This review will contain spoilers. 

   There are very few times that a film completely blows me out of the water. Emotionally captivating, stylistically unique, well-written—these are all adjectives that describe Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. I knew this film was going to be excellent; the first is a personal favorite, as well as being critically acclaimed and winning an Academy Award. Sequels are not known for being greater than the original film, but this was an absolute MASTERPIECE.

  The Spider-Verse franchise delves into various universes with different versions of Spider-Man. Into the Spider-Verse introduces Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) in his journey to become Spider-Man, as other versions of Spider-Man collide into his universe through portals Kingpin (Leiv Schreiber) creates using a collider. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse picks up where the first left off. Miles reunites with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), and meets the Spider Society—an elite group of Spider-People that helps fix the damage to the multiverse caused by Miles’ nemesis, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). However, Miles learns something about his world that puts him at odds with the other Spiders in order to save his loved ones.

   The various art styles of the Spider-Verse films have always been what makes it one of the most renowned animated films. Across the Spider-Verse, like Into the Spider-Verse, has unique art styles for each Spider-Person’s universe. Across the Spider-Verse has even more Spideys, thus even more variation. My favorite art style was from Gwen’s universe—I’ve always been a huge Spider-Gwen fan, and the art and color scheme looked exactly like the comic. In fact, the entire film looked like a comic book come to life. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

   Moore comes into his own as Spider-Man in this film. In Miles’ origin story, he was a kid learning the ropes, but now, he’s become his own superhero, using AP Physics to channel his powers to their full potential. He also learns the emotional stakes of being a superhero. Miles has a troubled relationship with his parents, and him finding out his father has to die in order for the multiverse to stay intact was brutal. The moral dilemma of saving who you love versus saving the innocent is a common trope in the Spider-Man universe, but Across the Spider-Verse molded it into an absolute gut-punch, with a resounding message on the morality of being Spider-Man.

   Steinfeld shines as Gwen even brighter than she did in Into the Spider-Verse, being cast as a dual lead with Miles and absolutely killing it. I was a bit worried when I found out that she would be involved in a love triangle with Miles and Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), but it wasn’t a major part of her character or the story. Instead, more emotion is added to her character, as the audience learns about her broken relationship with her father. Gwen reuniting with her father after running away to be in the Spider Society was the most emotional part of the film. 

   The Spot was a very interesting villain. At first, I thought he would just be a gag character-—a villain with a really stupid motivation like The Lizard or Electro in the Amazing Spider-Man movies. It seemed like The Spot hated Miles because he threw a bagel at him in Into the Spider-Verse—which is ironic as his power is creating black holes (like the hole in a bagel, similar to Everything Everywhere All At Once). However, he became more serious once the audience realized that he could literally destroy Miles’ universe, everyone he loves, and the entire multiverse. 

   The Spider-Man variations in this film were awesome to see. We got to see an Indian Spider-Man(Karan Soni), a pregnant Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Issac), an avatar named Spider-Byte(Amandla Stenburg), Spider-Punk, a Spider-Man dinosaur, Lego Spider-Man, Spider-Man from the PS4 game, Spider-Cat—there were so many, it was hard to keep track! There were also a ton of great cameos, with Spider-Man Unlimited, Spectacular Spider-Man , Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Donald Glover, Peggy Lu reprising her role as Mrs. Chen in Venom, and a brief mention of Tom Holland.  I was also very happy to see Spider-Ham (John Mulaney) make a very brief cameo towards the end. The amount of references, fanservice, and respect to the Spider-Man franchise was awesome to see as a Spidey fan.

   The writing of Across the Spider-Verse was, as always, on point. I never felt bored during the film, and it felt shorter than its runtime of two hours and sixteen minutes. The quips, comedy, action, and heart combined to create a film I was completely invested in.

   The soundtrack of this film was phenomenal. Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne, Offset, A$AP Rocky, Roisee, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, James Blake, 21 Savage, 2 Chainz, Don Toliver, Wizkid, BEAM, Toian, Nas, NAV, EI8HT, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and Daniel Pemberton collaborated to make music that fits perfectly to every scene and to Miles’ character. I will definitely be saving this to my Spotify playlist. 

     Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is everything its predecessor is and more, with a twist ending that leaves the audience begging for more. It builds on the first film while telling it’s own story, making it an enjoyable edition to the Spider-Verse franchise. If you are a Spider-Man fanatic, a fan of animation, or a fan of rap, I have no doubt you will enjoy this film. It’s emotional, witty, gorgeous, and breathtaking. I highly recommend seeing it in theaters!