Spider-Man (Limited Edition Collector's Gift Set) |  | Director: Sam Raimi
Actors: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $49.95
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Rating:  1161 reviews
Sales Rank: 70546
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 121 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 11.2 x 7.7 x 2.7
MPN: 10008
ISBN: 1404905200
UPC: 004339610008
EAN: 9781404905207
ASIN: B00006G8G4
Theatrical Release Date: May 3, 2002
Release Date: November 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
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
Product Description
Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like abilities.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 1-NOV-2002
Media Type: DVD
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 1161
power and responsibility . . . Spider-Man in the hands of Sam Raimi March 6, 2010
trebe
For its time, Spider-Man (2002) is an impressive technical achievement, as well as an entertaining, straight ahead action film. Director Sam Raimi's interpretation of the vanguard of Marvel Comics, while a pretty good thrill ride, is open to much discussion, as he reconfigures the Spider-Man universe.
Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Dikto, back in 1963, and has become an icon among comic book superheroes. In 1967, Spider-Man appeared in an animated series, that captured much of the basic essence of the character, and helped to boost his popularity. The short lived 1978 TV series, demonstrated that realistically translating the character to live action, would be a major technical challenge. It would not be until after another twenty years had passed, that technology would advance far enough to make bringing the webslinger to the big screen possible.
With nearly forty years of history behind Spider-Man, the challenge was to decide what to focus on, and how to present the characters. While the screenplay gets some things right, there are other matters that do not play as well, as Spidey's life story gets a major makeover. The film takes the traditional route, starting at the beginning, with a retelling of the origin of the character, and after setting the stage, Act II focuses on Spider-Man's battle with the Green Goblin.
Casting was a crucial process, and after appearing as Spider-Man in three films, I have mixed feelings about Toby Maguire. Not so much with his performance as Spider-Man, but mostly as Peter Parker. His voice sounds too boyish, and his portrayal does not match my conception of the character. The writing is a major contributor to this, as Maguire's Parker comes off as more of a shy, clumsy, lovesick goof, rather than as teen struggling with coming to terms with being a superhero. The angst and inner conflict that Parker had in the early days (the first 100 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man), as well as Spidey's irreverent sense of humor, is completely missing. As is having to deal with financial troubles, and Aunt May's health concerns. While going in that direction might have dragged down the movie, even a critical element like Peter's relationship with Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), is glossed over.
In the 1960's era comics, Mary Jane was an outgoing swinger type, and bears little resemblance to the confusingly written 'good girl' character we have here. Peter is her neighbor for 12 years, yet she hardly knows him, and then he suddenly becomes her soulmate? Kirsten Dunst does a good job with the role as written. The issue is not with her performance, but again like Maguire, with the writing. Peter's love interest in the early comics was Betty Brandt, followed by Gwen Stacy. However, involving those characters would have probably been too complicated, particularly as the focus in the film is on Parker's high school life. Peter is made to appear to be afraid of girls, but in the comics he was more preoccupied with other matters, and regarded as a 'square', rather than being afraid. While the rationale for some of these decisions is understandable, the mixed up timeline, and the jumble of partial truths with fiction, can be hard for aficionados of the older comics to accept.
Listening to the comments by Raimi, John Dykstra, and others, it often sounds like they are selling a bill of goods. Repeatedly we hear things like Norman Osborn is like Peter's 'surrogate father', and that he favors Peter over his own son. Osborn offers to help Peter as Harry's roommate, but actually does nothing for him on a personal level. Willem Dafoe is an exceptional choice for the Osborn/Green Goblin role, but the Goblin's costume is ridiculous joke, looking like a shiny vinyl lizard that is hard to look at without laughing. It's too bad, because the Goblin maneuvers very well on his glider, and his pumpkin bombs are extremely stylish. When the Goblin knocks Spidey unconscious, in what universe is it possible, that while helpless, the Goblin didn't take the opportunity to peek under his mask? Wouldn't you?
Unlike the Goblin, Spider-Man's costume looks fabulous, although it is apparently not very durable, and the mask seems very prone to damage. Later in Spider-Man 2, the mask comes off so often as to be completely ridiculous. The special effects do a good job of recreating the kind of radical movements Spidey is capable of. He is almost flying across the skyline of New York. Peter's ability to create his own webbing, versus man made web shooters, is more in line with the DNA angle to his origin, and simplifies things for the filmmakers.
Revealing some of the deficiencies of Spider-Man, is the sequel Spider-Man 2 (2004), which is a much better film, particularly from a technical standpoint, where both Spidey and Dr. Octopus, do some amazing things. Unfortunately all three Spider-Man films, display an unfortunate pattern regarding the mortality of super-villains.
Sam Raimi definitely deserves a lot of credit for what he has achieved with the Spider-Man franchise. The films are spectacular, and very entertaining, and have forever lifted him from the ranks of cult horror films. With a history so long and rich, there will be issues regarding Spider-Man, no matter what road is taken. Raimi seems to have carte blanche regarding the character, and the films are rewriting Spider-Man's history in quite significant ways. It is apparent that the PG-13 films, are targeted squarely at a young audience, who have different tastes, and may have never read a Spider-Man comic. The decisions made here were crucial, as they established the framework for the films that follow, and will become 'reality' for those who have no other frame of reference.
Raimi had great power in deciding what to do, but did he live up to the responsibility of doing justice to Spider-Man? In the end, while the film successfully delivers Spider-Man, it falls very much short in depicting the lives of the real life characters.
 Spider-Man Widescreen February 11, 2010
desrtroz (Sparks, NV)
Purchased this DVD set to replace the VHS tape we had originally, so that we could watch it on our new tv. Great buy!
 movie February 6, 2010
Karen Best (virginia, usa)
The disc came to me with a huge sticky smudge all over it along with several deep scratches. Therefore the disc would not play even after I cleaned it as best as possible.
This Superheroic Slugfest/Love Story/Coming-of-Age Movie Made the Wait for This Flick Well Worth It! January 3, 2010
A.P. Fuchs / Canister X
This flick was decades in the making. So many legal setbacks forced Spider-man to bounce from rights holder to rights holder before finally finding a place with Sony to deliver the goods.
The hype surrounding this movie was astounding. I remember getting my copy of the soundtrack before the movie came out, and not just that, but also a copy of the "Hero" single by Nickelback as well. Seeing Spidey swinging over a gold-bathed New York on its cover got me even more stoked for this film.
And so, opening night, I went with my dad to check the movie out, my heart pounding with excitement, the previews before the movie taking excruciatingly long.
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), geek extraordinaire, gets bitten by a radioactive "super spider" while on a class fieldtrip as he tries to get a picture for the school paper of next-door-neighbour-slash-love-of-his-life Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). Following a bout of sickness, Peter wakes up the next morning no longer a skinny geek but instead buff and tough, wondering what happened to him. Adding to the weirdness, he's suddenly able to do things he wasn't able to do before: no need for glasses; lots of energy; fantastic agility; amazing strength; sticks to walls; shoots sticky white web-things out of his wrists; can sense bad things before they happen. So, like any good teenager with superpowers, he uses them to impress the girl of his dreams, in his case taking on a spider-like persona in a wrestling match to win some big money to buy a car. While on the way there, he fights with his uncle, Ben, and leaves in a huff, only to later find out the burglar he let get away--who had stolen from the wrestling folks who didn't pay him what he was worth--killed his uncle in an effort to swipe a getaway car.
Also going on, Norman Osborne (Willem Dafoe) is having trouble with his company and so, in a fit to prove to the military his superhuman formula works so he can sell it to them, he tries it on himself . . . but with dire side effects: the creation of an alternate personality which is eventually dubbed "the Green Goblin." When things go sour for the company, the board of directors votes him out and Norman goes into full villain mode to exact his revenge.
Across the city, Peter has learned that with great power comes great responsibility and so avenges his uncle's death by using his new spider-like powers for good and becomes the Amazing Spider-man.
It's hero versus villain, Spider-man versus the Green Goblin, in this superheroic slugfest/love story/coming-of-age movie that made the wait for this flick well worth it.
To be honest, however, the crazy overhype of this movie did put a damper on it for me when I first saw it. Straight up: when I left the theatre opening night I left disappointed. No that I thought it was awful, not by any means, it was just there was this lingering "Is that it?" feeling that hung over me as I made my way back to the car.
If anything, Spider-man is definitely an origin movie, something to set the stage for more to come, giving a rich back story and atmosphere not to just Peter Parker's world, but to each of the supporting characters, even J. Jonah Jameson (who J.K. Simmons played brilliantly, by the way).
The effects were top notch save for a couple moments where you clearly saw the Peter that was swinging and jumping from rooftop to rooftop was animated. Speaking of the swinging, when Spidey took you up and down through the deep concrete chasms of New York--man, you felt like you were there, swinging along with him. I heard they even developed a "spider-cam" for this movie. Cool. And that heartbreaking scene at the end where Peter turns down MJ? My heart bled for the guy.
Do I stand by Spider-man? Absolutely. I saw it again in the theatre, going back with the mindset of "seeing it for what it was," and I adored it afterward. Out of the three movies in this series so far, it's my second favorite. As for my favorite-favorite, just watch my reviews.
This was a superhero movie done right, done well and done just plain cool.
Recommended.
A.P. Fuchs
Canister X
With Great Films Comes Great Responsibility to Watch! December 6, 2009
Scotman (Sausalito, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
2002 saw the start of the era of the comic book movie, one that was heavy on tight storylines, great special effects and cunning direction. Spider-man fit that bill. Marvel Comics prime superhero, his story is interesting, his facts everyone can relate to.
Everything Peter is, Norman Osborn is too, except the Goblin is not a hero. As the Goblin said, "We are what we choose to be!"
Norman's company is about to die a slow death. He's not getting the military contracts he needs to keep the business going. The board of directors is stonewalling him and demanding his resignation. He must do something.
Peter's life in high school is full of humiliation and fear. He's not getting the respect he needs to keep his life going. His "friends" are stonewalling him and demanding he get out of their way. He must do something.
Through the fate of a radioactive, genetically enhanced spider, Peter gets the power he needed to make some changes in his life. Ah, what the Goblin would not do to possess such power.
There is humor in the piece, but also a lot of raw human emotion. If you have ever gone through teh grief process, you can relate to Aunt May and Peter's loss of Uncle Ben. However, you can also relate to Harry Osborn's grief process with his father (not knowing Norman is the infamous goblin).
Favorite scenes include the kissing scene, MJ's wet shirt, some funeral pathos, some New Yorkers getting angry, and Peter clueless about women.
Sam Raimi put together a great story here, taking the basic elements of the original Marvel Comics tale and made some changes. However, I still miss Gwen Stacy!
The double-disc of the widescreen edition is really hot. You have the film in Disc 1 and the usual scene selections. In Disc 2, it's full of interviews, screen tests, special effects mysteries revealed and so on. It's a cool package.
A must-see. Recommended.
See the trilogy together:
Spider-Man - The High Definition Trilogy (Spider-Man / Spider-Man 2 / Spider-Man 3) [Blu-ray]
Also see some other Tobey Macguire films:
Pleasantville (New Line Platinum Series)
Wonder Boys
Showing reviews 1-5 of 1161
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