Is 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' as wonderful as everybody says it is?

There's Best Picture talk around the picture as voting nears.

With great power comes great responsibility. Miles Morales, and pretty much every other character has been bitten by a spider and met with supernatural abilities instead of Neosporin, knows this to be true. It’s those responsibilities that the heroes usually forget about and not take seriously enough, thus triggering more conflicts and bad guys. In 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,” he figured out that there were other Spideys in other dimensions. WHOA! And then there was a battle at the end.

This year’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” explores the ramifications of winning a battle and messing with the universe. Miles, joined by his love interest and crime-fighting, universe-hopping friend Gwen Stacy, must battle his past mistakes and present obstacles to finish the movie with a better understanding of… whew, I get tired just writing about the plot.

It’s another Sony/Marvel romance here, a Spider-Man movie that mixes pop culture, past superhero movies, and highly impressive animation to tell an entertaining story about growing up in the superhero world. A world that carries possibility and tragedy, as any Spidey fan knows. The familiarity with the overall story and its players is what brings this sequel down to “just good and not great” territory.

Confession: It took me five tries to get through the two hour and 20 minute runtime, a product of the day job and a movie that struggled to get going. After another “let me catch you up after five years” opening montage, we are thrust into another seemingly impossible adventure of changing multiverses and consequences. Oscar Isaac voices a *maybe* antagonist named Miguel who also pouts and whines about being or not being Spider-Man. The parents of these young heroes get involved to predictable results.

Near the end of the film, an intriguing setup is presented, same as the last live action Spider-Man film did with “No Way Home.” It’s a little too late, though, giving the film some backbone but still leaving me exhausted from the reality jumping. The problem is that I don’t see anything new being learned or discovered in these movies. They’re fun and engaging, but ultimately connected to past movies or themes.

“Across the Spider-Verse” doesn’t suffer from sequelitis, but there’s an element of familiarity and lack of discovery that didn’t leave me as blown away as I was after the 2018 original. There have been eight Spider-Man movies since 2001, which is too many if you ask me.

This 2023 film doesn’t deserve to be in Oscar talk, nor is it any better than “Homecoming” or “Into The Spider-Verse.” It’s simply fine, which can trigger spears and hate from people around the internet if you happen to not share their fascination with a beloved film. I left this one feeling underwhelmed, based off what I was told it would make me feel.

Expectations can be a bitch, folks, just like those responsibilities can be for a teenage superhero.

Film Buffa Rating: B