The lyrics to the theme song of the old Spider-Man cartoon show start with "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can...", and apparently Columbia Pictures did what they could to release a top notch DVD of the record breaking film. As everybody probably knows by now, Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker(Tobey Maguire), a high school student, who gets bitten by a genetically altered spider during a school field trip. After being bitten he returns home and passes out. The following morning he awakes to discover that he no longer needs glasses, and after a run-in with a school bully he discovers that he's gained some of the spider's abilities as well. Deciding to make some money off of his new found abilities he becomes a wrestler, but after he lets a thief go the thief kills his uncle Ben. Feeling guilty, Peter becomes Spider-Man and vows to avenge his uncle's death and rid the city of crime.
Available from Columbia Pictures in a two-disc special edition, Spider-Man is available in seperate fullscreen and widescreen editions and comes with an english 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track, an english 2 channel Dolby Digital audio track, an english 1 channel Dolby Digital audio track and a french 5.1 Dolby Digital audio track. Subtitles are also included in english, french and spanish. Also worth mentioning is the fact that both the fullscreen and widescreen editions have different covers.
The special features include Weaving The Web: Subtitled Pactoids, two audio commentary tracks, branching Web-i-sodes, two music videos, theatrical trailers and tv spots, filmographies and character files, the HBO Making Of Spider-Man documentary, Spider-Mania: An E! Entertainment Special, a director profile on Sam Raimi, a composer profile on Danny Elfman, screen tests, costume and make-up tests, a gag/outtake reel, a conceptual art and production design gallery, Spider-Man: The Mythology Of The 21st Century documentary, the Spider-Man comic archives, a rogue's gallery, The Loves Of Peter Parker gallery, a comic book artists gallery, hints and tips for the Spider-Man video game and a bunch of DVD-ROM extras as well.
The Weaving The Web feature is a very well researched subtitle trivia track that pops up throughout the film revealing bits of information on both the film and its comic book counterpart. From information on the making of the film to the history of the comic book every aspect is touched upon with great detail. Well worth a look.
There's also two audio commentary tracks included on this disc. The first is actually made up of two seperate audio commentary tracks that have been seamlessly put together. The commentators(director Sam Raimi, co-producer Grant Curtis, star Kirsten Dunst and producer Laura Ziskin) discuss the making of the film while on the second audio commentary track visual effects designer John Dykstra, visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk and director of animation Anthony LaMolinara give us a very technical look at the film's visual effects.
The branching Web-i-sodes, called Spider-Sense in the special features menu, allow you to access other featurettes whenever a Spider-Man icon appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. There's a total of six Web-i-sodes(Spider Wrangler, Bone Saw McGraw, The Model Maker, Designing The World Of Spider-Man part 1, Designing The World Of Spider-Man part 2 and The Prop Maker) that last anywhere from under two minutes to over eight minutes.
The character files features filmographies for Tobey Maguire(Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Kirsten Dunst(Mary Jane Watson), Rosemary Harris(Aunt May), Willem Dafoe(Norman Osborn/Green Goblin), J.K. Simmons(J. Jonah Jameson) and Cliff Robertson(Uncle Ben). Profiles on their characters are also available by going to the second page of the actor's filmography and pressing the up arrow button on your remote to highlight their name. Once highlighted press enter. Profiles are available for all except Uncle Ben.
Rounding out the special features on the first disc are theatrical trailers for Spider-Man, XXX, Mr. Deeds, Men In Black II, Stuart Little 2, a video trailer for Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters And Marvels, music videos for Hero by Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott and What We're All About by Sum 41, ten tv spots, a Cingular Wireless commercial featuring Spider-Man and directed by Sam Raimi and some DVD-ROM content, including the ability to record your own audio commentary track.
Now on the second disc the special features are seperated into two sections. Web Of Spider-Man contains the special features about the comic book and Goblin's Lair contains the special features about the film. I'll discuss each section seperately.
In this section you'll find The Evolution Of Spider-Man, hints and tips for the Spider-Man video game and DVD-ROM content. The Evolution Of Spider-Man contains Spider-Man: The Mythology Of The 21st Century, Spider-Man archives, Rogue's Gallery, Artists Gallery and The Loves Of Peter Parker gallery.
Spider-Man: The Mythology Of The 21st Century(25:23) is a look at the Spider-Man comic book through a series of interviews with comic book artists who have worked on the various Spider-Man series as well as with other people who work in the comic book field, including Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee. For those new to the Spider-Man legacy it's a nice beginner's guide that long time fans will also enjoy.
The Spider-Man comic archives is a series of still galleries that allow you to see various covers from The Amazing Spider-Man, volumes one and two, throughout the years. There's anywhere from one to five covers per year with every year from 1963 to 2001, except 1978 and 1993, being included. You can also access information on each issue by selecting a cover and pressing enter on your remote.
The Rogue's Gallery features background information(real name, occupation, first appearance, history and weapons and power) on Spider-Man's enemies. Those included are Hobgoblin, Dr. Octopus, Chameleon, Sandman, Electro, Green Goblin, Mysterio, Lizard, Venom, Shocker, Rhino, Kraven, Scorpion and Vulture.
Also included in this section is the Artists Gallery which features four still galleries(Environments, Spider-Man, Green Goblin and Comic Book Artists Gallery), The Loves Of Peter Parker gallery and some DVD-ROM content, including a demo of the Spider-Man video game.
In this section you'll find the HBO Making Of Spider-Man documentary, Spider-Man: An E! Entertainment Special, a director profile on Sam Raimi, a composer profile on Danny Elfman, screen tests and a gag/outtakes reel.
The HBO Making Of Spider-Man documentary(24:37) starts off with a barrage of scenes from the film and behind-the-scenes footage. The cast and crew interviews soon follow. And like on all other making of's they don't discuss the making of the film but instead choose to discuss their characters and what the film is about. Unfortunately, since this film is based on a very popular comic book character, none of what they say is news to you if you're a fan. What is nice however is the amount of behind-the-scenes footage that is actually included. Unlike most making that include the bare minimum amount of behind-the-scenes footage this documentary is actually filled to the brim with it.
Spider-Mania: An E! Entertainment Special(40:25) is actually quite like the HBO Making Of Spider-Man. It features both behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interviews but unlike the HBO Making Of Spider-Man they actually discuss the making of the film a bit. While not a lot is revealed they do talk about the casting of Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe and Kirsten Dunst, some of the stunts in the film, selecting the right spiders for the film and the possibilities of a sequel. Sam Raimi reveals that a sequel is being written but Dr. Octopus will not be the villain in that film, which is kind of funny since it's just recently been revealed that Alfred Molina will star in the sequel as Dr. Octopus.
The director profile on Sam Raimi(7:02) features footage of him directing Spider-Man intercut with cast and crew interviews as they talk about how great it was working with him. Sam also talks about his love of Spider-Man and how he got to direct the film.
The composer profile on Danny Elfman(7:25) features footage of him working on the score intercut with interview footage of him revealing how he created the music for Spider-Man.
Rounding off the special features in this section are screen tests for Tobey Maguire, J.K. Simmons, Kirsten Dunst and the cgi Spider-Man as well as costume and make-up tests.
That may be all for the special features that are advertised, but there's also a great deal of easter eggs included on both discs. For those of you who don't know, easter eggs are special features that are hidden and you have to go looking for them. The first disc contains three easter eggs. To access the first one press the up arrow button on your remote to highlight the little red button just over the Play Movie button on the main menu and press enter. This will give you a quick navigation screen which includes everything(audio set up, subtitles, scene selection and special features) on the same screen. The second egg can be found by accessing the commentaries page in the special features section. Highlight the words special features and press the left arrow button on your remote to reveal a spider on James Franco's shirt, now press enter to see some cgi bloopers. I've already mentioned the third egg earlier in my review so I won't repeat it here, but in case you're wondering it's the character files.
The second disc features five easter eggs and they're all hidden in the Web Of Spider-Man section. To access the first one go to the DVD-ROM section and press the up arrow button on your remote. This will make Spider-Man's head appear on the screen. Now press enter to see a featurette called A New Twist On The Webs. The four remaining eggs are all available in The Evolution Of Spider-man sub-section. Two of the eggs are in the Rogue's Gallery. To access the first one highlight Dr. Octopus and press the up arrow button on your remote. This will make squiggly lines appear over Spider-Man's head, now press enter to get background information on the Sinister Six. The second egg in the Rogue's Gallery is available by selecting Electro. Once his screen is up highlight the Spider-Man icon and press the down arrow button on your remote, now press enter to get a fullscreen 3-D version of him. This also works with Venom and Scorpion. To access the fourth egg highlight the words Artists Gallery and press the right arrow button on your remote. The words The Romita's will appear on screen, now press enter to see a featurette entitled The Romitas. Now the last egg is hidden in the Artists Gallery. Once inside select the Comic Book Artists Gallery and press enter. Scroll through the gallery until you reach one done by Terry Dodson, you'll know which one it is because his name is written underneath it, and press the up arrow button on your remote. His signature will appear on the drawing. Now press enter to get an extra stills gallery.
The film looks great and the extras should be enough for anybody, and if they're not the easter eggs should do it. If you're a fan of the film, the comic books or both, you won't be disappointed.