Let me just get something out of the way by saying that the only Spider-Man movie that I think is better than Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the brand new movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Our very own Eric Eisenberg wrote a glowing review for the movie, and I mostly agree.
I say “mostly” because Eric called it "everything you want it to be," and well, for me, it's close, but not quite. As you can see from the title of this article, the movie ends on a cliffhanger, which totally bummed me out.
Now, here's the thing. A lot of people apparently didn't seem to know that Across the Spider-Verse was meant to be a two-parter, as my wife, and the people at my viewing actually groaned, and said, "You gotta be kidding me!" when it ended on a cliffhanger. But, I knew this movie was going to end like that because it was initially advertised as a two-parter. I even wrote about my excitement for it when we got the first trailer. So, maybe my disappointment may have stemmed from that knowledge, but I have some other reasons, too.
Oh, and some spoilers up ahead.
I Couldn't Get As Invested Since I Knew The Story Wouldn't Conclude With This Movie
Our very own Sean O' Connell wrote an amazing book on Spider-Man, so if anybody knows the wall-crawling webslinger, it's him. And, even he called Into the Spider-Verse the best Spider-Man flick ever made in his ranking of the Spider-Man movies. Honestly, it is perfect. It's a complete story with heart, heroism, and humor, and it ends on an extremely high note.
And, somehow, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is even better. It hits on so many emotional story beats that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. Gwen has a major story arc this time around, as does relative newcomer Spider-Man 2099, who is this film’s main antagonist (Well, sort of. I’ll get into that in a bit, though). But – and here’s the major problem – no matter how invested I got in it, I couldn’t get completely invested since I knew this story was a Part 1 out of 2.
This is more a me issue than anything else, but I usually despise two-parters. It mostly started with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which had a Part 1, and a Part 2, even though it probably could have been a single movie. Knowing that a film is going to end on some kind of cliffhanger always just rubs me the wrong way.
It’s not like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (which is my least favorite of the Lord of the Rings movies, by the way, outside of the Hobbit flicks), where there is an actual middle book to draw from. No. Making a two-parter movie feels more like a deliberate cash grab to me since studios know that the audience is already invested, so they’ll feel they have to see the second half, as the story isn’t complete.
Thankfully, Across the Spider-Verse doesn’t feel like it’s going that route. It feels more like a movie that was way too big to fit into one complete story without making it, like, four hours or something. So, even though I couldn’t get completely invested in it, because I knew that the ending wouldn’t be satisfying, at least I had a blast watching it. It may be too early to say, since I haven’t seen Part 2 yet, but Across the Spider-Verse feels more like KIll Bill at this point, which was also a two-parter, but really one enormous film. Or at least, that’s what Quentin Tarantino believes.
Its Chances Of Winning Best Animated Feature Again Will Probably Not Be As Strong Since It's A Two-Parter
One thing I love to brag about is that Spider-Man BEAT Pixar. What I, of course, mean is that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse beat Incredibles 2 for Best Animated Feature back at the 2019 Academy Awards.
At the time, this felt huge. Though there are some exceptions, other animated films usually don’t beat Pixar or Disney movies for Best Animated Feature, and for Spider-Man to do it…Well, as a lifelong Spider-Man fan, it was a big moment for me. Hell, I actually think Into the Spider-Verse should have won Best Picture (so did most of us, since we ranked it as the best movie of 2018).
That said, with Across the Spider-Verse being a Part 1, I kind of feel like its hopes of being the Best Animated Feature again might be diminished. I might be wrong, but let’s look at The Lord of the Rings again. Some people view The Two Towers as the very best film in the series, but it wasn’t until The Return of the King that the series finally got its Oscar gold.
However, there are some who believe that The Return of the King was really a collective award for all three movies, which is why the series hadn’t really won anything, besides technical or sound gongs, before the last film, which ended up winning Best Picture, as well as Best Director.
Perhaps it won’t be the same this time, as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will likely be the best animated movie of 2023. But, I just have a feeling that something like Elemental will win in 2024, while the Part 2, Beyond the Spider-Verse, might win in 2025. Personally, I’m hoping that The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which I loved) gets nominated and wins Best Animated Feature in 2024, but even I know that that’s not likely.
I Would Have Preferred The Focus To Be On One Villain Rather Than Two
The first movie had a lot of villains, including a female Doc Oc, Scorpion, and Tombstone, but the main antagonist was The Kingpin. In Across the Spider-Verse, I’m actually not really sure who the main antagonist is, though. Is it The Spot, or is it Spider-Man 2099?
This is actually a big problem for me, even though I know it shouldn’t be, since I was really struggling to decide which story I should have been more invested in. The Spot is ultimately the bigger, more plot-heavy antagonist, while Spider-Man 2099 is the more personal, third rail antagonist, and this is all interwoven nicely. That said, with the whole cliffhanger aspect, I'm not really sure which villain was ultimately more important in the long run, which bothers me. Especially since I won't know how this ends for another year! Personally, I prefer a more clearly defined antagonist with my stories, which again, is more of a me problem than anything else, but I thought I’d bring it up.
This One Is Beyond Epic, Which Is Good, But…
Lastly, is Across the Spider-Verse perhaps too epic? Maybe, as I kind of feel like Miles almost got lost a little bit in his own story. Let me be clear: This is definitely Miles’ story, as the stakes for him are through the roof. That said, maybe I just prefer a smaller scale story for Miles? Like, I really appreciated that he was mostly just saving his neighborhood in Into the Spider-Verse, since it made the connection to him really palpable.
Across the Spider-Verse is more like a global, nay, an interdimensional threat, and it kind of feels like a lot of standard, end-of-the-world scenarios that other comic book movies seem to dwell upon way too much. Again, this is not to say that it doesn’t rise to the challenge, as it does. It definitely does. But, whereas the stakes seemed super personal in Into the Spider-Verse, the stakes are sky high for all Spider-Kind here, getting into things like “Canon,” and making the idea of Spider-Man as an entity even bigger than he ever was in the first movie.
This is all really cool stuff, and as a Spider-Man fan, I love it. As I said earlier, though, I kind of lost Miles in the story, even though he is front and center the entire time. And, ending on a cliffhanger didn’t help for me. If anything, it only made it more frustrating to not get a “complete” Miles story.
What did you think? Are you also anti-two-parters? For more news on the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending, and the franchise as a whole, be sure to swing (heh, get it?) by here often.
