Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a (Flawed) Masterpiece

Captain Midnight [Applause] this video is brought to you by brilliant alright so there's one thing that I feel like has to be acknowledged right off the top with across the spider verse before I address anything else this movie looks incredible honestly I wish I had the animation know how to be able to speak to this in far more detail but come on I have never seen the mainstream animated movie look like this into the spider-verse felt like a breath of fresh air and animation and its influence can already be seen in things like the upcoming Ninja Turtles movie but across the spider-verse makes that film look like it was playing it safe in comparison I'll probably keep touching on aspects of that throughout the video but I do think it's this film's most notable and striking achievement but of course that doesn't mean I don't have plenty to say about the script and the characters and I can't wait to get into it all here oh and sorry if my audio sounds weird I'm in a hotel traveling right now and honestly thought about taking this week off but just could not resist talking some Spider-Man if you like this video be sure to like And subscribe and you know what let's just get into it nice claws you ever hang out with my friend Wolverine you won't take me again so I have to say as much as I loved into the spider-verse there was something about the marketing of this movie that had me a little worried the fact that so much of it seemed to revolve around a very Rick and morty-like Council of Spider-Man the spider-verse concept is honestly something that I've kind of become more and more down on in recent years as it feels like so many Spider-Man stories are going to that well again and again and when you do that I feel like you really run the risk of everything beginning to feel completely meaningless what's the emotional impact of a character's death when there's hundreds of versions of that character running around with a dozen slightly tweaked characteristics honestly I still think some of those worries are very valid and it's an issue I have with a lot of recent Spidey stuff but if anything makes a compelling case for the concept as a whole it's the spider-verse movies not only is nearly every new universe we see a creative and exciting visual treat but they also do a fantastic job of keeping everything very focused on on the emotional Stakes for Peter Gwen and of course Miles Morales it's a balancing act that I suspect is much more difficult to pull off than the film makes it look because this concept could easily dip into embarrassing Space Jam a new Legacy territory if not handled well with a focus on Miles internal conflict always centered in the narrative and I think doing well by Miles and Gwen and to a lesser extent the older Peter is where the movie really shines narratively probably more than any other comic book Legacy character of the past 20 years or so Miles Morales has really come into his own as Spider-Man he shares many of the traits that made Spider-Man so notable when Peter Parker was created he's a nervous often anxiety-filled character who struggles to balance his superhero responsibilities with those to his friends and family that's the core of what Spider-Man is and it only makes sense that they'd share that but these movies along with some other mile stories have done a great job of making him feel true really distinct from Peter as well two of the biggest parts of that are his very different family Dynamics and the fact that he has to contend with living up to the legacy of Spider-Man something that was already established when he stepped into the role across the spiderverse does a great job at honing in on both of those things and Mining them for a lot of fantastic moments for Miles I gotta say many of my favorite moments in this one were just getting the chance to see this version of Miles do normal Spider-Man stuff before the Multiverse plot really kicks into high gear I loved his initial battle with the spot which is just classic Spider-Man stuff executed really well honestly at some point I'd love to see a mild Centric Spider-Man movie that doesn't have to Center the Multiverse stuff because every taste of it we get here is a lot of fun I thought the way the movie used the spot was really clever all around in my video about the Spider-Man 2 game I suggested using kind of a forgotten older Spidey bad guy like Willow the Wisp and repurposing him as a major your villain for miles and while the spot has never been quite as obscure as that character what they pull off with him here is kind of the ideal version of that kind of reinvention now this movie wasn't the first time the spot's Powers have been used well I think he had a few underrated comic book appearances and a pretty cool episode of the 1994 animated show but this is the first time that he's had an origin story that really lays the groundwork for him being a really substantial villain the spot's design and Powers have always felt very very goofy and his first scene with Miles completely leans into that acknowledging how hard it is to take this character seriously and making it seem like he's only going to be there for some early movie punch lines with his insistence that he's Spider-Man's Nemesis coming off is pretty laughable I thought it was great the way the film was able to completely flip the script and have miles unironically call him that near the end while having it feel completely earned and I can't wait to see what the next movie ends up doing with them but alright I'm avoiding talking about the elephant in the room here Miguel O'Hara and the giant collection of Spider-Man and women in the movie I've gone back and forth about how I feel about the second act of this film over and over again which is tough for me honestly I think a lot of the time it seems like YouTube really only wants clear and definitive statements this movie slash scene slash character is the best or worst thing ever no in between when really my thoughts on this section of the film may take a little more unpacking than that I think first and foremost this was a great story concept for Miles I especially like this idea that Miguel takes issue with him because he was never supposed to be his universe's Spider-Man it was a smart way to create a conflict that flows completely naturally from the events of the previous movie and it sets up the kind of high concept emotionally charged sci-fi conundrum that comic book storytelling has done so well through the years miles could save his father and risk the destruction of his entire universe or callously let his father die in order to save everyone else now this kind of thing is pretty well-worn territory but I think it is a really compelling problem and I think superhero stories often work best when they're hitting that perfect balance between the highly personal and the big and bombastic of course the sticking point that a lot of fans have and I think it's completely understandable one is that this requires hundreds of spider people to try to force miles into letting his dad die including in a real twist to the knife for nerds like me the Peter from spectacular Spider-Man I know I'm hardly the first person to bring this up but for a lot of Spider-Man fans that's a pretty tough pill to swallow as it requires so many versions of the character to basically be disposable foot soldiers for Spider-Man 2099 I can buy many of them thinking that the sacrifice is worth it for the greater good but I have a harder time believing that they wouldn't at least try to actively help miles figure out a way to pull off achieving both things and though there are plenty of ways to rationalize this at the end of the day it just didn't sit right with me it doesn't feel like something that nearly every single version of Peter Parker would fall in line and do and honestly the whole concept here I kind of bristled against early Spider-Man was partially defined by how poorly he works on teams having really big falling outs with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers unable to really Embrace being a member of a group like that but now there is basically an interdimensional Spider-Man task force that only a few of them like spider Punk take issue with and the movie having Miguel be obsessed with maintaining the timeline that he specifically calls the Canon seems handcrafted to critique the exact kind of canonical nitpicking that I'm doing right now which hey is a pretty clever move but overall I don't think it's a massive deal breaker for me at the end of the day these are movies about miles and Gwen and they do a very good job at that I can except this corner of the Spider-Man universe bending characterizations a bit to suit those stories but I hope every Spidey just being a cog in the machine for some large spider Force doesn't become the default for how this character is used on a more positive note I did really like Oscar Isaac's Spider-Man 2099 sure this characterization doesn't fit the Miguel of the comics pretty much at all but I think his traumatic backstory here explains that a way just fine visually he looks incredible I love this version of his costume and his ferocious climbing and fighting style which provides a perfect visual contrast for Gwen and Miles Nimble and graceful web slinging and though I take issue with all the other Spider-Man falling in line his motivations here are really well defined you can see how he arrived at this point where he's obsessed with maintaining this timeline and it's hard to blame the guy for being so intense about wanting to save the lives of billions even at Miles expense Peter B Parker does kind of get a reduced roll this time around but it was nice to check in with him and Mayday and see a Peter that at least for now has kind of found a happy ending of sorts my guess is his role as miles Mentor will only be more important next time around now Gwen's story is a very simple one with her leaving home and avoiding confronting her dad's discovery on paper it's all very straightforward stuff but what really puts it over the top is just how great Gwen's Universe looks and how it conveys the feelings of its characters and as a comic fan I loved how it took super direct inspiration from stuff like Robbie Rodriguez's gorgeous 2015 spider-gwin number one cover honestly the way this movie used the comics's inspiration was super refreshing the MCU also remixes comic book elements but always from kind of a remove across the spider-verse wears these Inspirations on its sleeve celebrating these stories in a very direct unmissable way and I hope it does Drive some to more people to finally check out the source material oh and as far as Gwen goes I think her relationship with Jessica Drew was really interesting and something I didn't see coming I'm hoping that's expanded on a lot in the next movie now the Cliffhanger is something that I see a lot of people up in arms about and I get it but it didn't bother me much for one thing I knew it was coming I remember when this movie was originally announced with a part one in its name so it wasn't exactly shocking and it feels in line with the comic book Arc storytelling that the movie plays into with its numbered covers plus the Cliffhanger itself I think is just really exciting alternate Prowler miles is cool and all but I'm just happy to see more of Aaron I loved how he was handled in that first movie and the fact that he's apparently gonna play a big role in the final movie is potentially very exciting he's a great character serving as both miles Uncle Ben that family member he couldn't save but also a really tragic villain in his own right overall I mean across the spider-verse was a pretty incredible watch I don't think it quite reaches the height of the first film as a story but visually it surpasses it and really throws Down The Gauntlet for nearly every other superhero Blockbuster to step up their game in that department it's a tired old cliche to call one of these movies a love letter to comic books but I don't think that's ever been more true than it is here so much of what I love about the medium of comics was up there on the big screen and though I may have bristled at a couple storytelling choices it was the best time I've had in a movie theater in a decently long time now a lot is rioting on the conclusion of this story next year but as it is now across the spider-verse can proudly stand as one of the most inventive and exciting Blockbusters in years So I'm Never Gonna fully grasp the concept of how exactly the Multiverse works but at least I stand a better chance at real math thanks to brilliant seriously brilliant does a great job of meeting you where you are when it comes to stem topics and letting you tackle them in bite-sized and highly interactive ways the one I always return to is math fundamentals which hones my skills at the exact kind of math problems that used to 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Channel: captainmidnight

Views: 355,605

Keywords: Spider-Verse, Spiderman, Miles Morales, miguel o'hara, Peter Parker, review, reaction, Captain Midnight, captainmidnight, ending, across the spider verse, trailer

Id: YPdP4XzxriQ

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 10 2023