The New and “Improved” Spider-Verse

“Let’s do things differently this time.  So differently,” Gwen Stacy preambles before plunging the audience into a slog of teenage-spider-woe.  Whether the words were an intentionally prefaced film  theme or just a spinoff of the opening lines of the first movie, Sony’s recent production of Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse does elicit a distinctly different taste than the first Spider-Verse installment.  Sometimes films strain too much to grasp the latest sensations and nuances on screen.  In the animated Spiderman sequel, an overzealous visual presentation, loss of lighthearted mood, and skewed character design detracts from the overall cinematic experience. 

Artistically, the initial Spider-Verse story is enthralling; even second and third watch-throughs produce a vivid visceral encounter through its realistic animation style accented with a combination of visible comic book onomatopoeia and textural flare.  In an attempt to continue on with the style while simultaneously creating a contemporary improvement, the latest Spiderman sequel blew the visual effects out of proportion.  From the opening sequence in Gwen’s color-warped dimension, the ocular disarray in the Indian adjunct of Manhattan,“Mumbattan,” to the constant flickering appearance of the characters in dimensionally-warped lighting, Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse has a generally overstimulating debut.  The special effects of the first movie become a consistent factor in the animation of the second, like a seasoning served straight instead of sprinkled as a garnish.  

Similarly, in many places the plot speed of the film reaches extraordinary levels.  Many of the action scenes such as those in Mumbattan and the Spiderman-central dimension, “Never-York,” had the appearance of sequences spliced from an absurdly complex video game.  Set at an extreme momentum, much of the movie, with its constant jumble of supposedly “witty” teenage banter, disorients with an overload of information and little pause for absorption.  While the explicit art style and action create some fun, poignant moments, the sequel to Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse has a comparatively excessive visual component.

Aside from the optical elements, Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse projects an entirely different mood than the first.  Instead of the overarching lighthearted feeling of Miles’s coming of age—or rather, power—seen in the opening film, it elicits an aroma of teenage insecurity and angst.  Gwen’s beginning montage jumpstarts the movie with melancholy themes of social isolation, grief, and accusations of murder.  The projection of stereotyped teenage moods continues with the relational rollercoaster between the pubescent couple, Miles and Gwen.  Also, the movie depicts a sense of longing for independence, explicitly demonstrated in the scene where Miles, guised as Spiderman, suggests to his father that he should let him “spread his wings” and go out into the world.  With an expedition of heavier content and the common teenage struggles of relational conflict combined with a seeming “lack” of freedom, the film portrays a mood resembling that of adolescent inner turmoil.

Finally, the second Spiderman animation introduces incongruent and obnoxious character designs.  Peter B. Parker, the comically unglamorous alternate Peter, was never perfect.  As introduced in the first film, his character revolves around quirks: from satirical comments on the Spiderman trope, narcissism as a tutor, and marriage issues to his stereotyped forty-year-old body type.  Still, he retains a serious air in the pivotal moments, serving as a source—although flawed—of wisdom for Miles.  The Spider-Verse sequel strips Peter of his admirable qualities from his first appearance and onwards.  Dressed in an effeminate pink bathrobe over his suit, Peter lopes on-screen with his toddler daughter, playing the role of a blindly obsessed father.  Rather than a growth in maturity with the additional responsibility as a father, his character regresses in intelligence as he conducts himself with a homely, flamboyant ambience.  Even the wit and satirical edge of Peter’s humor is dumbed down to a mockingly mindless level.  With Sony’s cringe-worthy commentary of the appearance and effects of fatherhood, the film creates a character with a personality not only altered, but skewed distastefully, when compared to his temperament in the first Spider-Verse feature.  

 As an overall story, Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse does not wholly fail and still presents the iconic gripping moments of a comic-inspired action film; it remains, however, inferior in many of its cinematic and thematic attempts.  Many of the detracting differences in the Spider-Verse sequel pertain to Sony’s narrower target audience compared to the broad resignation of the first movie.  Through the overstimulation of flashy visual animation and a high plot pace, the movie overtly strives to retain the attention of people comfortable with the quick satisfaction of thirty second reels and YouTube shorts.  By taking into account the age of the protagonists, the themes of pubescent insecurity, and—let’s face it—the dumbed down perception of a father, the target audience becomes clear:  Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse was largely made for and enjoyed by teenagers.

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