Thoughts: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Introduction: When I first watched the movie, I left the cinema with a sense of satisfaction and an ambitious desire to create something that evokes the same emotions. It serves as a wake-up call for anyone aspiring to create works in any medium. It surpasses its predecessor, which inspired the animation industry, by presenting a more detailed and profound story. What surprised me the most was that they managed to elevate the already highly-stylized animation to more stylized than ever.

With this introduction, I hope it's clear that I absolutely loved this movie. In the previous installment, they not only delivered the best Spider-Man origin story in the history of Spider-Man comics and films but also introduced additional values and concepts to the Spider-Man universe. Now, they have accomplished one of the best sequels in any movie series by demonstrating their expertise in crafting a sequel. They planted the seeds in the first movie, and now those seeds have flourished even more.

So, you may be wondering what concept flourished even more in this movie. Allow me to explain.

We will divide this review into 3 sections. first will be about being an outsider in the journey of self-actualization. 

The second section will be about the family concept that the movie explores masterfully both in the parent aspect and the child aspect.

The third will be about the animation team's use of the medium and how they are so good at it. (Its important to point out that I am not an animator or anything related to that, Therefore all my comments will be just observations and my guesses about it)

The fourth section will be about side characters and how they are not just comic relief or a plot device but rather characters on their own that serve a purpose or the concept of the movie.

So these explanations are out of the way finally. Let's do this literally one last time.

Being an Outsider in the Journey of Self-actualizations: 

In the review of the first movie, we talked about Miles's resistance to ignite his fire but at the end of the movie Miles finds his leap of faith. But Like everything in life finding something is just the start of something bigger and more complex.

In the new film, we see Miles's acceptance of his potential, therefore he is trying to fit into his school he even has future plans to be a scientist which in the first movie assignment that was given to him about his future was empty but now it isn't.

This is What makes Spider-Verse unique I think in every story element there is more than one layer and in the deepest layers you can find things that related to our life like every good movie or work. For example, within one year, I will be going to Vancouver film school for my game design education, and during this period I will be an outsider in every aspect like language, traditions, lifestyles, and more. But anyone or anything can't stop me from achieving my dreams or letting me be me.

This feeling is explored both when Miles tells his parent that he wants to study at Princeton University in New Jersey and when he travels to the Spidermen HQ. But in this section, we will talk about just the Spiderman HQ part.

In The scene where Miguel O'Hara explains that we all have canon events and is trying to stop the death of Miles's dad can bring the collapse of his universe. When Miles indicates an opinion that is different from all spiders they all try to surpass him. And again this is a theme that repeats all time in our lives, Sometimes a person or government surpasses an idea that they do not like or an idea that is opposite their point of view. even if this idea is wrong or dumb trying to surpass it extremely always turns to back to you more extreme and destructive.

And in the movie, this happens Miles comes with an extreme reaction and escapes from Spiderman HQ to his family.

Being an outsider is hard when you are alone in a place where you are trying to express yourself. In our lives, we are trying to achieve dreams and when we are on this road if we want to be special in what we are doing we will be surpassed by others. But nobody said to us that trying to be or achieving to be being special will be easy so like miles we need to seek it hardest and stay loyal to our thoughts and beliefs, this doesn't mean that always count on our thought or beliefs more like miles mother said "for years I was taking care for this little boy right making sure that his love that he belongs where he wants to be he wants to go out to the world and do great big things and I worried about most is they don't look after you like us they don't root for you like us so here is the deal wherever you go from here you have to promise to look after that little boy for me make sure he never forgets where he came from and never doubts he is loved and never lets anyone in that does big fancy places be in he doesn't belong there"

On the road to self-actualization, we need to take care of our little boys and girl, and our cultures most importantly never forget where we came from. With this awareness, we can't ever be suppressed by any attempt from those who want.

with this, we are moving to section 2 "Family".

Family:

A parent can greatly emphasize this movie. When your child grows up and starts to shine, you feel both excitement and fear as a parent. This is because as they develop their own identity, just like we see with Miles in the movie, they become their own person. Miles, as Spiderman, has a mentor, a love interest, enemies, and fans, but Officer Jefferson and Rio, his family, are unaware of these aspects of his life.

In this movie, we witness a mixture of fear and excitement. Unlike his predecessor, Miles embraces his potential and pursues his path. As a family, you feel proud of his accomplishments, but at the same time, you experience fear because you know that no one in the world will care for and love your children like you do.

In my generation (Gen Z), there is a belief that families are not immune to making mistakes. Our fathers and mothers are human, just like us. They can be stubborn, and ignorant, and make their fair share of errors.

In the previous movie and this installment, we were shown Officer Jefferson and Rio Morales' struggles as parents. However, this concept is further elevated in this movie. In the first film, Officer Jefferson and Rio Morales were trying to push Miles to embrace his potential, but in this sequel, they confront their own fears for Miles. Letting go of your child into the world is difficult and risky for most families, but as parents, you do your best to prepare your child for the world and allow them to pursue their own path.

No one is capable of fully accepting you just as you other from your family. capability isn't mean that every family does this but as children, we need to give that opportunity and space to our families because when we are out in the world some people will break and hurt us because of who we are like how Miguel O'Hara did to miles and after that mile quickly search his family, therefore, make sure you have a family to come back when life gets hard on us.

Nobody is perfect, especially on a hard job like parenting. In the movie we see every struggle that Officer Jefferson and Rio Morales have but like every good parent they gave their all to raise Miles with love and care and when the miles selfactualazation road begins they let him go by letting him know that they will always be here waiting for him with love and care.

Use of the medium:

The first movie, "Into the Spider-Verse," pushed the industry to use this medium more creatively and, more importantly, not to limit it to just being "realistic." Before "Spider-Verse," we were stuck in a loop in the animation industry. Pixar makes a movie with a good story and very realistic animation, and every other mainstream animation company follows that structure. Don't get me wrong, during that era, we watched some of the best-animated movies because they had great stories written by talented storytellers. However, in terms of animation, they were focused on achieving a shiny, realistic look, and the industry limited itself to this illusion of "realism." But with the first installment of "Spider-Verse," we were set free from this prison, and animation studios started to see movies like "Puss in Boots" and more movies on their way to breaking this illusion of "realism." But, as I mentioned in the introduction, they upgraded one of the most-styled animation movies with more use of the medium's power, and I think the peak of this movie's first 20 minutes is in the Gwen universe, so let's dive into that. The first 20 minutes of the movie are all about Gwen and the problems within her universe. She has a rough time connecting with people again after her beloved friend Peter Parker's death, and her father feels a responsibility to arrest Spider-woman to ease his girl's pain after Peter's death. But the one who kills Peter unintentionally is Gwen, aka Spider-Gwen, so Gwen's father chases his daughter without knowing that he is actually chasing his own daughter. Dramatically, this is a sad and well-structured storyline that comes from the comics, but the way they represent this story is even more incredible. So how did they achieve this incredible feeling in Gwen's universe? In Gwen's world, there is no continuity in the world's design color palette and mostly backgrounds when characters are in the closure plan. Therefore, you feel weird about this choice in the first 5 minutes of the movie, but when you get used to it, it is a pleasure and emotional to watch. Because in the critical scenes between Gwen and her father, they use this non-continuity style so well to represent their feelings without words, just like in our lives sometimes. They have accomplished emphasizing a feeling that is so pure in an animated movie—the feeling of needing each other as a family.

Conclusion:

"Spider-Verse Across the spider-verse" is a masterfully crafted sequel that takes every aspect of its predecessor and elevates it through the creative use of the medium. It goes deeper into the themes and seeds planted in the first movie, delivering a captivating and thought-provoking experience.

I believe that anyone who loves cinema or any digital medium should watch this remarkable creation of genius minds.