  The new Spider-Man 2.1: Extended Cut DVD offers several extended scenes that add much more depth to the hero's relationships.
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Like his 2002 original, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 was already one of the greatest comic book movies ever. Now it is even better. Surprisingly -- because this is not just a clumsy gimmick nor a greedy cash grab as many feared -- the new version is enriched in subtle and sublime fashion.
You will find it in a new DVD, Spider-Man 2.1: Extended Cut, out tomorrow. In addition to a disc of fresh (not recycled) bonus materials, the film has eight minutes of prime footage seamlessly edited back in.
That makes the running time two hours, 15 minutes and 40 seconds, including credits. On DVD, longer is not always better (The 40-Year-Old Virgin). Nor it is always done so delicately (Ray). Nor is it even desirable in all cases (last week's new Payback cut).
But Raimi and his team have conjured up a version that is exactly right. And they have executed it with such surgical precision that there are no glitches, no new squirm-inducing indulgences.
This process is, however, quite unlike Peter Jackson's transformation of his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. In the extended versions, he added whole chapters into the complex story, providing more of Tolkien's creation.
That was not necessary here. Instead, Raimi & Co. tweaked scenes, adding seconds here and there. There are a few whole new scenes but not new chapters nor key characters.
Several dramatic scenes are lengthened. The first is the birthday party sequence. In the new version, Harry Osborn (James Franco), after raging about Spider-Man, grows calm in conversation with Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire). Harry then links their mutual quests for revenge and/or justice, Osborn blaming Spidey, Peter lamenting the death of Uncle Ben. It is a quietly profound moment that makes their friendship, and the shock of the "big reveal" later, even more poignant.
The same subtle layering takes place in a series of conversations between Peter and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), giving their fractured romance even more frisson.
Of course there is also new action. Bizarrely, given the box office on the 2002 original, the filmmakers blame budget restrictions for not finishing an effects-driven fight between Spidey and Doc Ock in which they burst through the window of a law office and smash everything to smithereens. There are new bits and pieces in the clock tower fight and more action in the subway sequence, including Spider-Man getting smashed by a second train.
On a comedy level, Hal Sparks' elevator ride with Spidey is a lot nuttier while, at the Daily Bugle, we see how goofy J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) looks in Spider-Man's kit. It's all pretty cool stuff.
But, still, the most critical improvements are all in the emotional undercurrents, deepening the characters that lift Raimi's movies off the flat comic page and into a rich human dimension.
"One of the things about this DVD business," producer and Marvel Comics honcho Avi Arad says on the DVD, "it allows us to revisit scenes that the public didn't see. And, actually, there is a void, there is a hunger and a thirst, for Peter Parker and Spider-Man."
But there is still a dilemma: Is the new DVD worth a double dip if you already own the special edition version of 2004? Is an extended cut and fresh extras enough?
"Yes!" if you are a hardcore Spidey fan. "No!" if you are a casual viewer.
NEW THIS WEEK: Spider-Man 2.1: Extended Cut - The Last King of Scotland - Smokin' Aces - The History Boys - Freedom Writers - Off the Black - Masters of Horror: Family.
NEW LAST WEEK: Bobby - Major League: Wild Thing Edition - Payback: Straight Up: The Director's Cut.
NEW NEXT WEEK: The Queen - Planet Earth: The Complete Series - Night at the Museum: Special Edition.
COMING SOON: Dreamgirls (May 1) - Pan's Labyrinth (May 15).
