Where I Watched it: iTunes (it’s also on Netflix)

English Audio Description Provided By The Media Access Group

Narrated By Inger Tudor.

What seems like a lifetime ago, I did go to the theatres to watch the first Miles Morales entry. I was pleasantly surprised. Then, they made a sequel, and I had the displeasure of watching it after everyone went absolutely nuts over this. It’s not that it’s bad, but the internet can really oversell a film. That’s not to say the movie is bad, it’s just as good as the first one.

Now that we know about multiverses it is easier to just hop between Miles and characters like Gwen Stacey or another version of peter Parker, even if Miles is the main superhero. Miles is facing a new threat in his world, the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who is a small-ish villain from the comics whose powers provide for a very interesting on screen villain. He’s the kind of villain that works better in an animated version, and what he’s able to do leads to more multiverse references that are too brilliant to pass up. There’s a little live-action sequence in this, which is because this script is just that good. Meanwhile, Miles also meets another version of Spider-Man (Oscar Issac), who has a tragic backstory, and he helps to shape how this film is going to play out. There’s a lot happening here, and not only do we have a ton of characters, but the film does the work to help move along the storyline of Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) in their respective universes. From what I’ve been told, there are many references thrown in to the fact that Stacey might be trans in this timeline as well, though the audio description didn’t mention any of the nods. No mention of a trans pride flag in her room.

Phil lord and Chris miller have done an excellent job pushing this series forward, and continuing the excellence that is the Spider-man film franchise. Really, every iteration thus far has had some terrific moments, but Lord and Miller are making sure that Miles Morales’s journey feels different than the traditional story we’ve already seen done before.

I have little nit-picky problems that kept this from being perfect. First, the movie really does feel like a Part 1. more than any other part 1 I’ve seen, it really feels like a movie cut in half. There’s no resolution to any of the key story elements in this film. At least with something like Fast X, there were some partial resolutions, and a hint at some of the storylines from that film having wrapped. But this builds to a climax, and basically just tells you to come back for more. i think there’s got to be a way to have your cake and eat it too, especially coming out of the minds of Lord and Miller. There’s no way they couldn’t figure out a way to close off at least one of the subplots, while leaving others open for the next film. It’s that total lack of an ending that bothers me. Another thing that hit me was the inclusion of Nic Cage’s character, but also he never speaks. Is he going to speak in the next film? It’s an odd choice to bother to show him, and I believe even john Mulaney’s Spider-Ham and not have them talk.

It’s a pretty great entry this year, and it demands a lot from its audience with the runtime, but it is worth the ride. The audio description has so much to keep track of, not just in terms of fantasy/sci-fi action sequences but also in all the various versions of the webbed hero that are mentioned. I like how we actually mention all the little cameo’s here, instead of doing some Rescue Ranger audio description and leaving the blind audience in the cold.

I’m excited to see how this wraps with the next film, and whether or not that would be the last in this series. I had rented it on iTunes literally the day before it got a date on Netflix, but I assume the audio description is the same there.

Final Grade: A-