About Heroes

This review was submitted by Hero 004:
Widescreen. 2 discs. 8 minutes of new footage.

Spoiler warning (new scenes)

First, 2.1 means that we have an extended version of Spider-Man 2, not a feature in between 2 and 3.

I am a hard core fan of the Spidey film series, so this was something I could not resist. The story isn't necesarily expanded on with this release, it's basically full of extended monolouges and longer (and better) fight sequences.

The first thing that you will notice is the extended birthday scene taword the begining of the film. Some might like this and except that it was cut out of the theatrical because of the time, and some will think that it takes away from the Harry-Peter dinamic of the story. Basically, after Harry walks away from Peter he starts talking about how much of a pal he is to him and how he is like family. This most definatly loosens the tension between them until Harry gets a little tipsy later on. But the reason why I really liked this was because it adds a little reference to Spider-Man 3: Harry- " I want Spider-Man dead like you want the guy who killed your uncle Ben dead". I'm pretty sure there is also a few lines added to him and MJ's chat by the trash cans.

The scene where he stops the car chase before the play is a little extended. It's actually pretty nice to see more of Spidey swinging around, I'm glad they added more of him before key Peter Parker scenes. Both the bank and train fights are extended and better than ever. There is more raw brawling between Doc Oc and Spider-Man which is cool because you get to see more of him wrestling with the villian's tentacles. The added action is definatly one of the major pay offs of this release.

There is a new scene where MJ is talking to one of her friends about getting married while they are shoe shopping. I think they should have left it in the original because her friend's performance was well acted and deserved recognition. The scene in the elevater is different and longer. Instead of exchanging the quick costume diolouge, the man goes into trying to come up with marketing ideas for Spidey. It was pretty amusing seeing Spider-Man standing there listening. I'm glad they pute it in, but I'm also glad they opted for the shorter version in the theatrical. Both are funny and well done.

There is also an extended version of the doctor checkup where the doctor goes more into interpreting Peter's so-called dream. It definatly makes Peter giving up Spider-Man more convincing. Last but not least: Jameson try's on Spider-Man's costume, running around his office with a cigar in his mouth, pretending to be the Web Swinger. Here's something that bothered me, though. Instead if starting to play Dashboard's "Vindicated" when they show MJ staring at Spider-Man from the appartment at the very end, they wait until the credits role. Don't know why.

So here's the spill. If you don't have the Spider-Man 2 yet, make sure you get the special edition of the original before you get 2.1. The special features of this one aren't all that good and the second disk of Spider-Man 2 has alot of good stuff about developing the story and adapting the comic Doc Oc to film. Plus, I for one am always going to want to be able to see the same movie that blew me away in theaters, no bells and whistles added. If your a big fan and don't have the movie yet, then throw down $25 which will pay for 2 and 2.1. Hey, that's how much Spider-Man 2 cost when it was new.