Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man today makes his way to your friendly neighborhood video retailer. Sony’s mega-blockbuster sequel netted more than $780 million at the worldwide box office and is sure to set a few records on DVD and VHS as holiday shoppers snatch up the stocking stuffer.
Tobey Maguire is back in the red-and-blue leotards and Kirsten Dunst returns as his love interest, Mary Jane. Also returning to the cast are James Franco as Peter Parker’s best friend, Harry Osborne, and Rosemary Harris as Aunt May. J.K. Simmons also takes another scene-stealing turn as the crusty, fast-talking J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of The Daily Bugle. Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead trilogy, Darkman) is back at the helm, turning in a decidedly more personal film than the first Spider-Man. His roots in horror also peek out from time to time as he unleashes the fury of Doc Ock, a classic Spidey villain played brilliantly by Alfred Molina.
The film has been praised for its digital effects and the sophisticated puppetry involved in bringing Doc Ock to the screen. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled the lion’s share of the work, with Edge FX, Zoic Studios, Entity FX, Pixel Magic, Ring of Fire and Radium all contributing under visual effects supervisors John Dykstra (Spider-Man, Star Wars) and Scott Stokdyk (Spider-Man, Hollow Man).
The two-disc, widescreen special edition DVD comes complete with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound and such extra features as commentary by director Sam Raimi, actor Tobey Maguire, producer Ari Arad and co-producer Grant Curtis. There’s also technical commentary, a "Spidey Sense 2" pop-up trivia track, a blooper reel, four original online featurettes, a music video for Train’s “Ordinary,” a 12-part documentary titled Making the Amazing, the "Ock-umentary" Eight Arms to Hold You, a Peter Parker analysis titled Hero in Crisis, a featurette titled Interwoven: The Women of Spider-Man, a multi-angle look at the making of the film, an art gallery and behind-the-scenes look at the Activision video game.
Spider-Man 2 is rated PG-13 for stylized action violence. The widescreen special edition lists for $29.96 on DVD. Also available is the Spider-Man 2 Superbit Collection for $29.96, and a special four-disc gift set that includes an exclusive, limited edition portfolio featuring Spider-Man 2-inspired artwork by more than 25 well-known comic book artists. Also included are a postcard collection of Spider-Man 2 artwork, a collectible concept-to-screen comparison portfolio and The Amazing Spider-Man #50 comic book–a reduced-size reprinting of the original edition in which Peter Parker decides to give up being Spider-Man. Fans can pick it up for the suggested retail price of 49.95.
Spidey isn’t the only superhero returning to video stores today. Mark Steven Johnson’s director’s cut of Daredevil leaps to shelves as well. The film stars Ben Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano and Coolio in another page from the Marvel Comics Universe. This edition features twenty minutes of additional footage and commentary by director Johnson and producer Gary Foster. Fans also get a featurette titled Giving the Devil His Due: The Making of Daredevil Director’s Cut. The Fox Home Entertainment release lists for $19.98 on DVD.
In keeping with the hero theme, Miramax today released its presentation of the Chinese action hit, Hero. Directed by Zhang Yimou, the film stars Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Dao Ming and Donnie Yen in a multi-layered epic about a nameless warrior who protects an emperor from famous assassins. Extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, storyboards and Inside the Action: A Conversation With Quentin Tarantino and Jet Li. The disc lists for $29.99.
Leave a Reply