The 2018 movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a fun, visually-stunning, refreshingly-creative success that left some very large shoes to fill. Not only did this sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, need to impress us with amazing animation, but also needed to continue the meaningful, heartfelt, humorous story that was begun in the first film. I’m not sure if this sequel was always in the plan or if it was added to capitalize on the success of the first, but for my ticket price, I think it definitely delivered on all those expectations and more (“more” is giving us a bazillion Easter eggs that have been ruthlessly analyzed by so many YouTubers already). Following the tradition of movie trilogies, this second installment has amped-up everything that made the first movie great, giving us more of what we’ve loved so far.

Starting abruptly with a shift in perspective, we get an opening that features Gwen Stacy’s perspective, her universe. The artistically observant will notice that her universe has a different visual style, full of watercolour backgrounds that shift hues and tones with the mood of the protagonist. When we shift back to Miles Morales’s universe, some time has passed since the events of the first movie and Spider-Man has found some celebrity and success. Nevertheless, his normal, mundane life as a teenager is still as chaotic as ever. As he struggles to balance the obligations of his family life (e.g. a parent-teacher meeting about his grades, or a rooftop party celebrating his father’s promotion to police captain) with his secret life as a superhero (attempting to foil a new hapless super-villain named The Spot, who can create mini black-holes allowing him to trans-locate – i.e. move his hands, feet, whole body, or even objects to other locations), he misses the camaraderie and found-family of his fellow “spider-people” from the first film. In steps Spider-Gwen for a multiverse-hopping visit, giving Miles all he wished for and more (“more” is taking him to another universe which a bazillion spider-people from around the multiverse use as a base-camp for their true mission of correcting all the incursions of one universe/reality upon another).

With all the uses of the “multiverse” concept in recent movies and TV shows, you’d think that this movie might be one too many (I cannot believe we’re actually talking about “multiverse fatigue” – it’s a bit like a sci-fi nerd’s perfect storm), however, while the first movie brought spider-people from other universes into Miles’s universe, this time we get to hop from one universe to the next. One of the things that makes this movie so wonderful is the incredible way the visual style is put to good use. Taking advantage of medium, animators have used a different artistic style for each universe and it really adds a distinctive flavour to each. As mentioned, Gwen’s universe has a painterly, watercolour style. Spider-Punk (voiced by Daniel Kaluuya), has a loud, rebellious style that resembles the punk rock posters and fashion of the 70s. Indian Spider-Man (voiced by Karan Soni), his universe has an urban backdrop drawn using loose ink lines and brightly-coloured marker strokes to fill in the vibrant scenery. The wonderful variety of artistic styles associated with all the universes makes watching this movie a delight for the eyes and creative way to bring the multiverse concept to life. To top that off, the animation is also incredibly fluid and kinetic. I’ve never seen such action animation. Not only does Spider-Man fight and swing through the air, but the camera movements are also very dynamic; plus, multiply that by umpteen spider-people. Though occasionally it can get a bit dizzying, it’s still an extremely well-choreographed and thrilling visual feat.

Finally, while reintroducing us to a few of the characters from the first movie (namely Gwen and Peter B. Parker), this sequel brings a few new favourites into the picture. Spider-Punk’s nonchalant rebelliousness and laid-back cool makes him an easy fan fave and Spider-Man 2099 (voiced by Oscar Isaac), with his intensity, fighting skill, and apparent heroic leadership, becomes quite memorable. It’s also great how we keep getting backstories to really draw out the depth in these characters. We can understand why they are the way they are, and what drives them to their choices. Even amidst a nexus of thousands of spider-people, with tons of tongue-in-cheek cameos, we manage to pick out and care about quite a few main and secondary characters. Obviously Gwen, as the new co-protagonist (Is that a thing?), her story and the events in her life have a central role in this narrative, but the plot is very well-constructed and it’s enjoyable how the story plays out and gets us invested (not to mention the feeling of suspense and thrill when the plot twists kick in). The more I think about this movie, the more I love it, and I cannot wait until the trilogy is concluded. (5 out of 5)