Spider-Man DVD Review
Posted by Dane on 11.05.2002
Spider-Man swings onto DVD, but is it tangled in a web of mediocrity?
Spider-Man DVD
Release Date: November 1st, 2002
The Film
In the beginning of Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker spoon-feeds the theme of the movie to the audience. With his opening dialogue, the viewer knows to expect a love story hidden underneath glitzy special effects and characters in spandex fighting each other. It’s amazing how one piece of dialogue can move along the rest of the movie, but when Parker says this story, like most stories, is about a girl, he wasn’t lying. Unlike previous comic book adaptations that rely on big names and popular villains to make them successful, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man has a nice balance between substance and special effects.
Spider-Man purists may be slightly upset with the story-line of the movie, because instead of focusing on plot points from Spider-Man’s origin in the 60’s, the filmmakers chose to base the movie on the updated stories from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book. Gwen Stacy is nowhere to be found in the movie and instead of meeting Mary Jane, played by Kirsten Dunst, later in life, Parker grew up with her. This helps the central love story between Peter and Mary-Jane hold up, and makes you feel for Parker when you see Mary-Jane with deadbeats like Flash Thompson and Harry Osborne.
Like all comic book movies, I’m always a bit weary about casting choices before I actually see the movie. That is why I’m usually so impressed with the actors after the movie. As a huge comic fan, I have the right to be critical though. I grew up with these characters and have spent years putting together “what if” casts for the movies. Now that one of my favorite characters finally has a full-length movie, I was extra critical with Raimi’s choices for Spider-Man. After two hours, I have come to the conclusion that no one else could ever do a better job than Tobey Maguire did as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. From the first frame of the movie, to the end credits, he is Spider-Man. I’m just surprised Raimi didn’t give Evil Dead pal Bruce Campbell a bigger role. He could have given Willem Dafoe a run for his money as the Green Goblin. Besides Maguire, the rest of the cast is interchangeable in my opinion, even Kirsten Dunst.
My only true gripe with the movie is the costuming of the Green Goblin. I know it’s a modern interpretation and a way to make the character seem a bit more realistic, but he just end up looking like a retarded robotic troll. The strength of the story, and Raimi’s attention to detail and visuals, more than make up for the inferior costuming. I may have liked to see a bit more web swinging, but I guess that’s what sequels are for. After seeing this, you’ll probably put Spider-Man in your Top Five favorite comic book movies.
Video Quality
The transfer from big screen to DVD was rather friendly to Spider-Man. With an aspect ratio of 1:85:1, it’s almost like watching it on the big screen. For some reason, a few seconds of the movie forgot to get transferred from big screen to DVD. The scene with Kirsten Dunst spinning around after kissing Spider-Man in the rain was cut drastically. I guess the filmmakers thought we saw enough of her nipples in the theatrical release.
All of the menus are based on various parts of the movie, but at times, it is hard to tell what you’ve actually highlighted. If this were a bit clearer, it would make navigation a bit less frustrating.
Audio Quality
Spider-Man has 5.1 Dolby Digital presentation in French and English as well as English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Two commentary tracks have also been added to the feature.
Special Features
Since this is the Limited Edition DVD Collector’s Gift Set, it comes with a few added bonuses besides those on Disc Two of the actual feature. Besides the rather bulky box, you also get a copy of the Stan Lee’s Mutants, Monsters, and Marvels DVD, a reprint of Amazing Fantasy 15, a reproduced Spidey lithograph and a film cell picked out by Sam Raimi. The additional DVD that comes with the box set is its only real selling point because everything else is just fluff.
As for the features on the Spider-Man DVD, the neatest one is a pop up video like subtitle option to view during the feature. There are also “Web-i-sodes” that enhance the movie experience.
Disc Two of the Spider-Man DVD has all the usuals: making of featurettes, making of specials from various networks, theatrical trailers, and tons of production notes features. The one cool thing is Tobey Maguire’s screen test. If you know anything about what went into casting him, Columbia Tristar wasn’t exactly sold on him, so he produced this screen test to show how much ass he could kick. You also get to see J.K. Simmons read for J. Jonah Jameson. On the gag reel, you get to see Willem Dafoe mess around, but, once again, that’s unnecessary. None of the special features, except maybe for the exclusive marvel.com web comics you can access through DVD-ROM, and the commentaries, are that special. Much like the gift box, the features on Spider-Man are mostly fluff.
Film: 9
Video Quality: 7
Sound Quality: 8.5
Special Features: 7
The 411: If you like Spider-Man or Sam Raimi, then you’ll love this movie. Sam Raimi does the near impossible by making a practically faithful translation from comic to film. Instead of glitz and glamour, he pays more attention to humanizing Spider-Man, which is one of the main reasons he’s still popular to this day. While most of the special features can’t live up to how good the actual movie is, Spider-Man is still a must have. The gift Box is a bit frivolous, so stay away from it unless you’re a major collector. If you still want the Stan Lee DVD, it retails around 14.00, so you’d save a few bucks if you bought it separately. If you like Stan Lee tooting his own horn and Kevin Smith, then you’ll want the Stan Lee DVD as well. If you don’t have at least the Spider-Man DVD yet, you’re a fool.
