Spider-Man 3 is easily my biggest disappointment of 2007 so far but you can read my full review for my full thoughts on that. The bottom line to me and what became obvious when watching the film was Sam Raimi didn’t want Venom but Sandman as the villain and that was his script… Sony wanted Venom because of his big cult popularity and he was added into where he didn’t belong and Raimi had no choice but to give the studio what they wanted because he was contracted to do so.
His heart wasn’t in Venom and then his enthusiasm for other aspects of the franchise waned, leaving us with a shitty movie. Maybe I’m giving Raimi too much credit and he just messed it up but I don’t think so. He has a track record of hitting it out of the ball park and the guy who made Spider-Man 2, was the not the same guy who directed Spider-Man 3.
So this brings me to the DVD release of the film which DVD Times have kindly provided the artwork and extra’s for us. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this and to listen to Raimi’s audio commentary and I’m eager to find out if he brings up the studio differences which so clearly blighted the film.
Another good job on a Spidey DVD then and interestingly the cover artwork seems a lot brighter than a lot of the posters and imagery that promoted the film.
Available in single-disc ($28.97 SRP) and 2-Disc Special Edition ($36.95 SRP) versions features are detailed below…
Single-Disc DVD
- 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English and Spanish DD2.0 and DD5.1 Surround
- English and Spanish subtitles
- Bloopers
- Photo Galleries
- Snow Patrol Music Video
- Audio Commentary with Director Sam Raimi and Cast Members Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, and Bryce Dallas Howard
- Audio Commentary with Producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad and Grant Curtis, Editor Bob Murawski and Special Effects Supervisor Scott Stokdyk
2-Disc Special Edition - The 2-Disc Special Edition offers all of the above plus additional bonus materials to offer over six hours of extras. Extras found on the bonus disc include…
- Featurette: Grains of Sand - Building Sandman - details the challenges Sony Pictures Imageworks faced in creating the iconic villain
- Featurette: Re-Imagining the Goblin - plores the changes in the New Goblin character from page to screen
- Featurette: Covered in Black – Creating Venom - follows the cinematic creation of Spider-Man’s archrival
- Featurette: Hanging On…Gwen Stacy and the Collapsing Floor - where stunt coordinator Scott Rogers explores the logistics of the dangerous stunt performed by Bryce Dallas Howard
- Featurette: Fighting, Flying & Driving – The Stunts - wherein Stunt Coordinator/2nd Unit Director Dan Bradley and Stunt Coordinator Scott Rogers provide a behind-the-scenes peek at the various “gags” in the film
- Featurette: Tangled Web: The Love Triangles of Spider-Man 3
- Featurette: Wall Of Water - where the viewer is taken into the creation of one of the biggest stunts in the film
- Featurette: On Location Cleveland – The Chase on Euclid Avenue
- Featurette: On Location New York –From Rooftops to Backstreets
- Featurette: The Science of Sound
- Featurette: Inside The Editing Room
- Theatrical TV Spots From Around the World
20/03 
20/03
3 Comments
I’m curious as to why there are no deleted scenes included. Extended edition in the works? Maybe theres some stuff that got cut which could actually turn this into a decent film. I don’t really think not liking the character is a good excuse and even if that was the excuse then that still doesn’t explain why venom isn’t the only thing that went terribly wrong.
My biggest issue with Spider-Man 3 was not with how they handled Venom (although it was weak) it was with the whole Peter “evil” Parker, the stupid dance sequence, Gwen Stacy’s not needed involvement and the crappy Peter & Mary Jane relationship.
Like I say he probably felt like he was losing control on the project and it took away his enthusiam for the other things in the film.
Gwen Stacy would probably have a bigger role if the Venom stuff was cut out, The Peter and Mary Jane thing might have been shortened to add the Gwen stuff in.