Movie Review: Spider-Man Trilogy

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Action, acting, effects, real emotion

Cons: Set doesn't have all extras; second film depressing

The Bottom Line:

Enjoyable films

In Blu-ray bundled package

Your watching pleasure

With Great Power Comes an Enjoyable Trilogy

I suspect I am like a majority of Americans. I like superhero stories, but I don't actually read comics books. As a result, my knowledge of superheroes comes from movies and TV. And I do love those exposures. One of my favorite franchises is the Spider-Man trilogy which provides plenty of action with very sympathetic characters.

This set is a three pack containing all three films released to date in the trilogy. I'll discuss the set in the moment, but first let's talk film.

A word of warning. I try to spoil as little as I can about the movies. I'm sure it's no surprise, however, to say the story progresses over all three movies. Therefore, I will need to spoil a few events from the early films to discuss the later ones in the series.

Spider-man (2002) - The first movie in the series sets everything in motion. Peter Parker (Tobey McGuire) is a high school senior with a crush on his next door neighbor, hugely popular Mary Jane Watson (Kristen Dunst). Did I mention that Peter is a complete nerd? In fact, his only true friend is Harry Osborn (James Franco). One day, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider and starts developing new powers. He can climb walls, shoot webbing, and his senses are heightened. These powers will come in handy since Harry's dad (Willem Dafoe) is going through a change of his own, changing from scientist Norman Osborn to the Green Goblin. His change, however, is for evil, and the two must face off. Can Spider-man figure out how to defeat the Green Goblin?

Even though this is an origin film, it's highly entertaining. In fact, this is my favorite in the series. The story progresses well, and the parallel transformations mirror each other well. There are other parallels as well, and I really love watching the Jekyll/Hyde scenes that Norman/Green Goblin has. The action is great, and the acting is top notch. Most of the special effects are great, although you can occasionally tell when they are using computers instead of actors.

Spider-man 2 (2004) - The second film finds Peter Parker facing issues on every front. Due to his secret identity, he can't keep a job. He's forever rushing off to rescue someone instead of doing his job. Harry has become obsessed with tracking down Spider-man to avenge his father. Mary Jane has a new boyfriend, and it isn't Peter. Even Peter's Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) is facing losing her house since she can't pay the mortgage.

Things get even worse when brilliant scientist Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) accidentally gets fused with his latest invention. His added limbs get him dubbed Doc Ock. But his new arms are making him evil. Can Peter pull himself together to save New York City?

This is my least favorite in the franchise. The story is still good, the special effects have stepped up a notch, and the acting is still fine. So why don't I like this movie? It's too depressing. We spend much of the film watching one bad thing after another happen to Peter. I actually get depressed every time I watch this film. Most people praise this one, however, for adding depth to the characters and being realistic. So it's certainly a matter of taste.

Spider-man 3 (2007) - In the latest entry, things are actually going better for our hero. Peter is finally dating Mary Jane, and he's found a way to balance his personal life with his superhero duties. The only down side to his life is that Harry has finally learned his secret and is out for revenge.

Unfortunately, things are about to get much worse. When criminal Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) escapes from prison, Peter learns that Flint is the man who shot his uncle. Consumed by his desire for revenge, Peter begins to turn to the dark himself, pushing away those he loves. To further complicate matters, an alien substance has latched onto him. And he has a new competitor at work, Eddie Brock (Topher Grace). Can Peter find his way again?

This movie met with the most mixed reactions of the series. Many die hard fans hated what they did to Eddie aka Venom. I didn't know enough about the character to care one way or the other. My biggest problem was the fact they changed the details of Uncle Ben's death, which even I know is comic book canon, to tell the story they wanted to here. When I set that aside, I find I can enjoy the film. It has some truly amazing action scenes, and the special effects and acting are still great. It truly explores some more emotional territories. And it balances multiple characters and storylines expertly. To be honest, I don't know how they fit it all into this film and still left me wanting more.

This Set

If you're looking to get all three movies, this is the way to do it. There are two versions floating around to buy. First, you can get all three in the Blu-ray high definition format. Since I don't have a high def player of any kind, I can't comment on this set. Frankly, if you are looking to upgrade, this would seem to be the way to go to me.

You can also get all three movies in a standard DVD set. The three films come boxed together with a cardboard slip case. The first two movies are the two disc versions that came out when the films first hit DVD. And if you are a fan of the films, you'll love these sets. Not only are the widescreen and full surround specs perfect, but you'll also get loads of behind the scenes extras and bonus materials like audio commentaries, featurettes on everything from pre-production to special effects, info on the characters in the comics, and my personal favorite - bloopers.

Then there's the third movie. Considering this is the one that just came out, you'd think it would be the two disc edition. You'd be wrong. It's the cheaper single disc edition of the film. It's still wide screen and full surround. And you get an audio commentary and outtakes. But if you want all the cool extras you got with the first two movies, you'll have to buy Spider-man 3 separately.

Conclusion

This is a fun franchise for die hard fans and casual fans alike. If you are just looking for the movies or want to upgrade to Blu-ray, this set will work just fine. But if you want all the extras available on the DVD releases, you'll want to track down the Spider-Man trilogy movies separately.