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Spider-Man [2002]
from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
starring Tobey Maguire|Willem Dafoe|Kirsten Dunst|James Franco
directed by Sam Raimi

Features:

• Anamorphic
• Box set
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Marvel Comics fans have been waiting for this big-screen Spider-Man since the character made his print debut in 1962, which attaches impossible expectations to a film that rates as a solid success without breaking out of the spandex ghetto in the way that Batman Returns or X-Men did. Tobey Maguire is ideally cast as speccy Peter Parker, a high school swot with personal problems. The suit and effects take over when he gets bitten by a genetically engineered (i.e., no longer radioactive) spider and transforms into a web-swinging superhero who finds that these super-powers don't really help him get close to the girl next door (Kirsten Dunst) or protect his elderly guardian (Cliff Robertson) from random violence. The villain of the peace is Peter's best friend's industrialist father (Willem Dafoe) who has dosed himself on an experimental serum which makes him go all Jekyll-and-Hyde and emerge as the cackling Green Goblin, who soon gets a grudge against Spider-Man.

Sam Raimi gives it all a bright, airy, kinetic feel, with wonderful aerial stuff as Spider-Man escapes from his troubles by swinging between skyscrapers, and the rethink of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's origin story is managed with a canny mix of faithfulness (JK Simmons' as the crass editor JJ Jameson is the image of the comic character) and send-up (after a big introduction, Spider-Man finally appears in a really rubbish first attempt at a spider costume). Maguire and the impossibly sweet Dunst make it work as a hesitant teen romance, but somehow the second half, which brings on the villain to give the hero someone to fight, is only exciting when it wants to be affecting too. --Kim Newman

On the DVD: Spider-Man's two-disc offering is nothing out of the ordinary, but fans will find some gems here including Stan Lee's thoughts, a gallery of comic cover art and profiles on the baddies. The two commentaries (cast and crew, and Special Effects) both have long periods with pauses, but the special effects guys are full of insight. The DVD-ROM section offers some of the more exciting features, including three comics transferred onto your computer, page by page, although be aware that the "Film to Comic" comparison is not for the original but for the new comic of the film. As you would expect from a blockbuster superhero film, the sound and vision are immaculate. --Nikki Disney

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Worst CGI in a big budget film ever?
  If you are going to use such poor CGI why not just produce a cartoon? The film itself is pretty run of the mill but the fact that spiderman looks about as realistic as a computer game sprite circa 1983 sends this tumbling down the rubbish shoot. Spidey - you suck son!

• Look out... Here comes the Spider-Man
  There were super hero movies before Spider-Man, and many of them were very good, but the glut of summer box office films drawn from the genre really began here. If Spidey's appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 back in the early sixties started the Marvel Age of Comics then this piece of box office gold kickstarted the Marvel Age of Movies.
  The story revolves around nerdy Peter Parker, smart, likeable, and decent who is bitten by a genetically altered spider and gains the proportionate abilities of a human... more info

• The Best Comic Book Movie Next To Batman Returns
  This review will be split into three sections, they will be The Story, The Characters & The Verdict. This will give you a fair and true description of the movie and its characters and will give you my personal opinion of the movie which should help you make an informed decision on whether to watch this film for the first time or whether to stay away like you have already done for six years.
  The Story: Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker an aspiring photographer who one day is taking pictures of his... more info

• rubbish overated rubbish
  cant belive this is so highly rated this is bland,boring and predictable
  the cgi is awful and the acting below par.this is a misfire

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