I’m not sure where the mass-disappointment came from regarding the third installment of this hugely successful trilogy. The action scenes where incredible, the dialogue makes this movie the funniest of three, the story was non-stop and the characters were developed well considering how many they introduced. Many people found a problem that there were two villains. How is that bad? More bad guys, means more action.

This movie took off where the second one left off and the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson was blooming. He has learned, for the time being, how to balance being Spider-man and a college student. The problem in his personal life occurs as Spidey becomes a bigger celebrity then hero and it becomes more difficult to keep his ego in check.

The problem in his Spider-man life is two fold. The first involves the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). It turns out he was the one responsible for the death of Pete?s Uncle Ben. It brings out a hatred and anger that Spider-man hasn?t shown before. That anger is multiplied by an alien life form that Peter Parker stumbles across and wears as a suit. This suit enhances all of his powers as well. All is well in this regard until he realizes that the suit is taking control of him and is potentially harmful to his help. He finally is able to free himself from it and the symbiote suit finds a new host. That host is Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) who also despises Peter Parker as they are rival photographers for the Daily Bugle and Parker exposes Brock as a fraud and gets him fired. The symbiote and Eddie Brock combine to form the Fan Favorite Villain known as Venom. At the same that all of this is going on, Harry Osborne Jr. continues in his father?s path as the Green Goblin and develops a kill/save relationship with Spider-man.

This all come to conclusion with a major fight scene at the climax of the film. Overall, they could have done a little more with each villain individually, especially venom, who could occupy an entire film on his own. But the cast was great and the special effects were among the best you will ever see in a film.

Video

Well thankfully they didn?t screw up the video or fans may have rioted. The video presentation is stellar, among the best of the year. It has that sparkling 3-D pop that you would expect from a special effects laden flick that is Sony Picture?s prize franchise. The colors are very sharp and very vibrant, while the skin tones are realistic and show great details. The dark scenes are very sharp as well – Nothing is missed, no detail is unclear. Sony used the Video codec MPEG-4 AVC and presented the film in its 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Now since they used a 50 GB disc there was plenty of room to maximize every aspect of the picture for us. The source was definitely in pristine condition, with no flaws or imperfections. The fact that nearly every scene has one form of a special effect or another, Sony made sure that it was difficult to pick out what was real and what wasn?t. If you?re friends want to come over to see what Blu-ray is then don?t be afraid to pull this disc off the shelve as it makes a mighty fine demo.

Audio

The audio was just as great as the picture – Crisp clear sounds from all angles and perfect voice levels that don?t get over shadowed during the fight scenes. Sony provides an uncompressed PCM 5.1 track and a Dolby True HD track to choose from. I notice differences in picture better then I do in sound which means I couldn?t really tell the difference between the two tracks. I didn?t have a complaint either way so that is what really mattered. Each of the major scenes in the movie, which there are many, give you a different type of sound that really stands out. Also demo material.

Special Features

I hate to sound too repetitive in any single review, but Sony stepped up big time in the extras department for this 2 disc release. Not only were the extras plentiful, but many were in HD and most of them were really good. On disc one there were two audio commentaries. Finally, I found a commentary that I really enjoyed as the first one had the entire cast and director Sam Raimi. I find that commentaries are better off when you get the people who are actually in the movie as opposed to people who are behind the scenes just discussing what sounds they were a part of or what scenes they edited. That?s who joins us for the second commentary. The producers, an editor and a visual effects supervisor. Not quite as entertaining as the cast commentary and a little drier. Also on the first disc is a still photo gallery with a little over 100 photos included that range from the cast, to sketches, and special effects shots. Along with a 6-minute blooper reel and a music video, that rounds out the first disc.

The second disc contains over 2 hours of extremely well done documentaries that cover all aspects of the film. You have the option of watching them with the play all function or skipping from chapter to chapter choosing to watch whichever of the 13 different ones is your favorite. My personal favorites are the three that focus on the individual villains. Each one shows how they created all the effects that came with the different characters. In my opinion, the special effects in this movie are amongst the greatest you will see on screen. It is all the subtle effects, the ones you don?t quite notice, that separate this film, and these documentaries help point them out and show how they are done. There are even some that that just highlight the incredible fight scenes of the film. Fight scenes that overall are the best of the trilogy.

Final Thoughts

Wow. You will not be disappointed. The movie gets better with each viewing – even better on Blu-ray then in the theater. The presentation includes a demo worthy video and audio as well as 2-discs worth of extremely entertaining extras. Sony knew they couldn?t afford to screw this up and they surely didn?t. There is almost no reason why you shouldn?t add this to your collection immediately