Review of Spider-Man (2 Discs)

Introduction

In the summer of 2001, while waiting for the main feature to start in a dingy multiplex somewhere, I was treated to perhaps the most electrifying movie trailer that I have ever seen. It started off with a heist, with the crooks escaping by helicopter from the roof of a high-rise building. The camera follows their daring flight through the manmade canyons of Manhattan until they end up snared in a massive web strung between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. That one trailer sparked my imagination to such a degree that I cannot even recall the name of the film I saw that day. Subsequent events rendered that trailer in bad taste, and I doubt the trailer even exists today. It`s certainly not on the Spider-Man DVD, though it may be the only thing that isn`t.

With the superhero renaissance that began with the first Superman film, comic books of every ilk have seem destined to the big screen, but Spider-Man has languished in development hell longer than most. The rumours that circulated in the early nineties suggested Robert Patrick as Spider-Man and Arnie as Doctor Octopus. But the rights to the property were bought and sold, legal challenges mounted and it was only until the dawn of the new century that Spider-Man finally made it onto the big screen, and that is probably a good thing, for it is only now that technology can do the franchise justice. Like all good superhero films Spider-Man reinvents the hero for the 21st Century.

Peter Parker is your average introverted orphan kid with a crush on the girl next door. Unfortunately Mary Jane Watson is the girlfriend of the typical school jock, while Peter is the nerdish school paper photographer that everyone picks on. Fortunately he has some positives in his life, he lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May who dote on him, his friend Harry`s father, industrialist Norman Osborn also keeps a keen interest in how young Peter is doing. Oscorp is poised to complete a deal with the military to provide performance enhancing drugs, but a disinterested General is poised to let the deal fall through if the drug isn`t proved successful. On the same fateful day that Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically modified spider, Norman Osborn decides to test the serum on himself with catastrophic results. That very night, both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin enter the world. Peter initially uses his powers for personal gain, but tragedy makes him realise the responsibility of his powers. After graduating from school he heads for the Big Apple to pursue his future, unaware that an explosive confrontation with the Green Goblin awaits that will define his character.

Video

Spider-Man comes with a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which is acceptable. The picture is a tad grainy, a little soft and the contrast seems lacking. There were even one or two blips of print damage, which was surprising for such a recent film. But by and large, Spider-Man is a colourful and vibrant film and that does come through strongly on the disc. The effects are also very well accomplished and Spider-Man is brought to life with verve and panache. The CGI is impressive throughout and the movie comes together as a seamless whole. That said there were one or two moments where CG Spidey seemed a little `light` and insubstantial, but this still proves a wonderful demonstration of what technology is capable of.

Audio

A DD 5.1 English track is provided on this disc and it is a well-accomplished and impressive mix that immerses you in the film. The surrounds are put to notable use in informing the action sequences and suit this film well. The score is a Danny Elfman one and he provides an individual and inspiring theme for Spider-Man, although I did feel shades of Batman coming through.

Features

This 2-disc set is a boon for movie fans and comic book fans alike and is almost overflowing with extras and goodies. The booklet, as well as containing much advertising has a couple of pages of production notes, and the discs have some brilliantly designed menus.

Disc 1

As well as the film, disc one also contains two commentaries, both in DD 2.0 Surround. The Filmmakers and Cast commentary is provided by Sam Raimi, Grant Curtis, Laura Ziskin and Kirsten Dunst, while the Visual Effects Designer and Crew commentary is provided by John Dykstra et al. I personally found the effects commentary the more interesting one, as with a film such as Spider-Man the effects crew actually have more of interest to talk about.

If you enable the SpiderSense webisodes from the main menu, A little Spidey head will pop up from time to time in the film and allow you to access little featurettes pertinent to that particular scene. There are interviews with the Spider Wrangler, the wrestler Randy Savage aka BoneSaw, the model maker and more. I would have preferred to be able to watch the featurettes separately though.

Weaving the Web is a trivia subtitle track that pops up comic book style captions through the movie with little titbits of info, although a couple flash by too quickly to read.

The Character Files gives a filmography for the main actors in the movie, but an Easter Egg allows you to read more about the comic book character they play.

There are trailers for this movie, MIIB, Mr Deeds and Stan Lee`s Mutants, Monsters and Marvels.

There are music videos from Chad Kroeger (great name) and Sum 41 as well as 10 TV spots for the movie.

Finally the DVD ROM section on this disc allows you to watch the film in conjunction with looking at the pages from the comic book of the film. You can also clear away some space on your hard drive to record your own scene specific commentary if you find the two commentaries on this disc lacking. Given an Internet connection, and you can even share your efforts with the world.

Disc 2

This disc is divided into 2 sections focussing on the movie or the comic.

Web of Spider-Man: The Comic contains three subsections. The Activision Game: Hints and Tips provides some game footage with a voiceover. The DVD ROM link leads to an explanation of what you will find if you have a PC. But the meat of the goodies is in The Evolution Of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: The Mythology of the 21st Century is a 26-minute documentary with interviews with Stan Lee and various artists who discuss the birth and the development of the Spider-Man comic.

The Spider-Man Archives looks at some classic covers and stories through the years in the form of a gallery.

The Artists Gallery is a look at some great artwork and sketches from the film.

The Loves of Peter Parker gives biographies of all the women in Spider-Man`s life.

The Rogues Gallery is a look at the villains that have plagued Spider-Man and are presented in the form of a 3D representation of the character with selectable biographies and statistics.

There are also a couple of Easter Eggs in this section that lead to further interviews with Spider-Man comic book artists.

Goblin`s Lair contains the promotional material associated with the film. This kicks of with HBO: The Making Of Spider-Man, A 25-minute look at just that with interviews with the cast and crew and some behind the scenes footage.

"Spider-Mania" An E! Entertainment Special is a 40 minute look at the whole Spider-Man phenomenon associated with the film and again contains interviews with the cast and crew but is plagued with an annoying voiceover and a tendency to frivolity. I cite of course the repeated reference to pointless web polls.

There is a Director Profile, 7 minutes, which looks at Sam Raimi but comes across as little more than an appreciation society.

More interesting is the Composer Profile lasting a similar length of time that looks at Danny Elfman. He gives an insight into how he works which makes this a better piece.

Finally there are some screen tests and some gag reel footage that lasts about 10 minutes in total.

The DVD ROM content on this disc consists of a Demo for the PC game, which the packaging erroneously refers to as PS2. You`ll need a better PC than mine to run it. There are also 3 web comics that are very well accomplished and are well worth a read. Finally there are the Spider-Man visualisations, which consist of a screensaver, and WinAmp and MediaPlayer plug-ins, that all show a 3D Manhattan where a polygon Spidey gets to swing around and some fancy graphics to enhance your musical experience.

Blimey, all these extras deserve a 10 you may think. But I`m not going to give it, for while the discs are overflowing with extras, there are one or two small points that really irritate me. First, a company called WildTangent creates the visualisations I just mentioned. Installation is a relatively painless procedure, but when I ran Adaware over a hundred alerts started flashing (figuratively speaking), I found that they had flooded my system with spyware, little programs that report your web habits and preferences to interested third parties. This is a wholly irresponsible marketing policy on the part of Columbia (I`m assuming) and shouldn`t be condoned. Also while installation was simple, removing the offending software was a nightmare.

However the Spider-Man disc commits the far worse and more cardinal sin of omitting English subtitles for any of the extras. Now that is truly unforgivable.

Conclusion

Nowadays when it comes to comic book conversions, films like the X-Men and the Matrix have raised the bar considerably. Stylistically and in terms of narrative, films have to go the extra mile to impress, and Spider-Man doesn`t quite make it. It is perfect summer movie material, giving great visuals for you to chew your popcorn by, but there is a little something lacking that stops it being great movie and settles for being a good one instead.

However Spider-Man is notable for reversing one particular trend, that of comic book movies having to be dark and moody to be interesting. Spider-Man manages to be light, bright and engaging, yet remains true to the characters and story without lapsing into shadowy brooding stereotypes. In that respect, Spider-Man shares much with the movie that started the superhero revival, Superman The Movie, and I do find the homage in Times Square quite apt and charming.

Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as Peter Parker and makes the role his own. He nails the introverted teenager perfectly and gives him a sensitivity and humanity that really gives the audience something to relate to. Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin is excellent, and he takes what could easily have been a laughable role and makes it sinister and disturbing. But for me the star of the movie has to be J K Simmons whose character of J Jonah Jameson, the editor in chief of the Daily Bugle is inspired. The hard-bitten newsman is a joy to watch and is utterly entertaining. Unfortunately that is where the notable performances end. While Kirsten Dunst is gorgeous in every way and does her best with the character of Mary Jane Watson, I found that Mary Jane was quite underwritten and gave little opportunity to shine, ending up little more than a damsel in distress, I hesitate to use the word simpering, but no other descriptive springs to mind. Similarly, James Franco is hardly noticeable as Harry Osborn. The movie is owned totally by Maguire and Dafoe. There are a couple of notable cameos though, as Sam Raimi aficionados won`t be surprised by the appearance of Bruce Campbell as a Ring announcer, and my inner WWF fan was energised by the appearance of Macho Man Randy Savage, Yeah!

The film remains balanced on a precipice for much of the 2 hours, poised between laughably camp and seriousness, but while there are laughs and thrills, it never strays from that fine line and Sam Raimi carries it all off with aplomb. But similarly to the Batman franchise, the potential for straying remains in further sequels and has to be watched out for.

Indeed, Spider-Man also shares another drawback with the Batman movies that I fear may be more debilitating, but since I don`t wish to add any SPOILERS to my review, I`ll illustrate by using Batman as an analogy. The first Batman was very good, creating a dark brooding character and a flamboyant nemesis in the Joker. In hindsight, Jack Nicholson`s performance was the best thing about the film, and the Joker`s demise meant that another bad guy had to be found for the sequel, and so on, to less and less effect. By the time Arnold Schwarzenegger donned the ice suit the franchise was irretrievable. With one of the key characters in the Spider-Man universe gone at the end of the film that makes it harder for the sequels to live up to the promise of the first film. After all, the bad guys hardly ever die in the comic books, and similarly the X Men movies have taken pains to ensure that key characters survive from one movie to the next. The potential for Spider-Man to follow the Batman precedent is there and must be watched out for.

The final problem with the film is the September 11th overtones. It`s no secret that the terrorist attack on New York precipitated much revision to this film, not least the digital altering of skylines. But the inclusion of one scene where average New Yorkers vent their bile on the Green Goblin, may have been cathartic and therapeutic in those dark days following the attacks, but given the distance of time just seem tacky and out of place today in the narrative flow of the film.

Spider-Man isn`t a great film, but it is a good one, and will be at home in any film collection. The picture quality isn`t the best in the world, but the discs are overflowing with extras to sate the appetite of any comic fan. One or two minor niggles with the discs aside; you still get hours of goodness from this package. Recommended