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Spider-Man
Gift Set (see review for details) |
Full Screen VHS |
Full Screen DVD
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Click
Pictures to Order any version.
Why no
Widescreen Version listed...? See review...
To jump to the review of
the DVD's extras, click here.
The Film:
When reading early reviews for Spider-Man,
a paltry number of layman critics (and even one here-nameless, burned-out veteran
critic) gave comparisons to Superman and Batman; the two
other, most-attempted superhero franchises on the theatrical screen. Such critics fault Spider-man for being nothing like
these two older superhero film concepts. This, in
truth, is half of Spider-man's charm. If this Spider-man of 2002 is nothing like the
Superman
of 1978 or the Batman of 1989, that's why I love it.
Consider Superman, whose super powers were
there since infancy. He grew up
with these powers, so even when acting like a geek, he KNEW he was
actually way-cool. His Clark Kent persona is an act; a sham.
He never had to worry about being truly hurt, so therefore, his
identification with "us" in society will always be quite
distant. Compare this to Peter Parker, who grew up as an actual
social misfit; a class brain who
(horrors!) goes to school to learn something. Parker's life is at first
that of an average Joe, just trying to catch up with the morning school bus. He
then gets bit by a
super-charged spider (in the comics, radioactive; in this film,
DNA-altered), and is suddenly a super-hero. As a former human being who is
a "superhero" overnight, his is a story which, fanciful as it is
--and as much as I love Superman-- is far more believable...both
in comics, and here as well.
With such power comes great responsibility,
however, and this is a lesson Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire ) must learn
for himself. Peter is sick and tired of being pushed around, so when he
first gets his powers, he is simply out to capitalize on them, as the
latest WWF star; again, believable, because so
many of us would think the same thing. This decision comes at a hefty
price, however (as it does in the comics), when a family member suffers a
gruesome fate, thanks to a crook he let get away in a moment of
"innocent bystander" apathy. He learns about his role in the
world, as a newfound superhero, with the slow pace of a human being, and
not just the fictional schmaltz of an ain't-I-just-so-perfect? comic caricature.
Likewise for his love interest, Mary Jane
Watson (Kirsten Dunst), and his nemesis of the moment, Green Goblin (Williem
Defoe). This duo is not merely a girl who screams "Help" every
other scene, and a
villain trying to destroy the hero; these are equally average-Joe human beings
who gradually rise and fall into the personas they become. Mary Jane
shares not just "I love him because he saved my life" moments
with Spider-Man; she shares actual, tender moments with Peter, such as
when he rushes to meet her after her first audition (His line to cheer her
up is perfectly delivered: "I'll treat you to dinner. The sky's the
limit: Seven dollars and Eighty-Four cents!"). Likewise with the
interaction between villain Defoe and hero Maguire. When Goblin &
Spider-Man first communicate with one another, the one-liners aren't just
macho barbs; they can actually see why each man chose the life they did,
and each tries to sway the other to their way of thinking. It's one
of many perfectly played moments in this film.
Casting was well done here. In the main
roles, Maguire plays his role with just the right amount of subtlety; most
other young actors would have just hammed it up like a goofball, which
contrary to some fans' belief is not spider-man's style. Spidey has his
share of quips, as he does in this film, and yet he's no standup comic. In
a similar casting coup, Dunst is cute and pretty, yet not so much of a
diva that she can't portray a shadow of self-doubt; even when the most
popular girl at school, Mary Jane is rather insecure. Defoe was given the hardest task --to schizophrenically
talk to himself in key sequences-- and he handles them like a seasoned
pro.
While this may sound like gushing, it's a
fact that even the bit characters of this film have been well cast. Rosemary Harris and Cliff Robertson are excellent as Peter's Aunt May and
Uncle Ben. J.K. Simmons is fantastic as newspaper boss J. Jonah Jameson;
he steals every small scene he's in (I especially loved his line
to Peter when he asks for a job: "Look, 300 dollars for the
pictures...and meat...a box of meat for the holidays. That's all I can
give ya."). Meanwhile, the very important character of Parker's
friend (and Green Goblin's son) Harry Osborne,
is equally well handled,
which is a welcome sigh of relief to comic fans. Many Batman fans were
quite miffed at how Batman Forever merely pooh-poohed the
engrossing back story of Two-Face/Harvey Dent. There is no such delicate
touches here: the contrasting friendship of Peter and Harry, the love
triangle they have for Mary Jane, the animosity between Harry and
Spider-Man...this was no easy task to script,
perform, or cast. It is nice to see success in all
three departments.
Kudos should definitely be given to Sam
Raimi, whose directing effort here is perfectly handled. A less seasoned
director would either have truncated the action to a mere few days' time,
or gone too far forward/back in Spider-Man's life. In this film, we get to
see Spider-Man's whole origin --yet still roughly one year in
all-- from the Senior High School nerd, to
his learning to use his powers, to his first acts of heroism, to his first big battle with Green Goblin.
This would be a bit incredulous --even for a comic book-- if placed in a
mere week's timeline. Instead, we see a whole year of Peter Parker's life
(or close enough), and its subtlety is brilliantly non-obtrusive to the
story; we instead see
subtle clues as to the timeline, from the early-spring look of the first
scene, to Peter's early summer graduation, and --near the climactic
finale-- a friendly Thanksgiving dinner.
It deserves at least one paragraph in this
review, to praise Spider-Man for not making the New York City
populace themselves into mere cardboard cutouts. In a hilarious moment of
the film, they make it quite clear that they are no friends of the Green
Goblin --boo! hiss! let's throw junk at him!-- regardless of what he'd
possibly do to them, if pushed. This may not be the brightest way to react
to a super-villain, though it's believable that some people would dare to
go that extra mile when pushed to the edge themselves. Similarly, snippets
show the public's reaction to the new Spider-Man "vigilante"
coming to their aid, and these clips are equally well handled. In the end,
this is a film that was based on two-dimensional comic books, yet is as three-dimensional
as any story of Spider-Man ever was.
The DVD:
Sorry, kids; no deleted scenes! However, you'll never miss them, in a
two-disc DVD set where even disc one (usually "just the film"
elsewhere) has more extras than most stand alone DVDs, let along one with
a whole added disc! In addition to the typical film trailers, TV
commercials, and cast/character bios, Disc one also includes music videos
of the songs "Hero" and "What We're All About," and no
less than (no joke) half a dozen ways to see the film! However, before I
get into all that, allow me to vent a bit on the so-called
"Widescreen" version of this film, if I may...
Sure, faux "Widescreen Edition"
DVDs like this are nothing new. However, this was a film I loved, and it
deserves more respect than this. So much so, I only offer the order link for the Widescreen Edition here, not
above, in order to provide this fair warning: although promised in fine
print as the DVD digitized in "the original theatrical ratio," don't be fooled. Note the
side by side comparison above, of two reduced-in-size yet uncropped images
from the two versions. The full screen is as the center-action appeared in
theaters, with no cropping above or below the original scene. Note the
"widescreen" image --which should show more of the image, not
less-- with everything below the "pool" in the background
clearly cropped out. Admittedly, in this sample scene, this is no bog
deal; in the action scenes, it's a very big deal!
Kirsten Dunst fans may also take note that this means her now-infamous
"wet T-shirt kiss" with Spidey is far more G-rated, with less of
her assets visible (ahem). My advice? Go for the full screen.
Now, with that said, on to the extras. The
film itself includes two optional audio commentaries: one with SFX whiz
John Dykstra and the visual effects crew, the other with director Sam
Raimi, "Mary Jane's" Kirsten Dunst, producer Laura Ziskin and
co-producer Grant Curtis. I know; where was Tobey Macguire?!? Not that the
anecdotes of the producers, director, and Kirsten aren't intriguing
(including one when Kirsten admits to knowing more about Spidey's first
"real" girlfriend, Gwen Stacey, more than Mary Jane), though I
prefer the two additional ways to see the film; one with little pop-up
windows that appear a la a VH-1 music video, and the other with "web-isodes."
These are little spidey-sense icons that pop up at key moments of the
film; press Enter on your remote when they appear, and see a short video
clip of how they did that particular scene, behind-the-scenes, then jump
back to the film to see how the scene plays out on-screen. COOL!
All this, and I haven't even covered disc
two yet. This disc includes extras from two fronts; the comic, and the
film. The comic extras are mostly back-story, with a short yet
surprisingly thorough history of Spider man year-after-year since the
1960's (complete with the most memorable comic cover of that year), a
"Rogues Gallery" of Spider Villains, an additional gallery of
Peter Parker's most memorable girlfriends (though I'll always be a Mary
Jane fan through and through) and an additional gallery of comic book
art. Best of all, though, is a 25 minute featurette starring the comic
book's writers and artists through the years (including Stan Lee
himself!), offering insight to how Spider-Man has changed through the
years. This isn't even getting into the extras for DVD-ROM owners,
including a cool Spider-man visualizer for your favorite media player, 3
"dot comics" you can read on-screen, and best of all, a demo of the
PC game. There's even a nice trio of hints & tips, for those
who buy the full game.
In the "film extras" menu, there
are two cable TV featurettes: an HBO "First Look," and an E!
Entertainment special on "Spidey-Mania." Screen tests are shown
for Tobey Maguire, J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson) and the "screen
test" for the CGI spider man used in the film. While there are no
deleted scenes, there is a gag reel, though only one or two bloopers are
worth seeing; the rest is mostly of Williem Dafoe goofing off in his role,
as schizophrenic Norman Osborne. Topping off the list of film extras is a
conceptual art photo gallery, a 7-minute video profile of director Sam
Raimi, a similar video profile for Composer Danny Elfman, and an amusing
3-minute video of Costume and Makeup tests, where the cast wears several
optional wardrobe concepts not seen in the actual film.
To top it off, so close to the holiday
season, there's gotta be a "gift set"! This includes the
widescreen version of the film, as well as a separate DVD titled Stan
Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels (which, in addition to a
feature length interview between Lee and Kevin "Clerks"
Smith, even includes some of Lee's own home video footage!). In addition,
there's the following: a nice 10x6.5" lithograph suitable for framing
(and protected by its own shrink wrap until you do); a senitype (film
frame) picked especially by Sam Raimi, with his comments about that scene
on back; and best of all, an actual reprint of the actual, very first
comic Spider-Man ever appeared in: Amazing Fantasy #15! Call
me biased, though isn't that the coolest "collector's gift set"
any DVD ever offered? Either way, this is certainly one of the best films
of 2002, worthy of your video/DVD shelf, in any form.
Anyone who'd disagree, just shouldn't review movies anymore.
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Final Rating :
Deep Impact.
This film should be entertaining even to those not associated with
the comic book. If anyone has anything bad to say about this film,
they either had a really bad day, or they're just WRONG. |
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