Review of Spider-Man 2 Disc Special Edition (Widescreen)

Introduction

Spider-man was one of the most eagerly anticipated movies for many years - a combination of director Sam Raimi, a big budget and the promise of Spidey swinging around the streets of New York seemingly irresistible.

The movie caused more than a little controversy as well, first was the original teaser trailer that had Spidey capturing a helicopter in web spun between the ill-fated World Trade Center towers, that was quickly withdrawn after 11th September 2001. Then the film caused a huge film ratings debate in the UK with the 12 certificate warranted because of the content in my opinion, but which had legions of parents "who knew better" furious that their 8 year old child couldn`t go and see the movie. Several Councils became embroiled and eventually this mess led to the BBFC replacing the 12 certificate with a 12A, meaning that children can go and see potentially violent movies with their parents, a bizarre decision that clearly undermines the whole point of certifying movies. In 2002, commercial pressure overruled common sense.

The movie itself was unaffected, packing cinemas across the globe, becoming the 5th biggest grossing film of all time. The launch of the DVD has been similarly successful, with some $200 million of sales in the US alone and two sequels on the way.

Video

Spider-man is one of the big three DVDs of 2002 along with Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Lord of the Rings. Where the first two have delivered reference quality visuals, Spider-man is distinctly average, with a print that is not especially sharp and detailed, and even displays some dirt and grain, most disappointing and Sony Pictures should have done a better job in my opinion. The picture isn`t bad by any means, but compared to the current reference discs, is not good enough.

Visually, the film is impressive with excellent effects (apart from Spidey`s initial run across the rooftops which is all to obviously CGI). The scenes where he swoops on his web through the streets are very impressive to say the least. Where the visuals fall down slightly however is that the Spider-man and Green Goblin masks both have fixed/hidden mouths, so you can`t see lips moving, which makes some dialogue scenes rather surreal.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and, like the video, isn`t as good as it should be for a major action movie, and at times it doesn`t make much use of the surround channels which is disappointing. The sound during the action scenes is quite good but atmospheric use of sound at other times is disappointing.

The effects, music and dialogue are however very clear and precise at all times.

Features

There is a good spread of extras on this two-disc package, but again they are not without their problems.

Let`s start with disc one. Sam Raimi`s commentaries on the Evil Dead trilogy are legendary and the best available on DVD, unfortunately the commentary on Spider-man isn`t even half-as-good, distinctly dull, with limited interest and not really worth sitting through. The SFX commentary is similarly boring (as they generally are), but at least delivers some decent info for anyone brave enough. There`s also a subtitled fact track providing little pieces of info along the way. In addition, there are also two music videos on Disc 1, but disappointingly these come in Dolby Digital 2.0 instead of 5.1. The trailer for Spiderman however does come in 5.1.

Disc two contains a reasonably interesting featurette on the history of the comic, picture galleries, an HBO Special (i.e. grossly extended trailer with stars and crew telling us how wonderful everyone is), another similar special, some profiles, a gag reel and screen tests. There`s also a pile of DVD-ROM extras, including a game demo, screensavers and weblinks.

Overall, plenty to list on the box but nothing much of any substance.

Conclusion

Spider-man is an entertaining super hero film which I have seen three times, and found it just as enjoyable on the third viewing as I did the first. Despite reservations when he was announced as Spider-man, Tobey Maguire is perfect for the role, and an inspired piece of casting. The supporting cast are also good, with Willem Dafoe excellent as the Green Goblin, mask problems aside. Kirsten Dunst provides a very attractive love interest and in general both the script and cast are good.

The story moves at a reasonable pace and is never boring, although like Lord of the Rings, this movie doesn`t tell the whole story so you`ll be left wanting more.

As far as the disc goes, Spider-man may be the best selling DVD of all time, but Sony Pictures have missed an opportunity to deliver a disc with reference quality visuals and sound and a top notch set of extras. Instead we get a disc that is simply blown away by the other big releases on all fronts, which is disappointing. No doubt we will see a Superbit re-release next year though to answer some of these criticisms.

In summary, a good entertaining action romp on a competent disc, but it could have been so much better.