This is a slightly different blog post from me, but recently I decided to watch all the Spider-Man films to decide which I thought was the best. By all the Spider-Man films, I mean I watched the Tobey Maguire trilogy, the Andrew Garfield duology, the MCU films with Tom Holland and Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse. The majority of these were rewatches except for Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse. I'll be talking through each film and sharing my thoughts. There are most likely going to be spoilers for these films, so if you haven't watched them, I'd recommend either not reading this post or going away to watch them and then coming back. All images have been taken from Google Images and do not belong to me.
Spider-Man (2002)
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| Taken from Google Images |
It's been a very long time since I watched these films. I remembered vague moments, but essentially I was watching the Tobey Maguire ones for the first time. I really struggled to connect with this version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Now I can't say I know that much, if anything, about the character outside of what I have seen in films about him. To me, something just felt off about this portrayal. That isn't a critique against Maguire, more one about the film as a whole. This film does have the iconic upside down kiss moment, which is a great moment of cinema. For me, it just didn't have that emotional pull. I didn't connect with any of the characters. It's been well over a month since I watched it and to be honest, I can't remember much outside of the things that happen in other origin movies. I gave it 3/5 stars.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
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| Taken from Google Images This film suffered from second film slump. The villain was by far the most interesting so far. A lot of this film revolved around the love triangle between Peter, MJ and Harry. I just didn't care for it. Again, I failed to connect or care with the characters. Like the first film, it had some great cinematic moments, such as when Peter stops the train from falling off the bridge. The characters feel very flat, which is an odd choice for a superhero film. The plot was okay, but if you can't make me care about the characters, then you have lost me. I gave it 3/5 stars. Spider-Man 3 (2007) This was my least favourite of the trilogy and there are several reasons for that. My main reason is about the plot with MJ, Gwen and Peter. I hated that they had Peter kiss Gwen when MJ was watching. His excuse for kissing her was awful, her reaction was validated. The way women have been portrayed in these films is most likely a reflection of the time, but this was the early 2000s and so not excusable. They have the potential to be great characters and were reduced to screaming, love interests. My other reason for not liking this film is that it tried to do too much. There were three villains. That's too many. Both of these reasons made for an okay viewing experience. I think it's safe to say that Maguire's trilogy was my least favourite of all the iterations of Spider-Man. I gave this film 3/5 stars. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) Like Spider-Man 2, this film suffers from too many villains. Both are great villains and were worthy of their own films to fully explore them. I know that Jamie Foxx is set to reprise his role in the MCU Spider-Man film, which I'm excited to see. Gwen's arc in this film shows her for the strong character she is. She is carving her own path independent of Peter. This makes her death even sadder. I think this is down to the chemistry between Garfield and Stone, you can see how much they love each other. This film is also a tad too long. While I enjoy it and am sad they didn't give Garfield a third film, I think The Amazing Spider-Man is my favourite of this duology. I gave it 4/5 stars. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) For a while I was convinced that Tom Holland might be my favourite Spider-Man. For one thing, he actually looks the part. He is believable as a goofy teenager. This film captures that perfectly. It reminds us that while Spider-Man is a superhero, Peter is just a kid. The scene were Peter is trapped under some rubble and starts panicking really humanises him. You very rarely see that vulnerable side of these characters. The side characters of Ned and MJ are great. This is the first time that Aunt May doesn't really play a big role in Peter's life, which is an interesting choice. The romance with Liz and the villain are probably my least favourite things about this film. It gets a lot of things right that it's predecessors haven't. I gave it 4/5 stars.  As an individual Spider-Man film, this is okay. I think that because these are so embedded into the MCU it is hard to discuss it as it's own film. We do see some development in Peter and Spider-Man. It is slightly darker in tone that Homecoming. The romance with MJ comes out of nowhere, in my opinion. This has some very nice comedic moments. The villain was okay. Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Holland had excellent chemistry. The ending of this film leaves Peter's journey in a very interesting place. I am excited to see what they do with Peter and Spider-Man in the next film. I like this version of Spider-Man, but it's so hard to talk about it as a Spider-Man film when this one is linked to Endgame. I gave it 4/5 stars. Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
 General Thoughts and RankingI really like Spider-Man as a character. I will always hold a soft spot for the Amazing Spider-Man films as they are the films that introduced me to the franchise. I do want to read some Spider-Man comics but have no clue where to start. I know a lot of people really like the Maguire films, but I didn't connect with them at all. 1) The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) 2) Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) 3) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) 4) Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 5) Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) 6) Spider-Man 2 (2004) 7) Spider-Man (2002) 8) Spider-Man 3 (2007) What is your favourite Spider-Man film? |
