BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: Peter Parker was a shy, quiet teenager until he was bitten by a genetically altered spider. Now, with heightened senses and incredible new abilities, he's become the amazing Spider-Man. Go for the ultimate spin as the comic book legend comes to life with Tobey Maguire (from Wonder Boys), Kirsten Dunst (from Bring It On) and Willem Dafoe (from Platoon) starring director Sam Raimi's (The Gift, The Evil Dead) action-packed, world-wide box office smash!

FILM REVIEW: Aside from the first 45 minutes of this film which puts an easily identifiable adolescent spin on the superhero genre, there’s nothing in this film that’s been done any differently in other big superhero origin films, with the most direct example being the original Christopher Reeve Superman. It basically follows the same plot and for me it just didn’t differentiate itself enough to make it something special. As a result, I came out of the film feeling like I hadn’t really seen anything new, nor did I feel, apart from the arbitrary plot devices which create Spiderman, that this film establishes Spiderman at least in context with other superhero films with which it competes.

No doubt the vast majority of the audience disagrees as it was one of the most popular blockbusters of recent times, breaking countless records including the first film to exhume over $100 million at the US box office in its opening weekend. It all appears quite faithful to the comic book. The CGI rendering of Spiderman himself is flawlessly done; you’d think they got a stunt man to swing around the dizzying heights of the New York skyline.

The first 45 minutes of this film are the strongest. We are introduced to Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and his life as the nerdy teenager, in love with the gorgeous Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) but never really able to catch her attention. We see a lot of things that as an adolescent (particularly a male adolescent) can relate to, including the various plans Parker puts in to place to try and catch her attention. You see his interactions with classmates who bully him, but after he gets his spidey-powers, all of a sudden it’s the ultimate nerd fantasy with Parker being able to utilise his new powers to defend himself and catch the attention of the girl.

Everything else about the film is mediocre at best. I’m the first to say that Tobey Maguire doesn’t do much for me. He plays the nerd part of Peter Parker sufficiently, but he doesn’t seem to have much depth in his acting abilities (shock horror, I’m asking for depth in a film like this…). Kirsten Dunst is quite good as the love interest as is James Franco, Peter’s best friend.

The villain was a disappointment. Willem Dafoe is a great actor and does a really great job of portraying the psychotic Norman Osborne/Green Goblin, especially in the scene where he is talking to himself in the mirror, but the overall design of the Goblin is just silly. I’m sure it looked great in the comic books but not being able to see his face is a huge problem; he just isn’t menacing.

After that first act, the film really does go in to the standard conventions of the superhero defeating the villain, but it doesn’t really resonate much because we’ve seen it all before, only we’re seeing Spiderman do it. I just wished they had done something to really define Spiderman away from the other superhero films (as there’s been many now). It also would have been nice to see the film in the full widescreen format. A film of this scale tries to be an epic and not shooting it in that format negates that aspect. Also, because I was getting fidgety and bored by the end, I happened to notice a whole bunch of continuity problems in the final scene between Peter and Mary Jane; watch the movement of her hand on Peter’s face throughout this scene, it’s all over the place!

Overall, it’s partly fun and entertaining, fresh in parts, but overall, nothing really special.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: This film has been given an excellent transfer, as one would expect from Sony. Spider-Man is their flagship franchise and it's no surprise that a lot of love went in to the manufacture of this disc. The audio is equally impressive. Even the special features disc has been mastered to the highest quality.

EXTRAS REVIEW: This disc contains a wealth of extras that are split in to two strands on the second disc; the first is to do with the making of the film and the second is the background of Spiderman and his establishment as a popular superhero in the comic book world. The former is only a little beyond a promotional piece, but the latter gives a fascinating insight in to the character and is a perfect complement to the movie. The movie disc also contains a director's commentary which helps to fill out the gaps in the 25 minute making-of documentary on the second disc. Overall, this is an excellent collection of extras.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it once, or if you're a Spidey fan, go and buy it now!