I read my first Spider-man comic at the age of 14. In it, Peter Parker had retired as a Wall Crawler and a young girl named Martha Franklin was trying to pick up his legacy (with little success, by the way). From then until now, jumping back and forth through collections, movies, series, video games and even novels, Spidey has been an intrinsic part of my life, through thick and thin. If I could only enjoy one fictional character discarding the rest, I would choose our friend and neighbor without blinking. It could not be otherwise.
Spider-man’s life is a continuous tragedy, and without it, the funny mask that he always has to put on before hitting a blow is not so well understood. He is the quintessential imperfect superhero, but his moral compass is always correct. No matter what it costs you: it is impossible not to love him much more than his writers love him, rejoice in the few times that life smiles at him and receive bittersweet drinks every time he is able to get up and sketch a joke at his most low. And in all these years through thousands of cartoons, incarnations and movies, I’ve never been as excited as watching ‘Spider-man: Crossing the Multiverse’. There must be a reason.
No way home
‘Spider-man: crossing the multiverse’ had a difficult time winning back a minimally demanding public. His previous film was a before and after in the film history of the character: Groundbreaking animation and a plot that delved into what it really means to don that costume made her an almost immediate fan favorite, but seeing the same thing again would be a step too easy. In addition, the audience has reached a limit of express exhaustion with the multiverses, to the point of becoming almost automatically lazy with its constant use in recent years. And yet this tape manages to duck before all the problems, skirt your expectations and surface as a miracle that once again revolutionizes the genre from top to bottom.
I admit that I did not enjoy ‘No way home’. No matter how many villains and heroes from different universes they put together, the plot, created exclusively to calm the anxiety of the fans only superficially, did not surprise or excite. Yes, of course, it gave the four images that all Spider-Man fans have dreamed of seeing at some time, but beyond those scenes brought to light algorithmically, what was left in the background? The most absolute misunderstanding towards the character, a light imitation with fear of risk disguised as crazy recklessness.
This animated version is the face of his cross. Yes, he has given it his all showing hundreds of different Spidermen, Spiderwomen and Spideranimals. multiplying by infinity the multiversal proposal of Marvel Studios…but that’s the most superficial layer of a script in which cheap contrivance doesn’t take center stage. ‘Spider-man: crossing the multiverse’ trusts the public by offering them much more than an encyclopedic collection of characters. In fact, this logical consequence of the plot ends up being a collection of running gags and winks used, such as the jingling of keys, so that the viewer can never ever lose attention on the screen and focus on what really matters. The true core of the film is its heart, its soul, an absolute love for Spider-man that surpasses that of any other movie of the character to date.
spider tok
Aware of the problem of addressing an audience that is increasingly hooked on TikTok and immediate satisfaction, in need of constant stimuli to alleviate an attention span of less than thirty seconds and that has lost interest and the tradition of going to the movies, ‘Spider-man: crossing the multiverse’ throws an ordeal to the screen in each plane. Things are always happening, in every corner of the screen, at all times, forcing the viewer to do two things: first, dedicate all five senses to trying to break down all the visual information they are receiving. Second, marvel at the collection of different styles, layouts, animations, colors and visual innovations that never ever, until the last moment, cease to amaze.
But the best thing is that this absolutely triumphant collection of styles and designs never tires because it is always at the service of a very powerful narrative. telling one of the greatest stories in superhero cinema in terms of both world-building and emotional. Unlike the first part, this new Spider-man movie gets serious when it has to get serious, leaves room for the sentimental (watch out for that spectacular prologue in which it’s not uncommon for a few tears to fall) and is able to make the most difficult yet refusing to repeat the patterns of its prequel: instead trying to do a more of the same (but better) he throws himself into the pool of narrative and aesthetic risk. He had no reason to, but his resounding triumph is worthy of applause.
Aware that the animated choices he made in ‘A New Universe’ have already been reused in films like ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ or ‘The Mitchells Against the Machines’ and have become a new standard (which is still surprising and deceives the eye), this sequel He distances himself again and tries new techniques with which he does not leave a frame of rest. No one has ever told a story like ‘Spider-man: Crossing the Multiverse’. And what’s more, it has a possible negative point for a large part of the public: it is possible, although it has not happened to me, that you cannot connect with it and It seems to you simple continuous background noise produced for a generation Z fed up with the traditional narrative. It would be a mistake to reduce it to that, because the film rewards your attention with a gripping story full of humor, drama, ultra-epic and a handful of interconnected plots that unfortunately cut short.
The exciting part of the first part
Like ‘The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan’, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ or ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, ‘Spider-man: Crossing the Multiverse’ falls into the vice of telling a story larger than life and leave it, literally, halfway. Regardless of whether the strategy works for the viewer more than it frustrates him, one of the few drawbacks that can be put to the tape is that it feels incomplete and your mind, after spending two and a quarter hours running and working at full speed, it needs more stimuli. The slowdown, especially when there are no post-credits, is too abruptand without a doubt we will be able to better assess the work when it is complete.
That does not prevent It already feels like an evolution within this same saga, which in the first part bet (almost) everything on humor and here leaves more room for the mixture of genres, increasing the drama and the brilliant creation of a world of its own from scratch. That doesn’t mean you won’t laugh, because you will, and a lot: all the gags are measured to the heart, even the ones that last a few hundredths of a second, the secondary characters have a comic continuity worthy of applause, and there are a couple of moments that will make you want to clap for the genius. In between we have Mancha, the magnificent villain of the show, who has the exact role on screen to understand its evolution and see its conversion into an absolutely terrifying entity determined to be something more than “the bad guy of the week”. It is an evolution for the better, in every way, of something that was already outstanding.
The animation in this movie stretches, breaks down, stretches out, folds in on itself, goes from a pastel tone to a squeaky color, from showing the split screen to a chase that uses the entire width of it and, far from remaining only aesthetically or repeating the slogans of any other previous film of the character, move completely and consciously away from your own expectations. If ‘A new universe’ answered what it means to be Spider-man, it changes the focus completely and questions what it means to be Miles Morales. And the result is a fabulous character study that deserves to be considered, on its own merits, as one of the best films of the year.
And yes, I know that many of you have looked at the headline thinking “It doesn’t fail: it’s always the best movie, it’s simple clickbait.” But is not. It is absolutely true. Being able to just skim the surface and stay in precious wrapping paper, ‘Crossing the Multiverse’ is more interested in doing a portrait of Miles Morales, failure, responsibility, feeling alone even when you’ve found yours. It’s an absolute marvel a film capsule of the most immediate present that not everyone will be willing to swallow but, for the moment, it has achieved the impossible: that we once again believe that superhero movies can be surprising, fun, emotional and, at the same time, dribble everything we expected from it. You can not miss it.
In Espinof | The amazing detail of ‘Spider-Man: A new universe’ that masterfully unites technique and narrative