Audiences have warmed to director Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider man films in recent years largely due to our ability to be more objective on retrospect.. It also helps that fans have grown an appreciation for Andrew Garfield and his tenure as the titular hero.
Despite The Amazing Spider-Man garnering critical acclaim upon its initial release, the shadow of Sam Rami’s trilogy loomed over it as well as fan fondness for Toby Maguire’s portrayal of the beloved web slinger.
The Amazing Spider-Man delivered a streamline script, Sony evidently learned from its mistakes of the often messy Spider-Man 3 script. Regardless, for better or worse, The Amazing Spider-Man felt like it was a retooled script from the Rami era. Doctor Curt Connors- who would become the main villain, The Lizard, within the film- was introduced in Spider-Man 2 as Peter Parker’s professor and confidant as well as a contemporary of Doctor Otto Octavius. Gwen Stacey was introduced in Spider-Man 3 as part of a love triangle between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. What changed for The Amazing Spider-Man films was the actor and actress portraying each respective character, Gwen Stacey was portrayed by Emma Stone instead of Bryce Dallas Howard and Curt Conner’s was portrayed by Ryhs Ifans instead of Dylan Baker.
While Garfield’s portrayal of Spider-Man was wonderful, and more comic book accurate, being snarky and quippy when he donned the suit, his portrayal of Peter Parker was less believable almost exclusively due to his stature. No matter how dorky or awkward he came across, he looked like formidable opponent even before he’s bitten by a Spider. Even to the point where he loomed over his big bad bully, Flash Thompson
One of the highlights of the Amazing- Spider-Man series was the Gwen Stacy/ Peter Parker relationship which was bolstered by the undeniable chemistry between Stone and Garfield. Another highlight is that the films had some of the best action sequences in the entirety of live action Spider-Man films (although they never quite hit the lofty emotional heights of the train sequence in Spider-Man 2)
The Amazing Spider-Man series overall took a darker approach to Spider-Man which may have helped differentiate it from Rami’s trilogy, but it was frequently unnecessary and made the campier elements stand out more. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the bigger culprit of this faux pas. Parker’s fathers’ dramatic backstory bogged down the narrative, particularly in 2.
The real polarization came from The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s approach to its’ villains. Harry Osborne was great until he went crazy with little instigation and his character design was the quintessence of camp that didn’t quite gel with Marc Webb’s established tone for the film. Jamie Fox’s portrayal of Electro was even worse. I should preface this with he would’ve made a great Electro (see No Way Home) but the character design was awful and the subpar CGI did it no favors (this was also fixed in No Way Home). The character himself also embodied one of the worst villain tropes- the socially awkward genius turned psychopath once given a modicum of power (Joel Schumacher’s Batman films popularized this)
Now that time has passed and we have a plethora of live action Spider-Man films to choose from, it is worth returning to The Amazing Spider-Man films and enjoy what they have to offer as oppose to lament what they could've been.
Be sure to peruse our vast collection of comic books and comic book films available to check out at The Brown Deer Public Library.
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