It’s Spider-Man: No Way Home week and that makes it the perfect time to rank all of the Wall-Crawler’s live action outings. With three Spider-Actors, seven (eight once NWH drops) Spider-Movies, and plenty of webs; there’s a lot to cover so let’s dive in.
7. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
I saw this movie on opening night back in 2014 and swore that I would never watch it again. After 7.5 years of maintaining that promise I figured that the rumors of Andrew Garfield reappearing in Spider-Spandex were a compelling enough reason to break it. Yet I was again duped by this movie, and the second watch was somehow even worse than the first. This is far and away the worst of the Spider-Man films.
The best way to describe this movie is to compare it to a Post-Thanksgiving casserole put together a week after the big day. The things that make up the casserole were fine, if not great on their own, but taken a week later and thrown together with a dozen other ingredients; they’ve all lost their once distinct flavors. TASM2 takes interesting elements from Spider-Man’s comic book mythos and mixes them into an amorphous blob of a film. None of TASM2‘s many elements have any time to develop within the confines of a single movie.
The Rhino is reduced to an over-the-top cameo, receiving Rhino equipment we’ll never get to see put to use in a fight we’ll never seen. Harry Osborn is given one scene in which to introduce himself and exposit a past relationship with Peter. He’s later developed outside the confines of the main story and betrayed by a dozen faceless characters instead of furthering his relationship with Peter, Gwen or Electro. Electro, by the way, is developed in spurts so that the film can shoehorn in Spider-cameos for Felicia Hardy, Smythe, and the equipment of villains that might one day make a sinister six movie.
Even Peter’s relationship with Gwen, the arguable greatest strength of the first film is hamfisted into a sitcom-esque will they won’t they that takes away both the charm and the stakes of a superhero losing his greatest love. None of these characters share relationships or context, they share scenes. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an unimaginative, paint by numbers, write by committee mess of a film that I am 100% confident I will never revisit again.
6. The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man isn’t nearly as bad as its successor. However, following the incredibly inventive direction of Sam Raimi’s Trilogy, Marc Webb’s first swing at Spidey isn’t exactly a home run. This is a very okay movie that lacks any real style behind the camera. It very much takes the Spider-Man character and tries to force him into a film that somehow feels both like Marvel’s Iron Man and DC’s Dark Knight Trilogy. The ASM Duology is all about mimicry, trying to capture the magic of what other studios were doing within the few characters that Sony owned. It’s not as aggressively done here as it is in the follow-up but this film still stinks of Sony’s micromanagement.
The film’s biggest misfire is the Lizard. Much like the villains in the sequel, the Lizard fails to share context or relationships, he’s merely a scene partner. This is especially glaring considering how well Dylan Baker’s Kurt Connors played off of Peter Parker without ever descending into villainhood. There are inklings of interesting ideas but “he was my father’s mysterious lab partner” isn’t as compelling as an actually personal relationship or philosophical disagreement between Peter and a mentor. This is especially obvious when the “we can cure humanity of its ails” element to the character is dropped in lieu of a sky beam that turns everyone into lizard men. The stakes just aren’t there in the villain department.
The one thing that this movie does really well, and in a way even rivals the Raimi franchise with, is in the Peter and Gwen relationship. This movie pits Peter and Gwen as equals, and dedicates the majority of its time to building their relationship. Not only is the chemistry there between its leads, but the film dedicates time to letting them grow and flourish. The added element of Captain Stacy gives that relationship a nice set of stakes and allows tension to realistically grow as their adoration for one another does too.
5. Spider-Man 3
Spider-Man 3 is very flawed. This is not the movie that Sam Raimi set out to make and when it comes to elements regarding that character (Venom) its very obvious to see where Raimi stopped trying and let Sony have their way. However, the majority of this movie has a very solid emotional core. The Raimi films nail the relationships between Peter, his villains, and his family and friends better than any take on the character yet filmed. Even Sam Raimi operating at 60% is better than most directors showing up at 100%.
Sandman is a brilliant Spider-villain, and even though he’s nudged out by Venom his story hits home. Sandman is a very tragic villain and the fact that Spider-Man is more obstacle than enemy to him provides a much softer and more intimate edge to their conflict. The drive to see his daughter and Christopher Young’s accompanying score really help *ahem* cement him as one of Spidey’s best on-screen villains. At the same time this movie really nails the Harry Osborn arc that had been set up over the previous two films. Again, Venom does get in the way of this quite a bit but the elements that are there work very believably and emotionally within the context of Peter’s story.
Nobody gets more time to be Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire. The Raimi films aren’t just Spider-Man films, they are very much Peter Parker films. This movie is no exception to the rule and while the dancing sequence is ludicrous, Peter still gets many tender moments between himself, Aunt May, MJ, Harry, and even Sandman that help this film stick to its emotional core. Sam Raimi gets what makes the character of Spider-Man so beloved and that’s evident even in his misfire.
4. Spider-Man: Far From Home
Far From Home is much more a Spider-Man film than a Peter Parker film, but it still manages to balance the two sides of the character to strong effect. That being said, this film’s greatest weakness is that it has to serve as an Endgame/Phase 3 wrap up. There’s much more pressure on Watts and Holland than there ever was on Webb and Garfield or Raimi and Maguire. It is much more difficult for these films to tell a complete story because they also have to wrap up a dozen and introduce a dozen more. So while this movie doesn’t excel as much as some of its predecessors, it does a really great job under such pressure.
A lot of this movies excellence comes from Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio (sorry Swifties). While the criticism of his relationship with Tony Stark is somewhat valid, Mysterio has a lot of emotional context with Peter. This movie takes its time in letting Quentin Beck and Peter Parker sit and talk. Peter invites Quentin in and Quentin steps up, so it resonates so much more when Quentin reveals himself to be a villain and Mysterio to be a fraud. (In a very delicious scene I might add.)While I do take issue with the third act being more of a battle between Peter and CGI robots than it is Peter and a human villain, this movie knows where its emotional core is and builds from it.
At the same time, Watts’ Spider-Movies really know how to hone in on the irreverent edge of the character. Ned is perhaps the funniest person in the MCU and this movie knows how to double down on that dynamic without going overboard. Ned is a great best friend to Peter and he’s an even greater comic relief. At the same time, this movie takes a character who was rather sidelined in Homecoming and builds Zendaya’s MJ into a genuine romance. It’s much smaller and more subtle than Peter and Mary Jane or Peter and Gwen, but that’s also what makes it work.
3. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Spider-Man’s first entry into the MCU in Civil War was buzzy but it didn’t paint a full picture of who Tom Holland and the MCU’s Spider-Man would be. Homecoming does just that. Under the pressure of what came before; Homecoming does what TASM could not, it gives Peter Parker and his world a new style. Homecoming is a homerun and should be celebrated as such.
Peter has been in high school in each of the Spider-franchises but this is the first film that makes it feel like Pete is actually a high school student with high school problems. This provides a much different setting for the Spider to play in than the previous two franchises. His world is scaled down, his problems less great, and his struggles all the more relatable. This movie taps directly into what made the character an instant icon during his debut and what Marvel repeatedly turns to when its time to portray the “ultimate” version of its signature character.
You can’t talk about this movie without talking about its stellar villain. Adrian Tombes is not just a top five MCU villain, he’s one of Spider-Man’s best movie villains. Tombes is refreshingly light coming after Ego in Guardians 2 and before Thanos, wanting only to keep his family afloat and stick it to the man in the process. The reveal that he is in fact the father of Peter’s date is a delicious scene and Michael Keaton eats it up. The tension in the car ride is perfect and it taps into what makes both Tombes and Peter an accessible character.
This film’s only real weakness stems from the fact that it must play into the broader MCU. The father-son relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker is nice but it comes at the expense of the Peter vs the world dynamic that makes a teenage superhero worth so emotionally investing in.
2. Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man was a huge risk. Only Batman and Superman had proven real blockbuster viability at the box office and even then those franchises ended with flops. Handing Spider-Man one of the largest production budgets ever and giving the reigns to small-budget Sam Raimi was a gamble. Fortunately it’s one that paid off in the (then) highest opening weekend gross of all time.
Spider-Man invented the superhero genre as we know it today. Under Sam Raimi’s experimental camera, this movie proved that you could tell a compelling superhero story in spandex without the need for leatherized modernization. It proved that cheesy outfits, schlocky dialogue, and a basic dose of morality could not just carry a 2 hour movie but make it fantastic. Spider-Man inspired the greenlight for Marvel’s entire canon and there’s no doubt that there would be no MCU without it.
This is first and foremost Peter Parker’s movie, and the relationships that Peter builds with Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Harry, MJ, and even Norman Osborn make this movie far more endearing than most superhero flicks since. This movie knows when to tug on heartstrings, it knows when to hit the breaks and let its characters talk, and it knows that what people love most about the Wall-Crawler isn’t his suit, his powers, or his quipping, it’s his heart.
The film equally excels with bringing Spider-Man’s (oft) greatest adversary to the big screen. How do you make a sadist in a leather mask relatable? You task Willem Dafoe with bringing him to life. Willem Dafoe brings a great hubris and flawed likeability to Norman Osborn. So even when he dons his suit and pumpkin bombs, you know what drives the man underneath. In the age of infinity stones and motherboxes, few superhero movies take the time to do this anymore. So even though the Green Goblin is almost always speaking underneath a metallic mask, he’s more human than any villain I’ve seen in the last five years.
1. Spider-Man 2
If you know me well, you know there’s no other movie that could have wound up in the number one spot. This was my favorite movie for 17 years and it’ll always have a space in my all time top-five.
I’ve talked a lot so far about the difference between a film that is Peter’s movie and a film that is Spider-Man’s movie. No movie is more Peter’s movie than this. Peter quits being Spider-Man for 30+ minutes of the runtime and it’s in that move that this movie quits being good and starts being great. This movie lets Peter feel the full weight of responsibility and crack underneath it. The Raimi trilogy is great at letting its protagonist get beat up and its never done to as great effect as it is here. Peter loses his jobs, lives in a crappy apartment, misses his rent, lives with the guilt of having gotten not just his uncle but his best friend’s dad and surrogate father killed, lost his girl, and can’t catch a break from anyone. None of the other Spider’s take this many L’s and that’s why it feels so much more spectacular when Spider-Man returns to take the W.
At the same time, we get to witness Spider-Man’s most dynamic villain come to the big screen. Doctor Octopus regularly rivals Green Goblin for the title of Spider-Man’s arch nemesis. He’s one of the few villains that doesn’t just challenge Spider-Man with his powers, he also challenges him with his mind. He also challenges Peter on an emotional level, stepping into that often vacated mentor role and doing a bang up job. The dynamic between the two is great because Doctor Octavious pushes Peter in the right direction, unlike Norman, he’s a positive challenge in Peter’s life. So when he gets mechanical arms fused to his body 45min into the movie, it hurts to see a man we know to be good become something he is not. That idea of two characters forced into being who they aren’t is what drives this story through epic fights, impressive mechanical puppetry, and the swinging scapes of Sam Raimi’s New York.
The other element that this movie has that its predecessor did not is that of Director of Photography Bill Pope. Sam Raimi is a powerhouse from the director’s chair, he has an inventive style that rivals anyone in the business. Teamed up with a master cinematographer like Bill Pope, the two create the recipe for movie magic. This movie is gorgeously shot, the most beautiful Spider-film to look at so far. Whether it’s the city reflecting through Doc Ock’s eye glasses, a freeze frame of Peter walking, or Spider-Man being lifted through a train by a gaggle of passengers, this movie is a visual treat.
I could say a lot more and post article after article about why I love this movie, but I think you get the point.
*No Way Home will be added to the rankings after I’ve had a chance to see it and you bet your butt I’m excited for that.
Collin Willis 