By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
There is so much going on in
"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." That may explain why the computer-animated superhero movie has three directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, TV's "Voltron: Legendary Defender," Kemp Power, "One Night in Miami" and "Soul" and Justin K. Thompson, "The Angry Birds Movie"). At 140 minutes long, it's almost too much of a good thing.
"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is the sequel to the Oscar winning "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." While it is action-packed and a striking and vibrantly animated movie, it may in fact test your patience.
I was surprised to see a few kids roaming down the aisles during a Thursday evening preview screening. To be fair, there were a number of teens and adults sporting their "Spider-Man" gear, locked in, and thoroughly enjoying the movie.
In “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Miles Morales (the terrific Shameik Moore, "Wu Tang: An American Saga") is back as the loveable web-slinger, Spider-Man. He's a distracted high school senior living in Brooklyn, New York with his police officer father Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry, ("Causeway" and TV's "Atlanta") and his easy going mother Rio Morales (Luna Lauren Velez, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts") who is a nurse. Miles has them worried because he's not being responsible in school. Consequently, he's always grounded.
Miles is surprised when his close friend Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld, TV's "Dickinson"), drops by. She was the last person to see Peter Parker, (Jake Johnson, "Self-Reliance") before his horrible death. Gwen and her father George (Shea Whigham, TV's "Perry Mason") haven't always agreed completely on things. He is also unaware that she is Spider-Gwen, but that is slowly revealed.
Gwen is part of an interdimensional "Spider-Team" that's led by Miguel O' Hara (Oscar Isaac, TV's "Moon Knight"). Miles wants to be part of that universe.
In the Spider-Verse, these various Spider iterations are time jumpers and can appear in other universes, providing they have the power to do so, or are sent there by someone else.
One of the film's villains is a character known as Dr. Jonathan Ohnn /"The Spot" (Jason Schwartzman, "Astroid City"). He's a part of Mile's past. Miles is soon encountering all sorts of multiverse mayhem. Another evildoer is Adrian Toomes/aka The Vulture (Jorma Taccone, TV's “MacGruber").
There are several other characters too like Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae, TV's "A Black Lady Sketch Show"), a pregnant, motorcycle riding Spider-Society member. There's also Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Karan Soni, TV's "Miracle Workers"). His claim to fame is that his superpowers were obtained through magic rather than a spider bite. Hobart “Hobie Brown,” aka, Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya, "Nope"), is a feisty chap and Margo Kess/Spider-Byte (Amandla Stenberg, "My Animal"), is a computer expert. Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider (Andy Samberg, "Self-Reliance") looks a lot like Peter Parker. Even Donald Glover (TV's "Atlanta") turns up in the mix.
Visually, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" dazzles. In fact, the animation is beautifully rendered. At times, the characters appear like portrait drawings or in sketch form.
That said, there are just so many moving parts, that it often becomes a chore to keep it all in check.
Here's to hoping the third "Spider-Verse" will be much slimmer and trimmer.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Look At This Trailer For
"SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
