Saw Across The Spiderverse.... Was Disappointed

[Bamax]

I did not see the first film because at the time there was a glut of Spiderman and superhero movies and I had stopped watching them since the Tobey Maguire era ended. The only reason I saw this one was because the hype for it was through the roof and I wanted to see if it lived up to it.

I am near 40. After watching the movie, it became super obvious that it was made primarily for kids and young teens, not adults. It was not like the many pixar films that put enough that adults can appreciate while also catering to kids... so my patience waned as the movie began to drag on.

Character wise, much emphasis is made out of Gwen and Miles friendship and the will-they or won't-they date question, but neither Gwen or Miles in of themselves are very interesting. Gwen is basically either serious or morose as her default mode, and Miles is carefree in general.

I found both of Miles parents more interesting, since Rio, Miles mom, was by far the hottest woman on the screen, and the banter between them is actually more interesting than any of the chatting that goes on between Miles and Gwen.

Basically... his mom and dad's relationship felt real, but Gwen and Miles relationship just felt... off. Did not seem real... especially their supposed budding romance. I felt zero spark or chemistry between them... so the movie should not have bothered hyping that as much as they did.

I think when it comes to stories everything that is the focus should have a pay off.... and their romance did not. I get they are young and all, but at least if they are going to go the romance route at least ONE of the characters could have admitted it openly whereas the other played hard to get. Unrequited love is far more interesting and entertaining to watch than will-they or won't-they for about 2 hours.

The villain and his motivation were equally lackluster. I thought the animated Spiderman TV series of the 90's and early 2000's actually had a more interesting character as the Spot.

Now if they actually SHOWED how the Spot's life was totally ruined, then the audience could begin to symphathize with his motives, if only a little. But ultimately I felt it fell flat, since revenge won't help him get his life back. And it seems to me if you are THAT brilliant a scientist, your main priority would be getting a cure with revenge coming second.

Which is why I loved the cartoon Spot, since from what I recall, he was only trying to kill Spiderman because he was being offered something in return as a reward, I think a cure to his condition or something.

So yeah.... the movie fell flat for it's pandering to kids, lack of plot payoffs, and a lack of a convincing villain.

A good villain needs to be both convincing as a threat in what they do AND their motivation. Break one and they won't seem real.

Now if he was a total fruit cake and insane then that could have worked, as chaos needs no legitimate reason to act the part of a villain.... but he clearly was not insane soo... he should have prioritized getting a cure first as opposed to fighting Miles.

[Dromond]

The Spot? Seriously?

[Arioch]

I guess I'll see the first one eventually to learn what the fuss is about, but in general whenever a "multiverse" is invoked that's an immediate pass for me. The art style is nice, if nothing else.

Zootopia was all the rage with the same crowd, and I wasn't impressed.

[Bamax]

I guess I'll see the first one eventually to learn what the fuss is about, but in general whenever a "multiverse" is invoked that's an immediate pass for me. The art style is nice, if nothing else.

Zootopia was all the rage with the same crowd, and I wasn't impressed.

Yeah I intend to see the first too... just to see if it's a one hit wonder and whether or not the sequel went off the rails and is just phoening it in.

One huge difference between the cartoon Spot villain pf the cartoon and this one is that he explicitly told Spiderman that he was sorry, and it's nothing personal... while trying to kill him no less.

This movie Spot seems more... childish in his motivations by comparison. Since he actually uses his brilliant mind to find a way to level up his powers, when the obvious thing to do would be to use that mind to return his self back to normal.

Now if the movie showed flashbacks of him trying and failing again and again to reverse his condition and being driven mad with anger at Miles as a result, that would have gave his motivation more weight.

But they relied on telling instead of showing instead. Not to say showing is always better, but if a pivotal character has hardly any screen time as it is... maybe, just maybe, pare down the lame romance plot for more time on villain motivations?

Man of Steel did that... probably too well, since by the movie's end we knew far more about General Zod than Superman as a character.

[Bamax]

I have yet to see the full movie of Into The Spiderverse, but just watching the final battle was more fun than the entire sequel.

The original does not take itself too seriously, while the sequel makes the mistake of doing just that. Original has more humor and Miles takes more initiative, and there are more coloful characters who all get their moments of character.

Across the Spiderverse spends no significant amount of character moments besides Miles and Gwen and Miles parents.

None of the other Spidermen matter really... unlike the first one where you got to know each one.

Miles is also far more of hero there than he is in the sequel:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=plrBQJyfgjo

[Jagged]

I am a 56 year old curmudgeon and I thought the first one was pretty darn good.
So I will probably get round to seeing the new one.

[Dromond]

I am a 56 year old curmudgeon and I thought the first one was pretty darn good.
So I will probably get round to seeing the new one.

Heh, and here I thought I was going to be the elderly curmudgeon of the forum. You're only three years behind me.

[Demarquis]

I got you both beat, and I enjoyed the first one too, though I haven't seen the second one yet.

[Bamax]

I got you both beat, and I enjoyed the first one too, though I haven't seen the second one yet.

Lemme know what you think won't ya? About the sequel.

I think hollywood needs to understand that a cashcow is not something you should phone in with a not as good sequel. But when it is all about money and reviewers are probably being influenced by peer pressure and it's previous film's success to give raving good reviews... to me it is style over substance.

And the first film has a lot more substance than this one from a character development point of view.

Miles character does not develop at all in this movie, he simply still loves his parents and has a crush on Gwen.

And Gwen is frankly so glum and morose on her own, not to mention sarcastic, that unless she was different in the first film, I have not a clue what Miles saw in her. Unless he just likes blondes.

Speaking as someone who was a minority in a predominately white/latino school growing up, I can honestly say I did not really care much about blondes at that age. Not even high school really. I tended to prefer both latinas and brunettes.

As an adult the amount of people I encountered grew and I actually encountered blondes I was attracted to, but growing up the brunettes and latinas always looked better to me.

[Demarquis]

"I think hollywood needs to understand that a cashcow is not something you should phone in with a not as good sequel. But when it is all about money and reviewers are probably being influenced by peer pressure and it's previous film's success to give raving good reviews... to me it is style over substance."

As far as Hollywood is concerned, I'm not hopeful--the "business" side has always predominated over the "show" of "Show Business." But I will reserve judgement on this movie until I've seen it.

I don't remember Gwen being glum or morose, I remember her being sarcastic, witty and challenging, with a sympathetic side for Miles.

[Arioch]

Hollywood seems more concerned about ideological indoctrination these days than about business or entertainment.

I understand that shows are increasingly expensive to produce, and that it's a bigger financial risk to invest in a new IP rather than a sequel. I'd be okay with that if these sequels weren't cheap crap. (Not referring to Spiderverse, which I haven't see.)

[Snoofman]

That would explain why streaming channels choose to make reboots rather than invest in original content.

[Bamax]

So I saw the original Into The Spider-verse, and rewatched the sequel.

The sequel can only be enjoyed the most if you see the original... since I actually understood and enjoyed the beginning of the film with Gwen when I hated it on my first viewing without seeing the first film.

Overall the film is an artsy splash of color and animation, and if you KNOW the characters from the first film only then will their actions and feelings carry enough weight for the viewer... me, to care.

Gwen as a character is finally interesting to me because I can understand her clearly now. She has basically fallen hard for Miles as her potential boyfriend but she still has reservations due to her lst guy dying.

Once I see the full movie maybe i will or won't be sympathetic to the rest of her actions.

Gwen is emo alright, but for legitimate reasons... such as missing Miles really bad and still feeling bad about her 1st boyfriend's death. Aside from that she really wants a sense of belonging... which is what probably draws her to the Spiderverse multiverse clean up crew in the first place, to have others to relate to and no longer feel so... unique and alone. So ultimately the movie is Gwen's story, with her conflict of wanting to belong to a group of similar people to her versus keeping the guy she has romantic feelings for. She cannot reconcile the two since she wants both... and she ends the movie with a plan to do that... with help from people symathetic to Miles like her.

That does not mean she is dumb enough to allow Miles to destroy the multiverse though by mistake. If anything I presume she wants to get to Miles before Miguel does... since Miguel will more than likely hurt or kill him.