Product Description

In Spider-Man 2, the latest installment in the blockbuster Spider-Man series, based on the classic Marvel Comics hero, Tobey Maguire returns as the mild-mannered Peter Parker, who is juggling the delicate balance of his dual life as college student and a superhuman crime fighter. Peter's life becomes even more complicated when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) who has been reincarnated as the maniacal and multi-tentacled "Doc Ock." When Doc Ock kidnaps MJ (Kirsten Dunst), Spider-Man must swing back into action as the adventure reaches new heights of unprecedented excitement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18241 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2007-04-17
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Dimensions: .40 pounds
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.com
More than a few critics hailed Spider-Man 2 as "the best superhero movie ever," and there's no compelling reason to argue--thanks to a bigger budget, better special effects, and a dynamic, character-driven plot, it's a notch above Spider-Man in terms of emotional depth and rich comic-book sensibility. Ordinary People Oscar-winner Alvin Sargent received screenplay credit, and celebrated author and comic-book expert Michael Chabon worked on the story, but it's director Sam Raimi's affinity for the material that brings Spidey 2 to vivid life. When a fusion experiment goes terribly wrong, a brilliant physicist (Alfred Molina) is turned into Spidey's newest nemesis, the deranged, mechanically tentacled "Doctor Octopus," obsessed with completing his experiment and killing Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) in the process. Even more compelling is Peter Parker's urgent dilemma: continue his burdensome, lonely life of crime-fighting as Spider-Man, or pursue love and happiness with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst)? Molina's outstanding as a tragic villain controlled by his own invention, and the action sequences are nothing less than breathtaking, but the real success of Spider-Man 2 is its sense of priorities. With all of Hollywood's biggest and best toys at his disposal, Raimi and his writers stay true to the Marvel mythology, honoring Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and setting the bar impressively high for the challenge of Spider-Man 3. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
Spider-Man 2.1 features eight minutes of new footage incorporated into the movie, including a longer, less-adversarial conversation between Harry and Peter at the birthday party, more from comedian Hal Sparks in the elevator scene, more fighting with Doc Ock, and a goofy appearance by J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man costume. While the new scenes are interesting to watch and add some laughs, they don't justify a second purchase of the movie. The bonus features are new but underwhelming. The commentary track by producer Laura Ziskin and screenwriter Alvin Sargent (there were two different commentaries on the original two-disc Spider-Man 2) is rather dull and only tangentially mentions what we're most interested in--the new scenes. A 12-minute featurette on the second disc does discuss those, while another congratulates the visual-effects crew for their Oscar. Also included: 30 minutes of visual-effects analysis, a multi-angle look at Danny Elfman's score, and a pop-up trivia track. --David Horiuchi

More Spiderman on DVD

The Spiderman Toy Store	The First Film	Spider Man on the small screen
The Soundtrack	Game Boy Advance	The Book

More Superheroes on DVD

Stills from Spider-Man 2 (click for larger image)

From The New Yorker
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is having problems with his stickiness. He keeps changing into his Spiderman duds, leaping through the canyons of Manhattan, and finding, to his dismay, that the white stuff just won't shoot in the way it used to. No option but to hang up the outfit and walk away. Fortunately, we are only halfway through the movie. Once again, Sam Raimi is the director, and once again the plight is one of uncertainty: to swing or not to swing? Not until the arrival of Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), a many-limbed scientist who likes to do antisocial things to subway cars, is our hero moved to rejoin the action. Molina is the real draw of the film, opting not for the standard evil genius but for a good, sorrowing genius who is nudged into malice by boredom and bereavement. In fact, despite the fantastical high of the set pieces, (not least the most pertinent use of a lady's umbrella since "Mary Poppins"), almost everyone here feels rather lonely and stuck. This could be the first superhero franchise that will end up requiring the services of Ingmar Bergman. With Kirsten Dunst, dreamier than ever, as Peter's beloved (but not girlfriend). -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker