स्पाइडर-मैन: अक्रॉस द स्पाइडर-वर्स

Let me just say that the first hour of this film had me hooked and I just knew this film surpass it's predecessor in terms of the story & entertainment. Around the 2 hour mark I started wondering when or if there would be a climax? Various scenes felt like they were dragging on for way too long. We really didn't need all the scenes of Peter B. Parker and his child. For me personally I felt like there was no build up or anticipation due to how long certain scenes played out. Then the film ended on a cliffhanger and then I understood, this film is a middle movie, a gateway between the first film and the next film and unfortunately it showed. They didn't have a definitive ending for this film which is fine but at some point the scenes just felt like filler. I believe it is still a movie worth seeing, however, it falls short of the first movie in terms of keeping my attention.

This film is a visual concert. The animation and character design neatly put me to tears. The opening of the film took an approach that shocked me, but it was fantastic to watch. Many of the jokes were in the trailers, but plenty caught me off guard in the cinema. Miguel even had a couple of funny moments. The presence of existing spider characters, such as snippets of the other films, did feel somewhat strange I have to admit. However, it is made up for in how incredible this film was. It was artistic, mature, adult, and profound. It leaves the viewer on a cliffhanger that shocked me. I thought I was an hour into the film, but it was the end. I implore everyone wondering if they should see this film to do so. Easily the best film I have seen in a long time and the best film to see in theaters. A true masterpiece.

I loved into the spiderverse, it had great animation, great characters, great plot development and great music. There is simply no way across the spiderverse is better. By the end of this it felt like they were dragging it out and I had lost interest quite some time previously. The animation is good but sometimes less is more, and there was less differentiation between the styles, I don't think bill sienkiewicz was involved in this one. I remember my emotions building in the first one, peaking when what's up danger kicked in in the soundtrack, but this got into some schlocky emotional teen drama territory that made me yawn. I also felt it was a bit cynical to split it in two, I'm sure the full story could have been told in one movie which would have upped the quality of the animation too. Then there was the sense of universal danger overload that this and other stories revert to to ramp up the drama; whether a universe or every parallel universe and it's uncle is at stake, who cares, trying to make it bigger than before doesn't increase drama, that comes from character and plot development, yeah, like it did in the first one. It needed more jokes too, nowhere near as funny as the last time.

I am absolutely lost for words. How the hell did they top the first one??? This is easily, without a shadow of a doubt, the film of the year. It perfectly balances humour and emotional beats on a razor thin blade. It's richly layered, complex and the attention to detail is absolutely incredible. The story is phenomenal, the characters are believable and have excellent levels of depth, the soundtrack is fantastic. My expectations were completely exceeded, I spent the entire 2h 30m runtime in awe. But one thing above all deserves very special praise :

THE ARTWORK.

This films aesthetic is jaw-dropping, I found myself plunged (for the second time now) straight into the pages of a comic book from my youth. The use of colour is remarkable, the animation is smoother than silk, the textures, the backgrounds, the lighting, the style itself - everything blends together perfectly to create one of the most visually stunning things ever committed to the screen. Almost any shot could be a painting, with inextricable layers upon layers of marvellous detail, hand-crafted by some extremely talented individuals. This is cinema.

If this doesn't win the Oscar for best animated feature I'm rioting, and you'd better join me. GO AND SEE THIS FILM RIGHT NOW.

If it wasn't already obvious in the first film, it's now officially clear as day that the people behind the Spider-Verse franchise (including writers/producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are absolute creative godsends to the once magnificent place known as Hollywood) understand EXACTLY what they're working with.

Don't let the marketing fool you: this film has GUTS. It's easily one of the heaviest PG-rated films I've ever seen. Payoffs and character revelations that were only hinted at in the first film are carefully, deliberately unraveled and come around beautifully. It made me think about my own life and what I mean to the people I care about in ways I never expected. The fan-service is BATTY too, and yet somehow it's never too much.

I wish every movie was as good as this---but then again if the world was like that this wouldn't feel as special. So I'll just stick to being IMMENSELY grateful that it exists in this universe.

This is no ordinary sequel. It's art of the highest form.