Spiderman 2 [Blu-Ray]

Revisiting Sam Raimi's hugely successful take on Marvel's best-known solo hero, Spiderman 2 is clearly the most consistent, polished and entertaining entry in the trilogy. This portrayal of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is a bit on the mopey and meek side (here's hoping Marc Webb and Andrew Garfield remember that the character is as famous for being a smartass as he is for pining for the girl next door in the upcoming The Amazing Spiderman), but his introspective self-flagellation works to Raimi's sadistic strengths. Drawing from Stan Lee's "Spiderman No More" story arc (as the man himself explains in special feature "Hero in Crisis"), which sees New York's sticky-palmed protector trash his persona in order to live the ordinary life he thinks he deserves, this Doc-Ock-infused telling focuses on Parker's conflicting senses of responsibility and desire. Raimi piles the torture on poor Spidey (and Maguire ― the director personally bashing him in the head with a bag in one of the many slapstick scenes of the world beating Parker down), showing the extreme toll playing hero takes on his school work, his job, his Aunt May, his already strained friendship with Harry Osborne (James Franco ― his limited presence this outing is a service to the film) and his chances of managing a romantic relationship with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). The resulting sense of impotence manifests itself as a psychological block of his powers ― bad timing, considering the emergence of a new big bad. Alfred Molina was an inspired choice for Doc-Ock, highlighting the pathos of a man made a slave to hubris, in this case literally represented by four semi-sentient mechanical tentacles fused to his body that reinforce his base impulses and wreck a great deal of real estate. An "Ock-umentary" takes an extensive look at the conception and design of the character for the film. It's interesting to note, considering where the series eventually winds up, that producer Avi Arad reveals that they considered inserting Ock into the first film, but felt it would compromise their ability to do the Green Goblin justice. Similarly, it's discussed in a thoroughly engaging commentary with Arad, Maguire, Raimi and co-producer Grant Curtis that a Black Cat side story was considered and rejected for the same reasons. Keeping with the candid nature of Raimi, Maguire and Arad's comments is a lengthy "Making Of" that pays as much mind to what they felt didn't work in the first film as how they went about making improvements on the sequel. Without Willem Dafoe in mania-mode, the blooper reel isn't as funny, though even relegated to one scene as a reflection he manages to crack some wacky. In addition to highly detailed VFX breakdowns on a bunch of scenes, there are two more commentary tracks: one lead by the technical crew and one rather dry exchange between producer Laura Ziskin and co-writer Alvin Sargent for the extended cut of the film, which fails to explain the motivation behind adding a few extra minutes of gags and action beats.