Everyone knows about Peter Parker/Spider-Man at this point, given the latter is up there with the most recognizable superhero characters of all time, and also given how relatable, endearing, and enduring Peter is, even when he’s not specifically using his spider powers. MostSpider-Manmovies will focus on something to do with growing up, given Parker gets bitten by a spider when he’s a teenager, and then has to contend with all these wild and unusual things happening to himwhile he’s trying to navigate an already tricky world: high school. Peter grows up, falls in love, loses people close to him, and tries to stay afloat… all things that regular people do as they themselves grow and come of age, but Peter has to fight off a bunch of criminals, creatures, and sworn enemies while he does it.
The basic premise ofSpider-Manmight then be simple, but the things that can be done with the character add considerable layers. Further complicating things is the fact that there are different versions of Spider-Man – or Spider-People – best exemplified by the ongoingSpider-Verseseries, where the most prominent Spider-Man there wasn’t even called Peter Parker; instead, he was Miles Morales. One branch (or web, ha-ha) ofSpider-Manthat didn’t last too long was the one defined byAndrew Garfield’s time in the lead role.Following threeSam Raimi-directed movies,Spider-Manwas rebooted rather hastily, and Garfield got two solo movies to his name, the failure of the second seemingly standing in the way of things becoming a trilogy. Yet a certain 2021 release did bring back numerousSpider-Man-related characters into one story, Garfield’s Peter Parker included, and so now, the actor has appeared in threeSpider-Manmovies. The bunch of them are ranked below, starting with the not-so-good and ending with the pretty great.
3’The Amazing Spider-Man 2' (2014)
Directed by Marc Webb
There’s no nice way to say it:The Amazing Spider-Man 2is an absolutemess of a film that feels as disparateas it does desperate. It does admittedly acknowledge a critique its predecessor faced; this one, narratively, does not tread too closely to aSpider-Manstory people might already be familiar with. What it does, instead, is borrow from countless sources, whirring them all into a smoothie that’s hardly edible, at the end of the day. Do you want too many villains, too many side characters, too many set-ups for sequels that’ll probably never happen, and too much inconsistency when it comes to tone? You’ve got all those things in spades, inThe Amazing Spider-Man 2, and the fact things were kind of called off on thiswhole side of Sony’sSpider-Manthingafter its release was, in hindsight, probably merciful.
It’s not really Garfield’s fault here (whatwith his big shoes to fill and all), and his co-star,Emma Stone(playing Gwen Stacy) does about all she can with the material at hand, but boy is that material pretty awful. It’s also a film defined by the mess it makes. Across the space of almost 2.5 hours,The Amazing Spider-Man 2clumsily dips its toes (or sometimes even its entire legs) into whatever genre it pleases, breaking such genres apart and throwing all the debris around with nary a care for where such pieces land; not caring what new formations might take shape.It builds and builds in this unwieldy way, and then collapses on itself with spectacle, and a few short scenes near the end can only tease a clean-up process of sorts that never comes. WhetherThe Amazing Spider-Man 2stays a cautionary tale or ends up being aCaligulaorSouthland Tales-esque cult classic in decades to come remains to be seen.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2’The Amazing Spider-Man' (2012)
Of all theSpider-Manmovies starring Andrew Garfield, it feels the most difficult to come up with things to say aboutThe Amazing Spider-Man. This 2012 film cannot count itself among the worst superhero movies of all time by any means, but by that same token, it’s a long way off being up there as an all-time great superhero film. It exists to be merely more Spider-Man, for better or worse. The Raimi trilogy was over, withSpider-Man 3a still relatively recent memory (it had come out in 2007). Boldly, those behindThe Amazing Spider-Manwent back only another five years, retelling a very similar origin story that had just been told 10 years earlier,in 2002’s classicSpider-Man. Sure,the teenagers this time aroundlook a little younger, but all the familiar beats are hit with just a bit too much familiarity.
Peter might have a different foe and a love interest with different hair (and a new name) this time around, but the circumstances of him becoming Spider-Man are quite familiar, as is the fact that goodold Uncle Ben proves to be as doomedas ever.The Amazing Spider-Manis well-made, but it’s a deja-vu-heavy kind of film in a way that feels shockingly blatant.The message here seems to be that Sony knows you won’t have forgotten the broad strokes of that one very famous film from 2002, and that they’re justgoing to give you something very similar again, because why not? They’re saying, “Line up and eat the slop.” And, hey, it’s decent slop. It wasn’t slop the first time around; it was a proper meal. But this slop substitute is pretty edible. To call it a movie again, instead of a food, it’s decently edible. It just could – and should – have been something more… though not “more” in the way thatThe Amazing Spider-Man 2was “more.” Truly, these two films represent one of the least well-balanced duologies/almost-trilogies in cinema history.
The Amazing Spider-Man
After Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spider-like powers and ventures out to save the city from the machinations of a mysterious reptilian foe.
1’Spider-Man: No Way Home' (2021)
Directed by Jon Watts
A redemptive film in many ways,Spider-Man: No Way Homewas designed to be the third solo-Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland, sure, but it was also intended to bring some closure to the versions of Spider-Man played by both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. The former probably needed it a little less, given at least two of hisSpider-Manmovies were great, and only one was divisive (but more beloved as time has gone on). Garfield really needed a win, though, consideringThe Amazing Spider-Manwas solid in a disappointing/bland way, andThe Amazing Spider-Man 2was a mess. But he was always a good Peter Parker/Spider-Man who deserved better, and better he got here, withNo Way Home, proving to be a key supporting character and a scene-stealer, alongside fellow Spider-Man Tobey Maguire, andthanks to some universe-jumping chaoshappening in the movie’s story.
Though it’s a bit messy and convoluted,Spider-Man: No Way Homeisa good deal of fun, and an understandably beloved celebration ofSpider-Man, as he’s existed on the big screen, for the past 20 or so years.Watching Maguire, Garfield, and Holland come togetherto both fight and talk out their personal traumas is emotionally rewarding stuff, as is the Garfield-specific moment when he manages another universe’s MJ, much in the way he came so close to saving his own Gwen Stacy. So, sure,No Way Homeisn’t exactly Garfield’s movie, but he’s one of the very best parts of the whole thing, and it showcases how good he is in this role better than any of his solo movies did. If one movie can be pointed to as an example of why we should get a little more Andrew Garfield on screen as Peter Parker and Spider-Man, it’sSpider-Man: No Way Home.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
With Spider-Man’s identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.
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