Friday, 2 June 2023

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (3 Stars)


There's a difference between me and professional film critics like Peter Bradshaw and Mark Kermode (both of whom I respect). When they sit down to watch a film they're unbiased. They take in what they see, and they write an impartial review. Not me. When I go to the cinema I already have a good idea what I'll see. More to the point, I know what I want to see. I'm a Spider-Man fan. I've read the Spider-Man comics written by Stan Lee (the first 110 issues of Amazing Spider-Man) over and over again. Pure genius. So I went into the cinema today wanting the film to be good.

I was disappointed from the first minutes onwards. I didn't like the flashing lights in the first film, but in this film they're even worse, especially in the first half of the film. The picture's confusing, and I'm glad I don't suffer from epilepsy. What a mess! And the story is just as messy. We have the main versions of Spider-Man, i.e. Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy (Spider-Gwen), and they would have been enough. But then we have Miguel O'Hara, a Spider-Man from the future, Spider-Punk from England, Pavitr Prabhakar as an Indian Spider-Man and so many other Spider-Mans (sic) that we need a scorecard to keep up. There's even a Lego Spider-Man. Stan Lee must be turning in his grave.

Why gather so many Spider-Mans together in a Spider-Society? That means that the universe each one comes from is unprotected. The hundreds of Green Goblins and Doctor Octopuses must be having a great time.

The film ends on a cliff-hanger. "TO BE CONTINUED". I didn't stay to ask the others what they thought of the film, but there were groans throughout the audience when the film ended abruptly. "So now we have to wait three years to see what happens?" a girl in my row asked. It's not quite that bad. The third film in the trilogy has been scheduled for March next year, only nine months away, but until then anything can happen. If there's another pandemic we might have to wait another five years. This is depressing.

The critics like the film. I have no idea why. I wanted to like it, but I don't.


Is this supposed to be a bad joke? I'm not laughing.

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