Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) | October 2022

[chrisstbh]

Hmm, not sure what to think about this one. I really liked the quieter character moments and fun cameos, but the action I just found really exhausting and overly frenetic this time around (especially everything to do with the main villain's powers). And the new team of Spider-people just wasn't nearly as fun as in the first movie. Not to mention the fact the multiverse idea feels pretty played out by this point.

Is that a fault of the movie though? Spider-Verse was really the first Superhero thing to do it and now everything else (MCU/DCEU) has jumped on the bandwagon and not done it nearly well or made it anywhere near as interesting.

 

[davejames]

Is that a fault of the movie though? Spider-Verse was really the first Superhero thing to do it and now everything else (MCU/DCEU) has jumped on the bandwagon and not done it nearly well or made it anywhere near as interesting.

Whether it's the movie's fault or no, it's still a problem that exists now and can't be easily ignored.

 

[Rotfish]

I knew people would start dissing Peter when this movie came out

I don't understand why.

Spoiler:

In the first movie, Peter B. Parker was an admittedly lovable loser with commitment issues who redeemed himself by mentoring Miles. He then made up with MJ and raised a baby he adores. The dude won. His being high on life and love shouldn't be seen as weak or emasculating (like The Critical Dingus believes).

 

[Wor-Gar]

He has a baby Grogu now.

 

[Zurdo95D]

 

[Wor-Gar]

Is there a Spider-Punisher now?

Where's Spider-Mando?

 

[Dave_W]

This is almost a 'figures HT will never do' post. There's only 1 out of 5 heads anyway.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Harrison and Oscar... never again.

 

[ironwez20]

I don't understand why.

Spoiler:

In the first movie, Peter B. Parker was an admittedly lovable loser with commitment issues who redeemed himself by mentoring Miles. He then made up with MJ and raised a baby he adores. The dude won. His being high on life and love shouldn't be seen as weak or emasculating (like The Critical Dingus believes).

That drinker guy just likes to whine. If alien came out today he’d whine about that too. Peter needs to grow and settle down . All this poor me and poor Parker luck is annoying. Part of the Spider-Man charm is even if he fails he gets back up and gets a win . He grows as a character from a boy to a man.
Him having a family is what the character needs. Not being stuck as a 20 something struggling depressed kid

 

[Dave_W]

Wait, so the guy who complains about 'the message' is now complaining about Spider-Man having traditional family values and taking care of his family?

 

[karamazov80]

Hmm, not sure what to think about this one. I really liked the quieter character moments and fun cameos, but the action I just found really exhausting and overly frenetic this time around (especially everything to do with the main villain's powers). And the new team of Spider-people just wasn't nearly as fun as in the first movie. Not to mention the fact the multiverse idea feels pretty played out by this point.

I was struck by the juxtapositions in the movie between EXTREME action and then low key drama. Most of the movie consisted of extended dramatic conversations, particularly as the last act progressed. Seemed more common here than in most live action comic movies.

Having said that, I thought the movie was quite good. Tremendous character development across the board, and a good exploration of parental relations with teens. Hard not to be a big fan of Gwen and Miles after seeing this one. However, the main point of conflict in the story--whether it is acceptable to risk all of existence to save one person's life, and ultimately, whether or not the structure of reality is set or can change--wasn't played out in a way that was very satisfying for me. They didn't do a great job of explaining the rules (how do they know how to potentially stop reality from disintegrating following a "canon" event? How do they know as much as they do about the multiverse in general?). Then, the characters who ended up on Team Miles were just those that liked the guy, which didn't feel too organic.

My kids came away thinking Spidey 2099 was the main villain, and I suppose that is the filmmakers' intent, but he was more than justified in his actions to my eyes. But not played very sympathetically. A little tightly wound perhaps, but if the stakes are so high, and you were personally traumatized by doing precisely what Miles is attempting, it seems hard to fault the guy.

We've already seen some parallels in the MCU, and I suspect we will see more with Dr. Strange 3, etc., but as a cohesive and well constructed film I feel this is better than anything Feige and company have done since Endgame.

Another observation--I only saw one quick, obvious reference to the symbiote Spidey/venom (as a comic collage), which was a bit surprising to me.

 

[Bunk1036]

Another observation--I only saw one quick, obvious reference to the symbiote Spidey/venom (as a comic collage), which was a bit surprising to me.

Wow, good call out. With all the variations none were symbiote based. I guess it’s because Spidey 2099 could pick and choose the team, but I’d image a handful of Spider-Man would be good.

 

[jye4ever]

At Imax now with wife and son

Grown ass man watching a cartoon lol

 

[Wor-Gar]

Grown ass man watching a cartoon lol

 

[Rotfish]

My kids came away thinking Spidey 2099 was the main villain, and I suppose that is the filmmakers' intent, but he was more than justified in his actions to my eyes. But not played very sympathetically. A little tightly wound perhaps, but if the stakes are so high, and you were personally traumatized by doing precisely what Miles is attempting, it seems hard to fault the guy.

I think that's exactly what they were going for. Someone with powers like Miles, but with a different worldview nonetheless. And he's still an authority figure telling Miles what he can and can't do, much like the non-superpowered adults in the story.

 

[Bleah]

Every time I see photos of Jye posted, he looks somewhat different again. Must be the meds he is on.

 

[Dave_W]

At Imax now with wife and son

Grown ass man watching a cartoon lol

But Batman figures are perfectly fine?

 

[chrisstbh]

Wait, so the guy who complains about 'the message' is now complaining about Spider-Man having traditional family values and taking care of his family?

I swear the only movie he likes is Top Gun cause it's just "dudes being dudes".

 

[ironwez20]

Maybe he just likes … dudes?

 

[davejames]

Having said that, I thought the movie was quite good. Tremendous character development across the board, and a good exploration of parental relations with teens. Hard not to be a big fan of Gwen and Miles after seeing this one. However, the main point of conflict in the story--whether it is acceptable to risk all of existence to save one person's life, and ultimately, whether or not the structure of reality is set or can change--wasn't played out in a way that was very satisfying for me. They didn't do a great job of explaining the rules (how do they know how to potentially stop reality from disintegrating following a "canon" event? How do they know as much as they do about the multiverse in general?). Then, the characters who ended up on Team Miles were just those that liked the guy, which didn't feel too organic.

Yeah to me it just seemed a bit silly and overly contrived that all of reality and the fate of the universe hinges on... whether every Spider-Man has his "Uncle Ben" moment with a loved one dying. I mean, I guess it does set up a conflict between Miles and the other characters, but it's not a terribly believable one.