SPIDER-MAN 3 Special Edition
DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 139 minutes, two audio commentaries, bloopers, music video, photo galleries, 11 featurettes, and extras exclusive to the Target 3 disc release

VIDEO: 2.40:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
AUDIO: English , Spanish 5.1, English 2.0, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portoguese (featurettes on disc 2 only)

STUDIO: Columbia Pictures/ Marvel Studios
RELEASE DATE: 10-30-2007

SPIDER-MAN 3 is entertaining, but it lacks enough development by throwing in too many plot elements. You have Peter Parker (Tobery Maguire) having great success as Spider-man and wnating to pop the question of marriage to Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). MJ has her debut in a Broadway play only to face bad reviews and have her acting career burn out. Then Peter must face Harry (James Franco) who blames Peter for the death of his father, the original Green Goblin. An accident robs Harry of some of his recent memories and it allows Spider-Man to focus his attention elsewhere like seek revenge on the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) who was the real person responsible for Uncle Ben's death. If that wasn't enough, the black alien costume shows up and bonds itself with Peter and enhances his dark side. Also you have a rival photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) that will become the evil Venom.

For being a third film in a series where the two lead characters have been miscast by director Sam Raimi (who I wnat to see return with another EVIL DEAD film), it also suffers from a poorly written script which should have been tightened up and more focused instead of beinga plot driven mess.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Two audio commentaries were recorded for the film on disc one in addition to a funny blooper reel, photo galleries, previews for other SPHE titles (including ones to be released next year), and a Snow Patrol music video.

Disc 2 has 11 behind-the-scene featurettes, four trailers for SPIDER-MAN 3, and various TV spots from around the world). The featurettes are disappointing.

If you bought the special edition at Target, you are treated to a third disc that features a On The Set of SPIDER-MAN 3 featurette and the five winning webisodes from a Target contest (skip the webisodes). The real treat of the three disc set is the production notes booklet that is inluded with the set.

FINAL ANALYSIS: SPIDER-MAN 3 is an entertaining and yet plot driven mess. Unless you want the theatrical trailers, you might want to just stick with the single disc since the extras amount to poorly produced fluff.

this DVD review is (c)11-20-2007 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  


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