DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS, 128 minutes, 2 discs:

disc one- two commentary tracks, blooper reel, four web-i-sodes featurettes, Spider Sense 2 fact track, previews, disc two- Making The Amazing documentary, Hero In Crisis featurette, Eight Arms To Hold You (Ock-Umentary), Interwoven: The Women of Spider-Man, Enter The Web multi-angle featurette, Art gallery, Behind-the-scenes look at the Spider-Man 2 video game

STUDIO: Columbia/SPHE

RELEASE DATE: 11-30-2005

ANALYSIS: I grew up reading the Spider-Man comics in the 1980s from the current issues to the reprints of the early issues. as much as people like what Sam Raimi did with the Spider-Man movies, I do think the movies are flawed even though the sequel is better than the first one. The roles of Peter and Mary Jane are miscast (sorry, Kirsten Dunst fans. The MJ in the comics is better looking) while every other role is cast to perfection. All you need to know is Peter Parker has a crisis over being Spidey or being with Mary Jane when Dock Ock decides to get involved in the mess of Peter's life as Spider-Man.

MOVIE REVIEW:   https://enterline2.tripod.com/spiderman2.html

VIDEO/AUDIO: SPIDER-MAN 2 is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Colors are OK, but they look rather dull and not that bright looking at times. Blacks are OK and image detail is fair. Not the most impressive transfer for a movie.

On the other hand, the audio fares better. You can SPIDER-MAN 2 in English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 DD, English 2.0 Dolby Surround, or Spanish 2.0 Dolby. Subtitle options include English, French, or Spanish. Dialogue comes through clear while the music (and sound effects) really come across.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Two audio commentaries are included on disc one for the movie. The first commentary is with director Sam Raimi, actor Tobey Maguire, producer Avi Arad, and co-producer Grant Curtis. The interesting tidbit that stuck out was that they had the Black Cat in the early drafts of the script. The other track is a technical commentary on the special effects.

A Spider-Sense 2 Fact track you can turn on and get facts about the movie and the comics while you watch the movie. The Blooper Reel is interesting and funny at times (wait until you find the Alfred Molina outtake Easter egg on disc two). Also on disc one is a music video, four featurettes that were originally shown online (including Alfred Molina and the producers at a panel at 2002 San Diego ComicCon), and previews (including trailers for Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2).

Disc Two has many faturettes, a 12 part documentary called MAKING THE AMAZING (which runs for two hours), the Enter The Web multi-angle featurette which looks at what went into shooting the various elements for a climatic scene in the SPIDER-MAN 2, a look at the SPIDER-MAN 2 video game, and an Art Gallery of the Alex Ross paintings used in the title credit sequence.

MAKING THE AMAZING goes into the production of the movie from start to finish. They used a unique system called SpideyCam to get how Spider-Man is moving in the air with his web slinging among other info revealed in this documentary featuring cast and crew interviews.

HERO IN CRISIS looks at Peter Parker's internal battles and how it was originally used by Stan Lee for the 50th issue of the first Spider-Man comic book. EIGHT ARMS TO HOLD YOU is a featurette on Dock Ock in the comics and the movie. Production designs of Dock Ock are shown. INTERWOVEN: THE WOMEN OF SPIDER-MAN talks about the women in the Spider-Man movies and comics including comic book character Gwen Stacey (who was merged into the movie version of Mary Jane).

FINAL ANALYSIS: If you want extras, this is the DVD for you to buy,. if you want the best transfer of the movie, buy the Superbit version of the movie.

this DVD Review is (c)2-17-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content (and site updates) at http://www.livejournal.com/enterlinemedia