Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse [4K Ultra HD]

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

Cast: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry (VOICES)

Release Date: September 5, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 10/10
Disc Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis:

Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga (2018, Best Animated Feature Film, Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse), SPIDER-MAN™: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders, and must redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.

Please Note: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ rejoins Miles Morales, now acting as Brooklyn’s full-time Spider-Man while trying to balance his school and family life with his superhero activities. But when his old friend Gwen Stacy returns in his universe for a reunion, Miles accidently disrupts an important event in another world which leads to a whole new set of problems. Joining Gwen, Miles is taken to a world populated entirely by Spider-people where the futuristic Spidey Miguel leads the massive team of heroes in various attempts to keep the multiverse balanced after the chaos from the last adventure left the multiverse fragile. When Miles discovers new information revolving around his own universe and identity, he will be forced to decide where his priorities truly lie and may just instigate a battle that will be more dangerous and difficult than anything he’s faced prior.

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (TV’s Justice League Unlimited), Kemp Powers (Soul) and Justin K. Thompson who do a tremendous job at the helm of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ carefully guiding along the dazzling adventure from a screenplay written by Phil Lord (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) & Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie) & David Callaham (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings). The film’s voice cast features numerous new and returning individuals including Shameik Moore (TV’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee), Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train), Luna Lauren Velez (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Jake Johnson (TV’s Minx), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City), Issa Rae (Barbie), Karan Soni (Deadpool), Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther), Mahershala Ali (Green Book) and Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) who each offer solid and fitting performances in their respective voice roles.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is an animated masterpiece that serves up an utterly magnificent comic book film that exceeds all expectations, and rather high ones at that. It’s a beautiful, touching and thrilling animated adventure that never misses a beat and delivers an unforgettable journey through the multiverse that will have fans enthralled from the onset and anxiously awaiting everything that happens throughout. It somehow manages to do the seemingly impossible and delivers an outstanding follow-up to the perfect ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ (you can also read my glowing Blu-ray review of that film HERE) and actually manages to somehow outdo it with a sequel that’s even better than its outstanding predecessor.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ takes every marvelous element of the first film and then improves upon it in order to expand this breathtaking world and ends up forming what is almost certainly the best Spider-Man film to date. Introducing some new twists, turns and potential threats (not to mention a whole lot more Spider-People) in addition to adding some fulfilling depth to the backstory of our lead along with some of his fellow Spider-Friends and then only further complementing the perfect story with stunning animation to match. The end result is a breathtakingly phenomenal comic book come to life that only gets more impressive and thrilling as it progresses.

Overall, ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is a flawless and unforgettable animated follow-up that miraculously manages to outdo its outstanding and perfect predecessor and deliver a superior sequel that embraces everything the first film accomplished so beautifully and then take it up a few notches. What we’re treated to as a result is nothing short of magical and a dream come true for Spider-Man fans. I can’t possibly recommend ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ highly enough. It’s an absolutely phenomenal follow-up to ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ that somehow also manages to outdo it in many ways. If you have any interest in the film or were a fan of the first movie then you definitely won’t even want to consider overlooking this magnificent sequel. This one shouldn’t have any trouble whatsoever proving worthy of your time and the price of a rental, while diehard fans of ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ who haven’t yet had the chance to check this one out should also have no regrets if making a blind purchase.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks wonderful as a whole and delivers a beautifully sharp, clean and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any unexpected flaws or troubles along the way. It shows gorgeous detail and clarity across the board and perfectly showcases its animated glory with everything from character costumes and faces, along with the numerous backgrounds and details both prominent and background shining at nearly all times; even the fast moving action sequences and darker moments look consistently pristine. The Dolby Vision addition also provides a beautiful color palette that sees great upgrades in coloring on costumes, the expansive Spider-Society and other universes/cities within, all boosted by clean, deep and rewarding black levels. Overall, this is a stellar Ultra High Definition video presentation that looks tremendous and should more than please fans and newcomers alike.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack dazzles and hits hard, providing a clean, crisp and thoroughly immersive audio presentation throughout that never falters or disappoints. It repeatedly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send characters swooping throughout the various speakers quite regularly, along with action and nature effects, bits of dialogue, booming music and a great deal more regularly immersing the viewer within the thrilling fun, all while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, this is a fantastic Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that delivers splendidly from start to finish and should easily thrill viewers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ includes a nice offering of bonus content which can all be found on the included Blu-ray disc. Both the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray disc feature an ‘Audio Commentary with the Filmmakers’, while the Blu-ray additionally includes the ‘”Miguel Calling” Deleted Scene’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length), along with various Featurettes, fun videos, breakdowns and more featuring behind the scenes content, interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus much more. They include ‘Creating the Ultimate Spider-Man Movie’ (running approximately 15 minutes in length), ‘Obscure Spiders and Easter Eggs’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘”I’mma Do My Own Thing” Interdimensional Destiny’ (approximately 8 minutes), ‘Across the Worlds: Designing New Dimensions’ (8 minutes), ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Cast’ (13 minutes), ‘Designing Spiders and Spots’ (12 minutes), ‘Raising A Hero’ (9 minutes), ‘Scratches, Score and the Music of the Multiverse’ (5 minutes), ‘Across the Comics-Verse’ (8 minutes) and ‘Escape from Spider-Society’ (8 minutes). ‘2 Lyric Videos’ are also included: ‘”Annihilate” by Metro Boomin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne, Offset’ (approximately 2 minutes), and ‘”Calling” by Metro Boomin, Nav, A Boogie wit da Hoodie with Swae Lee’ (2 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 10/10
Disc Rating: 9.5/10

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‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from Marvel, Sony Pictures Animation & Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

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