So Spider-Man Across The Spider-verse feels like one of those comic book films that stands
as a milestone in the genre.
After that seminal first film it seemed like it couldn't be topped but somehow this movie
masterfully improves on it in every single area.
I have to admit that on my first watch of the film that I thought the first act was
a bit slow.
booooo
However there's a major turning point in the movie where everything hits the fan and it
turns it up to 11.
In retrospect those early scenes are made even better by what happens in this one and
it just brings the entire film together to cement the main themes of it.
Now the scene I'm talking about is of course the chase scene in Neuva York that happens
at the mid point of the movie.
Throughout this video we're gonna be breaking down the build up to it, what happens in the
scene and also how it delivers on the themes set up in those early scenes to knock it out
the park.
imma do me
Now before we get to that bit I think we have to discuss the themes established in the film
at the start so we can talk about how they culminate here.
After the intro with Gwen we join Miles roughly one year on from the events of that first
film.
Being spider-man has taken a toll on his life and he's missing lessons at school, his parents
parties and he's never really present.
A defining scene in the film mirrors one from the first movie in which his teacher is trying
to map out what he is going to be.
The first movie had him working on a great expectations paper whereas here he's seen
as a blank piece of paper.
The teacher wants him to tell his story and define who he is rather than everything else
being pushed upon him.
Miles wants to attend princeton but his parents want him to stay at home.
He even says to his father that he got to go out and start a business with his Uncle
Aarron because he had a choice.
Miles wants to discover and explore the multiverse more and Princeton is the place that will
allow him to do it.
However everyone is trying to get him to do what they want him to and this is mirrored
in teh Spider society we meet in the movie.
After arriving at their headquarters he gets a big tour of the area and he meets the leader
of the group in Miguel O'Hara.
Dealing with the fact he lost his surrogate family through destroying an alternate reality
he's now bearing the weight of the world...or worlds on his shoulders.
He's bitter, angry and making the difficult decisions in order to do what he sees as right.
This comes with a cost and it means that certain people around every spider man and woman variant
have to die.
These canon moments define the character and with Miles being someone who's been set up
as someone who needs a path it works on an extra level to take things in the movie.
Now Miguel works as the perfect opposite to Miles as he shows how choosing the wrong path
can eat away at your soul.
Even though he reassures himself that they are the good guys you can tell that he doesn't
fully believe it and he knows that it's not a black and white issue.
We of course have the spot who is very black and white in just how much he views everything
and thematically it works so well to have these two as the movies antagonists.
Now Migue is another person who is a pushy adult thats trying to tell Miles what his
story should be.
Whereas the teacher wanted Miles to define it himself, Miguel and the oither spider peeps
want to enforce what it should be.
Surrounding him almost like a mob we get the idea that this is the personification of peer
pressure with all of them having accepted that these horrendous things have to happen
because that's what the rules are.
However Miles is an anomaly in this in that he refuses to back down and accept the fate
that's been handed to him which involves the death of his father.
We're told that every spiderman has to have a close police captain who dies in the line
of duty trying to save someone else.
All the way back in Amazing Spider-man 90 captain stacy was killed and he did this whilst
saving a child from some falling rubble.
Since then it's something that's gone on to be adapted in all different iterations of
the character with the Andrew Garfield version even taking the spotlight in the film.
However it echoes throughout eternity and its something that's said to be a necessity.
Gwen has even gone on to accept that her dad has to die too but we see how Miles actions
actually avert this for her.
Come the end of the film her dad decides to give up the badge and this means that he won't
actually die in the line of duty.
Now not only has Miles saved him but he also saved this archetype in the Spider-man India
universe.
Though that had disasterous consquences it still shows that Miles is going against the
grain and being someone who will save the police captain.
That's obviously setting up things with his father and Miles being this anomaly extends
to the plot as well.
We discover that Miles actually was never meant to be and that the Spot actually took
the spider from earth 42 through the kingpins collider experiments.
The spider-man at the start of into the spiderverse wasn't meant to die and this only happened
because Miles got in the way.
Miguel views Miles as someone who shouldnt be and thus he's an anomaly in not only autonomy
but also in terms of his origins.
Now that takes us properly into the scene in which Miles refuses to let his father die.
Told almost like a lecture we see Miguel explaining how important it is that things stay the same.
He wants to keep it all as the status quo and have things play out like how they have
hundreds of times before.
Again Miles goes against this and it very much represents the purpose of the character
in general.
Miles was brought in to change things up and his introduction in the ultimate universe
was done to make that book stand out from the rest.
In it Peter Parker died and it was a bold move to do something like that and replace
him with Miles.
Brian Michael Bendis couldve stuck to the status quo but instead he took a chance and
had miles take over the reigns.
He's now an extremely popular character and I appreciate how even the themes of this film
are nods to his overall creation.
Miles is going against the grain and refusing to conform and I dont think its any coincidence
that spider punk is the person he sides with.
He's someone who represents not doing what society tells him to and Miles choosing to
heed his advice shows that he aligns with this punk attitude.
He and Miguel are sort of the angel s and devils on Miles shoulders giving him the choice
of who to follow.
Now though I'm trying to go really high concept with it and explain stuff on an analytical
level...the scene yeah...just so f**king cool innit.
Just f**king amazing.
Watching Miles escape the cell and then everything go crazy just blew me away and even though
I knew this chase was coming cos of the trailers it didn't prepare me for the actual scene.
Everything is thrown at him and when the spider cat attack happens I thought that's how crazy
things would get.
When the T-Rex swung in, f**king hell and it just gets crazier and crazier the more
things go on.
Miles is public enemy number one with thousands of Spider-people rushing at him as he barely
makes it through the skin of his teeth.
You've got the amazing bag man going for him, chibi spider-man, the western one trying to
do an improtu draw and one in a wheelchair dropping crutch jokes before we hit a 1960s
one swinging in.
It's one of those scenes that feels like youre gonna have to watch 100 times in order to
see everything going on in it and it shows how rich of a history that Spider-man has.
All these versions have appeared at some point and to see them celebrated on screen like
this feels like something else.
It just ramps the chase up even more and we get a bit of a breather when Miles is pulled
aside by Peter B Parker.
Telling him that he was the reason he wanted to have a child you can see how Miles has
had such a positive impact.
Man gets told hes a terrible mentor but Miles has turned out pretty good in the the grand
scheme of things.
Now we realise that Peter B has been used as a way to track Miles and thus he has to
dive through some spinning cylinders in order to get away.
The other spiders dropping off whilst miles slips through could represnt how hes managed
to make his way past the other variants that have dropped off in the pop culture zeitgeist.
reach
The chase comes to a head when we watch Miles making his way to a train travelling upwards
into the stratosphere.
Told that he's not really a spider-man by Miguel we hear him say 'I am Miles Morales,
I was bitten by a radioatcive spider.'
This is something that used during the monologue delivered by Chris Pine in the first film
and it shows how he's taken over the role.
Miguel berates him though and exclaims that he's not really a true spider-man and that
he's just a kid who doesn't know what he's doing.
Held on his back and seemingly beaten Miles reveals that he actually does know what he's
doing and that he's led all the spider-peeps away so that he can return to the base.
At this point we get this incredible monolgue that builds off everything we've talked about
before.
-
Miles leaps from the train taking a metaphorical leap of faith which builds off the bakc of
the first film.
Finally he realises that he's going to be his own person and that he'll create his own
story rather than it being dictated to him what he has to do.
Rather than sticking to the script or just being another Spider-man variant Miles is
becoming his own man and this is something that's been seen in the real world too.
Miles could easily have just become a bog standard take on the character but he's elevated
himself far beyond that.
Finally he's getting the respect he deserves and showing why he should be viewed as a valid
character.
It works on so many levels and knocks it out the park and that's why I think that the scene
is absolutely perfect.
Now obviously us know your thoughts in the comments section below and what you took from
the movie as a whole.
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With that out the way, huge thank you for sitting through the video, I've been your
host and I'll see you next time.
Take care, Peace.