Usually when Hollywood attempts to make a movie based on a comic book superhero, the transition from the page to the big screen is oftentimes laughable and unsuccessful.
In fact, the process can be likened to a successful TV star who tries to become a movie star–most of the time it just does not work.
The list of these TV actors who have struggled to translate their popularity from the tube to the silver screen is long and infamous–David Caruso, Julianna Marguiles and David Duchovny just to name a few.
However, on rare occasions an actor can overcome the stigma of TV and make a hugely successful leap into the film industry.
Likewise, the occasional comic book superhero actually makes a triumphant jump from the two-dimensional world of comics to the three-dimensional world of film.
For every unsuccessful David Caruso there is a successful George Clooney, and for every Julianna Marguiles there is a Helen Hunt.
The world of comics is the same way–what works on the page has great potential to be embarrassingly bad on film.
Sometimes, however, Hollywood gets the formula for success just right, and a movie like “Spider-Man” comes along to make comic book fans forget all about less-than-super films like “Batman and Robin,” “The Punisher” and “Superman III and IV.”
Now available on special edition DVD, “Spider-Man” is a great film loaded with just the right amount of action, explosions, romance and cheese–albeit good cheese.
Remaining mostly true to the comic book, the film scored big with both audiences and critics, and “Spider-Man”‘s more than $400 million domestic gross propelled it into the list of the top five highest-grossing movies of all time,
Aside from the actual movie, the two-disc special edition DVD is hardly anything special.
A far too short profile of director Sam Raimi notwithstanding, so-called “special features” like a gagless gag reel, a not-so-in-depth peek into stars Tobey Maguire and J.K. Simmons’ screen tests and a long-winded interview with Marvel editor Stan Lee make the second disc almost completely unnecessary.
Despite the underwhelming extras, however, a beefed-up Maguire as the wall crawler, a cackling Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin and the extreme cuteness of Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson are more than enough incentive for comic enthusiasts and popcorn movie fans to drop their $28 on the must-have “Spider-Man” DVD.