superhero.
-I love the heart into it, and the way they built up from the first movie, but yet made this movie its own thing, until the final moments where the known cliffhanger was going to come in.
-And to add relative components to it, engaging characters, and keeping those characters involved in the story... that is tough work.
The Comedy To A degree
-I really enjoyed the diverse comedy in this movie, and how many types of jokes and styles that were in it.
-Miles is sort of a jack of all trades, sarcasm, banter, slapstick, he has a little bit of everything in it and I love it.
-Others are just rambling idiots who are throwing so many jokes and statements that some eventually hit, but you have to listen because they fluctuate in terms of volume and such.
-And other jokes are so well-timed and loaded with sarcasm that you just appreciate the laugh from the time alone.
-It has it all and in relative balance to keep things fresh and not overwhelmingly stale as they hope from one joke to the other.
The Nostalgia and Easter Eggs
-Part of that comedy comes in the references loaded into this movie almost as much as the plot in this movie, and it works.
-Across the Spider-Verse, tackles many famous tropes in both Spiderman comics and movies, blending the two of them together into this natural flowing arc that utilizes it well.
-Nostalgia reigns supreme in this movie, all the comic and show references of the webbed wonder just taking my child nature and taking it for the roller coaster ride of finding everything I could.
-But the movie references as well... so much fun as well, seeing these micro moments and nods to the other universes and watching them blended into the comedy and story.
-Then to have it just in the world, it's going to make for a fun rewatch potential in the future.
The Action Scenes
-A huge step up, Across the Spider-Verse took my dislike from the first film and unleashed much more of the action I knew it had.
-The opening scene paints for some great things to come, but soon the fight scenes and adventure transform into something that is fun, exciting, and family friendly.
-Chase scenes have energy, with styles that flow and show off the heart of the animation, feels of the comic book and fan art coming together into this cascade of color and energy.
-I loved the way that they evolved past punches and added more emotions and stakes that though predictable still held glimmer of exciting twists if they come.
-And the fact they can punch, kick, and slam without being bloody messes should please so many, alongside the fact that the action all goes in line with the actual plot.
The Animation/Art Style
-You've seen the trailers and the first one and know how beautiful the movie is. Amidst the blurry backgrounds, the movie really has bold art direction that captures comic book spirit.
-The computer animation goes well with the natural feel of the art, and I loved the way it felt like flipping through a flip book and seeing it come to life.
-It respects both worlds so well, and like the story keeps things easy to follow and discover to appreciate everything the Spider-Verse had to offer. That was epic.
-And to keep all that in relatively stable camera work, something the first movie struggled with, shows how you can really continue to improve if you take the time and think things through.
DISLIKES:
The Comedy A Bit Too Forced
-There are times where the humor is a bit forced for me, primarily in the moments where they just spout joke after joke after joke to the point where things get lost.
-These moments are few and far between for me, but there are times where a character gets annoying over funny.
Some Pacing Offsets
-There are times where the movie trips up on the pace for me. A few moments where the conversations are dragged out or we get a tad touchy feeling and not enough of seeing what's going on.
-This happened about the first hour or so for me, but once that part passes most of the movie establishes the pace I talked about for much of the movie.
-At least until the need.
The Ending 20 minutes for me
-The ending 20 minutes felt very dragged out as it set up the cliffhanger we knew was coming the moment it said part 1 long ago.
-The ending is very drawn out, you know the movie is over, and you know what is coming, but it uses the art to drag it out, bloating the movie for the twenty minutes that could have been in the next movie.
-Fortunately one of the final moments adds that fantastic bridge with music, shots, and feels that work, but still... we could have cut a few things out.
-And fortunately there are no end credits, which there does not need to be.
The Sound Quality With Some Characters
-It might have been my theater, but some of the characters mumble and talk fast meaning... it's hard to hear them.
-Spider-Punk has some of the best lines, but they get drowned out by background noise, mumbling speakers, and sound inconsistencies.
-This leads to missing several things and taking away from the character that seems so cool, and this happens to several other characters when there is so much noise. As such, those moments are annoying to me, but again could be theater dependents.
The VERDICT:
Overall, the praise is worthy to Across the Spider-Verse, and I was very happy with much of the film that they brought to life to this theater. It's a sequel that does things right, taking the first movie's foundations and bringing with it something to build up and enjoy to the full extent. That bold and beautiful art has been refined to near perfection, and does so much storytelling alone that it's almost enough to go see it just for that in theater. But the movie integrates story, morals, comedy, nostalgia, and action to a degree that really feels like some of the strongest storytelling in a superhero movie. I love the authentic feel of a superhero story, and I love the passion of balancing so much in a movie without every losing track of the story to tell. Sure there were pacing issues and some sound flops for me, but that's really minor when it comes to the movie overall and everything they did to make this movie the middle of the trilogy, but still stand on its own. You can obviously guess I'm recommending this for the theater, and yes families can see it as there aren't too much dark moments. And my scores for those who need it are:
Animation/Action/Adventure: 9.0-9.5
Movie Overall: 8.5.
