The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story (2023) Dir: Jarelle Dampier

Sony's seven minute short film, directed by Jarelle Dampier, was a bit of an unexpected release, at least as far as I was concerned, although this was most definitely not something I was going to complain about either. I was intrigued to see what Sony was providing us with.

It may have been incredibly short, but I still got a sense of those familiar Spider-Verse aesthetics and themes, particularly in terms of the visuals. I loved the comic book influences that remain from the feature length films. The soundtrack felt in keeping with the films too, which is never a bad thing.

The story is very brief, and felt more like a standalone scene from something bigger, rather than an actual short film. I didn't dislike it, but I was kind of hoping for something more concise. There were elements of character development there, but there was so little time to build on it that I was left a little unsatisfied.

Overall, while this was a fairly interesting short film, I can't say that it was anything to really write home about. It had good visuals and sound, and the voice acting was serviceable, but there just wasn't enough story there to really make it all that worth it. It was mildly interesting, but also pretty forgettable post-watch.