Spider-man hits Blu-ray as part of the Blu-ray exclusive Spider-man Trilogy, and is not yet available for individual purchase. Sony has really pumped up this release, hoping it will help elevate Blu-ray to a level that the HD DVD camp cannot reach. While the verdict is still out on how this release will impact the format war, the verdict is in on the quality of this Spider-man release…

Since we have already reviewed the Special Edition and Superbit DVD releases of Spider-man, the following synopsis have been ported over from those reviews.

We all know the story… High school nerd Peter Parker (Maguire) is bitten by a genetically altered spider. He begins to exhibit spider-like abilities and strength. When his uncle (Robertson) is killed, he decides to fight crime as the costumed Spider-Man. His first nemesis is his friend’s father as the Green Goblin (Defoe).

The movie itself is an excellent blend of expert direction and perfect casting. Tobey Maguire does a fantastic job transitioning from Peter Parker to Spider-Man, Willem Dafoe is his remarkable self, and Kirsten Dunst pulls off a natural and inspired Mary Jane. Action and story are well balanced and both are equally well choreographed. Sam Raimi and the production crew also did an excellent job of updating the premise for the year 2000 – cars, laboratories, and technologies all flow very well. In summary, a fantastic movie, well worth owning and watching.

Video
Sony brings Spider-man to Blu-ray on a BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc with AVC MPEG-4 compression and a 1.85:1 transfer. During the first scene, the one at the museum, I was a little concerned with the colors of the transfer; although they were clear and crisp, they looked a touch drab at times… that is until the spider descends from the ceiling revealing its red and blue colors. From this point on, the colors really seemed to pop off the screen. The green in the Green Goblin outfit looked great, as did the red/blue in Spider-man’s. The image depth was very good, and the detail in the picture – from the individual strands of Mary-Jane’s hair to the pores on Peter’s face – was sharp as can be. There was a small amount of film grain in the transfer, but that was from the stock footage, and not a flaw of this disc. The blacks were deep and accurate for the most part, with only one or two sequences looking a little too dark. While this may not be the best looking disc that I have seen, it still looked very good.

Audio
Spider-man comes equipped with an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track (along with Dolby Digital 5.1 in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai). The TrueHD track, listened to over direct analog cables (which will carry the uncompressed TrueHD audio stream), sounded amazing. The dialog was crisp, clear and powerful, and the bass was appropriately deep, but it is when the surround effects kick in where this audio track really shines. The soundstage is full of activity, bringing every speaker in your setup to life. It is a little surprising that Sony did not include an uncompressed PCM audio track on this disc… I have a feeling that such a track would have really impressed as well. For those that do not have access to TrueHD, the down-converted Dolby Digital track is nothing to write home about, sounding a little drab in dialog and effects. But this disc is expected to be listened to in all of its TrueHD glory, so that is where the audio rating comes from.

Special Features
Unfortunately, all we get on this disc is a series of trailers in HD. I assume, if/when Spider-man gets a standalone release on Blu-ray, it may get a 2-disc treatment with a slew of extras.

Final Thoughts
Touted by many as one of the year’s most anticipated Blu-ray releases, Spider-man doesn’t fail to deliver. The audio and video are near reference quality, and while no real extras were included, the overall package is still something to behold.