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I'm not one usually prone to writing gushing fan letters, but I decided to break my own self-imposed rules after seeing your first big-screen adventure, aptly titled Spider-Man. You are one of my childhood idols and I've followed your every exploit over the years, from your early comic book adventures to one of the greatest animated TV serie ever, The Amazing Spider-Man. I even waited with bated breath every week for the latest episode in your short- lived 70's live action television show, the one where you wore giant pieces of aluminum foil over your eyes but still managed to kick ass anyway. Could Superman or Batman fight crime with tin foil spectacles and six-inch red heels? I think not.

So it is with some regret that I have to write this letter, because after years and years of waiting, finally seeing your big blockbuster movie was a bit of a letdown. Truth be told, your film ain't that bad and is certainly faithful to the origin of your life story. That Maguire kid can act and makes a pretty good Peter Parker, and what a hottie that Kirsten Dunst is, looking rather fetching under all that red hair dye! But I just have to believe that when you were flying around fighting crime all those years ago, you didn't look like a wimpy CGI cartoon. And why did it take you so long to whup the Green Goblin's ass? Couldn't you even tell that your best friend was really your arch nemesis' son? So much for that Spidey sense!

But the last five minutes of your flick is certainly promising for future installments. Now that we've got that backstory out of the way, maybe the real fun can begin? I expect more hot Peter/Mary Jane/Harry spider-on-girl-on-boy action, better stunts, and slicker effects. Tapping wunderkind Sam Raimi to direct was also an inspired choice (and locking him in for another one was aces), so I'm confident the next chapter will be even more fun. Other quick hints: shorten the runtime by dropping all the needless exposition, get a better villain, and give Mr. Jameson more screen time. He's funny. Oh, and can you at least try on that cool black costume you got back in the 80s? That was neat.

I know you have agents and lawyers and things so your participation in the flick was probably minimal anyway, but didn't you have to at least sign off on the project? I know you're laughing it up in Tahiti right now or counting your millions at the superhero retirement home, but I'm hoping for a more direct involvement on your part for future sequels. Don't make the same mistake Batman did and drop out after the first couple and watch your alter-ego start sporting rubber codpieces and painted-on nipples -- or even worse -- get turned into a campy musical. You're cooler than that, dude! But until then, I guess I'll just have to placate myself with this one for now. Looking forward to the next one, though!

Sincerely, Peter M. Bracke

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment is releasing 2002's biggest blockbuster hit in separate 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and full screen versions. We, of course, have chosen to review the widescreen version. To be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed by the visual look of this film when I saw it theatrically on opening day: It looked drab, murky and kinda fuzzy, especially the CGI. But this new DVD actually improves upon it in many ways, with stronger colors and an overall snappier appearance. However, it still can't quite match the new reference standard set by other recent blockbuster DVD releases, like Star Wars Episode II or Lord of the Rings. But it will have to do.

Seeing as this film is only a few months old, it is not surprising that the source material is in great shape. There is nary a blemish or major anomaly to be found, although there is some light grain permeating most of the runtime. Colors are fairly well saturated but not really eye-popping, especially the dull New York exteriors and non-action scenes. Fleshtones also veer towards the pinks far too often, which is annoying and adds to the artifical look. I also noticed a bit of noise, however slight, on the most highly-saturated hues, along with what looks to be "dot crawl" on larger close-ups of faces and solid backgrounds. Given all the extras crammed along with the feature on disc one, there is also some minor compression artifacting present, again mostly noticeable on solid backgrounds and long dissolves and fades.

Given such problems, detail is not as sharp and three-dimensional as I had hoped. The film looks rather flat, with shadow delineation good but not great. Any sort of edge enhancement or noticeable haloing is not detectable, so the transfer does have a smooth appearance. The film does have what appears to be an intentionally dark and soft quality, so this transfer represents the theatrical experience fairly well. But it's just good, not great.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, those hoping for a new demo favorite may need to look elsewhere. First the good stuff. As you would expect on a $100 million movie, it's a model of the modern Hollywood soundtrack in terms of dynamic range and cleanliness of the recording. The front soundstage is wonderfully spacious and full, with robust midrange and stellar separation of the music, effects and dialogue. And despite all the razzmatazz and action scenes, the dialogue is crystal clear and I never once had to fiddle with the volume during quieter scenes or pop on the subtitles.

However, my big disappointment with this presentation is the inconsistent use of the surrounds. They really only kick in during the big scenes, and even then I've heard better imaging and discrete effects on other big- budget DVDs. The score is also too confined to the front, with only some bleed to the rears. Subtle ambiance is all but absent, and imaging from front to back is fair but nothing more. The .1 LFE does kick out some low bass, so turned up loud this mix still delivers at least during the action scenes. A perfectly fine mix, just not reference quality.

Also included is a French 5.1 Dolby surround track, and although it is not listed on the packaging, an alternate English 2.0 Dolby surround mix. Even weirder is the inclusion of yet another audio track in mono, but I skipped around throughout the movie, and it appears to be utterly silent! Don't ask me to explain it! Subtitle options in English and Spanish are also included, as well as English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

At last, Spidey fans, it's here! This two-disc set certainly doesn't lack for extras, although it does feel a bit like a patchwork. Checking out the various DVD credits, it seems to have been a hodgepodge of contributions from various parties, and there is a lot of material recycled from television. It's not terrible, but to be honest I was expecting fresher, better and more. Also a bit frustrating are the animated menus: they sure look nice, but the very, very tiny navigation overlays make figuring out what you're actually selecting very difficult.

Let's start with disc one, which has its own considerable share of extras. First up is Spider Sense, an extended branching version of the film featuring "Web-i-sodes," short 2-4 minute vignettes on various aspects of the film. I counted at least six (but there may be more), including such tasty little morsels as "Bone Saw McGraw," "The Model Maker, and "Designing the World of Spider-Man." Unfortunately, these are so short they don't offer much real info, so this feels more like a gimmick than anything else. In order to access the "Web-i-sodes," select the Spider Sense option from the menu (which disables any subtitle options) and wait for the little Spidey icon to pop up on the screen. And annoyingly for owners of widescreen sets like myself, all the material is presented in full screen only, so it doesn't match the main feature.

Disc one also includes not one but two new screen-specific audio commentaries, the first with cast and crew including director Sam Raimi, co-producers Grant Curtis and Laura Ziskin, and star Kirsten Dunst, and the second with the SFX crew, led by John Dykstra and his team including Anthony and visual effects supervisor Scott. Perhaps my expectations were inflated -- I was expecting a lot from the cast and crew commentary, but dare I say it is rather...boring? The track is screen-specific and segregated by gender (Raimi/Curtis, Ziskin/Dunst), and gets off to an awkward start. At least Raimi has a sense of humor, introducing the film as "the one you paid too much to see," but only he and Ziskin offer much in the way of insight. Dunst delivers little more than one sentence on her character and pithy words of encouragement ("That's the best title sequence ever!", "That was so cool!", or "Oh, wow, really?"), and to be honest, after an hour I started to nod off. This track is marred by plenty of dead space and even deader-than- deadpan delivery, making for a less-than-thrilling experience. The SFX commentary is actually a little better, partially because we almost expect technical commentary tracks to be boring anyway. Dykstra is of course mega-renown for his years of amazing work so it is initially exciting to hear him speak, and unlike the filmmaker track, he generally keeps the pace moving. However, any scene without effects -- of which there are a considerable number, given that this is an "origin" story -- lags and the track does get rather technical. Some of the effects in the film are fun, especially the Green Goblin stuff, but a little of this stuff goes a long way for me. Perhaps combining both tracks into one would have worked better? There certainly is enough time to kill in both to have made it worth a shot...

Thankfully, taking up the slack is the Weaving the Web subtitle factoid track. Bouncing all over the place, we get everything from tidbits on Spidey's comic origins, other superhero movies, cast and crew info, background on the filming locations, and some plot points and character relationships. What's kinda neat about this track versus others of its ilk are the clever Spidey graphic icons that contain the text, and the slick way they fade in and out onscreen. Adding much-needed insight, this makes a nice way to view the film along with the boring commentaries.

Rounding out disc one are some Character Files for the six main actors in the film. These are simple filmographies but are laid out in a Daily Bugle newspaper format that's cute. The Marketing Campaign section includes six anamorphic widescreen trailers (one for Spider-Man in Dolby 5.1, the rest for other Columbia flicks like XXX and Men in Black II), 11 TV spots, and the "Hero" by Chad Kroeger and "What We're All About" by Sum 41 music videos, each presented in full frame and 2.0 stereo.

Moving on to disc two, the extras are cleverly divided into two sections: "The Web of Spiderman - The Comic" and "The Goblin's Lair - The Movie." All the video-based extras included in both sections are presented in full screen only, and I could find no subtitle or caption options.

It's probably best to start off with The Comic section, which gives us some nice background on the Spidey mythos. Spider-Man: The Mythology of the 21st Century leads the way, a 25-minute featurette on the history of the comic. This is a simple, direct presentation with talking head interviews (including Marvel maven Stan Lee, artists John Byrne, John Romita Sr. and Jr., Erik Larsen, and fan favorite Todd McFarlane) intercut with plenty of comic stills. Despite the blah format, it is rather nice to hear from these "old-timers" surprised at the sudden resurgence in popularity of big-screen comic book adaptations and the resilience of the Spidey mythos. Highlights inlcude a look at the genesis of the character, Romita, Jr. sketching Spidey, and the seriousness and respect all have for the work and the "franchise." A bit dry for non-comic fans, but devotees should dig it.

Also included in The Comic section are four still galleries: "Spider-Man Archives," "Artists Gallery," "Rogue's Gallery," and "The Loves of Peter Parker." The "Archives" section is way cool, providing a complete look at every Amazing Spider-Man comic from the 60s through the 21st century, year by year. These archives are easy to navigate, and although each issue isn't reprinted page by page, we do get a synopsis and cover shot of each issue, and this kind of history is great to have on a DVD. "The Artists Gallery," aka "Peter Parker's Darkroom," is divided into four subsections of images on "Environments," "Green Goblin," "Spider- Man" himself, and other various artist creations. Not a look at the actual movie itself but a sort of gallery tour of the Spidey comics, this section is somewhat confusingly laid out but I was able to find nearly 200 stills, and there are likely more. Ditto for the "Rogues Gallery," featuring both "History" and "Weapons and Power" text and stills on 14 arch Spidey villains: Hobgoblin, Dr. Octopus, Chameleon, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, Lizard, Venom, Shocker, Rhino, Craven, Scorpion, Vulture, and of course The Green Goblin. Last but not least is "The Loves of Peter Parker," the lightest but most fun, with various brightly-colored text screens offering back history on four of Peter's greatest loves: Betty Brandt, Gwen Stacey, The Black Cat and Mary Jane Watson. Rounding out The Comic section is the useless Activision Game Hints & Tips section, and a link to the disc's DVD-ROM features (see below.)

Pop on over to The Movie world, and another wealth of extras awaits. Let's start with the dreaded HBO First Look Special, cleverly titled "The Making of Spider- Man." Yeah, it's a 24-minute promo fluff piece, but at least it offers a pretty well-rounded if brief tour of the making of the movie, complete with behind-the-scenes footage and the usual bevy of interviews. All the main cast and crew contribute, including Raimi, Maguire, Dunst, Willem Dafoe, Rosemary Harris, Cliff Robertson and James Franco, along with producers Ziskin and Ian Bryce, and Marvel's Lee. Most amusing is the spacey Dunst, trying to act like she's all down with Spider-Man history. Now, don't get me wrong, I quite like Ms. Dunst, but I would be surprised if she ever read a Spidey comic in her life. Ditto Maguire, who is even more boring than he is onscreen. Ah, well, maybe I'm just jealous 'cause no one asked me to don that red and blue costume.

Courtesy of E! Entertainment comes the 36-minute Spider-Mania special, which is even more glossy and insipid. Produced right before the film premiered on May 3, 2002, this assumes the film is going to be a blockbuster before it even opened, and at least this time Maguire and Dunst admit they've never even read anything remotely Spidey-related. Call me cynical or meanspirited (fair enough), but I love these E! things because they reduce everyone to a sound bite and make them all sound so stupid. And that incessant techno background score and lame E! narration - eeek! Spider-Mania is fast and fun, but still likely best left for fans of trash TV only.

Next up we have two breathless Profiles (both 7 minutes) on Raimi and composer Danny Elfman. I'd normally gag at such lovefests, but in the case of Raimi, he genuinely seems like a nice, unassuming guy that everyone really does think is just peachy. Unfortunately, both these profiles are just more of the same EPK interviews and film clips set to a techno beat, so they fail to really impress. Rounding out the Goblin's Lair are barely five minutes of screen tests for Maguire, J.K. Simmons, the CGI Spider-Man and some Make-Up and Costume Tests. These would have been a lot more fun if they and been longer. And last but not least, we have a 3-minute Gag Reel, presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. These are far from the funniest outtakes I've ever seen, consisting mainly of quick flubs and the cast making funny faces at the camera. Kids, however, will likely eat it up.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

Just like the DVD-Video portion of the set, Spider-Man comes loaded with exclusive ROM features, too. This may be the first disc I've seen that has different extras depending on which disc you pop in your drive. Disc one features a spiffy interface that is probably the coolest I've seen, with snazzy animations and nice Danny Elfman underscore. By far the most ingenious ROM extra is the ability to Record Your Own Commentary. You'll need your own microphone (not included), and can record, save and name your own commentaries scene by scene, and even watch the flick full size while you're recording your masterpiece. This is the stuff ROM should be made of.

Also included on disc one is another cool feature, the Comic/Feature Comparison. Here, watch the entire film split screen, with panels from the original comics to compare against. You can also use your cursor to "blow up" the panels for a closer look, and even scroll around, all while the video footage still plays along. Very cool. As with the commentary recorder, you can also switch between split screen and full screen modes. Other extras on disc one include links embedded in the interface that take you to the official Spider-Man DVD web portal (to launch on November 1st) which is touting additional first-ever downloadable audio commentaries you can store on your hard drive. Sweet! Also exciting for Spidey fans is the Countdown to Spider-Man 2 link, which is just that. Gotta love when the studio PR machine goes into overdrive!

Pop in disc two and you'll find even more exclusive extras, and in a nice touch this interface is designed around the Green Goblin instead of Spidey. Here you'll find an Activision game demo (which requires you to download additional, space-hungry software, so make sure you check the install requirements carefully), plus three exclusive Marvel Dot.Comics: "Spider-Man Blue #1," "Black Cat #1" and "Peter Parker: Return of the Goblin." These are all classic installments in the legendary comic series, and are more than just reprints of the originals. Fully interactive, you can scroll through and zoom in on each "page," click on character bio info, and the transitions are all nicely animated and attractive.

Also included on disc two's ROM extravaganza is the Spider-Man Visualizer, which includes a downloadable screensaver plus additional software to turn your Windows Media, RealAudio or WinAmp players into Spider-Man jukeboxes. Watch cool Spidey visuals while you play your favorite tunes, but just lay off all the techno, okay? Pretty neat.

Both the disc one and disc two interfaces additional weblinks to the official Spider-Man movie website, the official Marvel website, and other Columbia TriStar destinations.

Parting Thoughts