Amazon.ca
For devoted fans and nonfans alike,
Spider-Man offers nothing less--and nothing more--than what you'd expect from a superhero blockbuster. Having proven his comic-book savvy with the original
Darkman, director Sam Raimi brings ample energy and enthusiasm to Spidey's origin story, nicely establishing high-school nebbish Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) as a brainy outcast who reacts with appropriate euphoria--and well-tempered maturity--when a "super-spider" bite transforms him into the amazingly agile, web-shooting Spider-Man. That's all well and good, and so is Kirsten Dunst as Parker's girl-next-door sweetheart. Where
Spider-Man falls short is in its hyperactive CGI action sequences, which play like a video game instead of the gravity-defying exploits of a flesh-and-blood superhero. Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as Spidey's schizoid nemesis, the Green Goblin, and the movie's a lot of fun overall. It's no match for
Superman and
Batman in bringing a beloved character to the screen, but it places a respectable third.
--Jeff Shannon
Additional Features
When so many DVDs offer making-of featurettes and commentaries, it's a real treat to get something different on the
Spider-Man DVD: a 25-minute documentary, "Spider-Man: The Mythology of the 21st Century," that examines the history of the Marvel comic book through original art and interviews with co-creator Stan Lee and artists such as John Romita, John Romita Jr., Todd McFarlane, and John Byrne. There is also a comics archive and artists gallery. And if you want info about the movie, you can get that, too: a commentary track by director Sam Raimi, actor Kirsten Dunst, producer Laura Ziskin, and co-producer Grant Curtis, plus a technically oriented commentary by the effects crew; pop-up factoids offering trivia about the movie and comic book; occasional Easter eggs leading to featurettes (e.g., 90 seconds on wrestler Randy Savage as Bonesaw McGraw); and promotional documentaries, screen tests, outtakes, and the like.
--David Horiuchi
![Spider-Man 2 (Widescreen) [Superbit]](http://img.amazon.ca/images/I/51G7MSH72BL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
