By Tyler Gibson

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse marks the ninth theatrical feature film based on your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (excluding his three relatively brief appearances as ensemble chess pieces in the MCU). What began in near humble earnestness in 2002 has now morphed into cosmic and maximalist experiments in animation and franchise world-building that bridge and practically atone any sins of its predecessors. This is a fact the new film produced by Chris Lord and Phil Miller of 21 Jump Street fame reconciles with– how can you offer a new, fresh installment of an IP without losing track of what made the property connect.

Into the Spider-Verse was released in 2018 to unanimous praise due to its vibrant and bombastic animation style- rendering scenes as propulsive colorful comic book panels- and the heartfelt commentary on identity. That film presupposes the idea that anyone can be Spider-Man. Across the Spider-Verse follows that notion but recognizes that anyone can be Spider-Man. Therefore they must suffer the exact expectations. The character has endured due to his devotion to simple morality following the death of his uncle. The definition of grief has become canonized within pop culture, especially in superhero tales. The stories we consume are baked in the mythos of regret. Spider-Man’s humanism has endured us for decades, but why do we eagerly consume media and relate to heroism through this prism of fatalism and burden? The film visualizes this dilemma in emotionally bleeding watercolor segments blanketed by tensely escalating techno bops on the soundtrack. A harrowing reconnection between Gwen Stacy’s Spider-Woman (voiced once again with aplomb by Hailee Steinfeld) and her police captain father renders the background limitless, with dark shades heightening the uncertain emotionality of the impressionistic moment. These simple grace notes capture the atmosphere Stan Lee intended with his creation of Peter Parker more efficiently than any on-screen depiction since the beautiful and sincere Raimi films.

However, despite the aforementioned energetic animation and the script’s awareness of the complacency created and dictated by narrative conventions on storytelling, this remains overall trite. The laboriously ongoing exposition is explicated in classically dramatic broad strokes, and the third act (which is really only the second act in this overarching saga) struggles to culminate with a satisfying conclusion. After over two joyfully breathless hours crowded with the delightfully irreverent humor Lord/Miller make to appear so effortless (you would need to pause every immaculately populated frame to catch all the easter eggs), we end on an incomplete note robbed of resonance, only to egregiously remind us of the commercial aspirations of its sequel. It’s a disappointing conclusion to a film prided by its creativity and acute observations of its subjects. As much of a lovely and thrilling blockbuster Across the Spider-Verse is, it’s still only a “Part One.” [B+]