SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

Miles Morales follows up his hit 2018 debut with a story that's being played out across all comic film storylines nowadays (DR. STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, this film, and right on it's heels just 2 short weeks away, THE FLASH). The premise is simple enough, Spider-man exists across other dimensions but when Miles attempts to save someone who is meant to die, he puts all other universes in peril. The animation is still top notch and at times it looks like a living, breathing, comic book. New Spider-men are, at times, exhaustively introduced (whereas the first film only had 5 others to keep up with). And while many of them are only cameo's who serve as Easter eggs for the diehards, or have a one-liner, it became a little much. In addition, the story at times starts and stops too much, like a teenager getting behind the wheel of a car for the first time, too heavy on the gas immediately followed up with too heavy on the brake. The story leaves with a cliffhanger, nicely setting up SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE to be released in March 2024. Despite these flaws, this is still a film worth checking out, especially if you enjoyed the previous installment. I just preferred that to this sequel. 6.5/10