So, with ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ coming out, I was
looking into what I could possibly do for a Spider-Man related post for this
site in time for its release. But, I found that I didn’t really have much
options seeing how I’ve already done full reviews for all four films back in
2012 when the first reboot came out. But I finally found an idea for a post
based off of another post that my friend Matthew Goudreau had just done. So
today, I’ll be doing something along the lines of the Nostalgia Critic’s ‘Old
vs. New’ videos and will be comparing the first of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man
films, 2002’s ‘Spider-Man’, with Marc Webb’s ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. Now this
is something that I normally don’t do because when it comes to film franchises
and their reboots, I feel that it’s a little unfair to compare a reboot to the
original film because I think that it should be looked at as its own thing and
that is certainly the case with the ‘Spider-Man’ reboot. Still, I thought it
would be fun to do this as these two are actually my personal favorite entries
in the Spider-Man film franchise. So let’s us begin…
BEST PETER PARKER
Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield did phenomenal jobs as
Peter Parker, both of whom came off as being very sympathetic, charming, and
likable. But if I had to choose which one of their performances I like the
most, I prefer Garfield’s take more than Maguire’s. And I’ve heard a lot of
people complain about how the character was portrayed in the reboot, not by
Garfield’s performance but through the writing; how he is sort of stalking Gwen
Stacy, how he treats Uncle Ben and Aunt May like crap, and how he doesn’t really
do much to hide the fact that he has powers. Well, I view his behavior in this
film in a different way… he’s being a teenager. Admit it folks, we’ve all been
through that rebellious phase, haven’t we? That’s how I interpret Peter’s
actions in this film. I mean, with the Raimi films, Peter graduates from High
School right after Uncle Ben’s death so by that point I feel that he’s already
matured past his rebellious phase, whereas the Peter in the reboot is still in
High School so it’s understandable that he hasn’t really matured yet.
And as for the thing about him not really keeping his
identity secret… well, this happened a few times in the first Raimi film too,
so it’s not like this hasn’t happened before. Like remember when Peter
accidentally launched a web at a lunch tray, something that apparently no one
nearby actually saw? This is a case where both versions of Peter Parker haven’t
done the best job of hiding their big secret. Now, I was still in High School
at the time this film came out so I found myself relating more to Garfield’s
Peter. But even now that I’m out of High School, I still find that Garfield’s
Peter is a little more defined of a character. After all, the reboot has the
advantage of adding in the plotline about Peter’s parents and we can certainly see
how much of an impact their departure has had on him. The scene where he’s
arguing with Uncle Ben and says “Where’s my father?” is pretty damn
heartbreaking. So, while I do think Maguire did a great job in the Raimi
trilogy, overall I feel that Andrew Garfield was the better Peter Parker… but
there’s more to this role than just being a great Peter Parker.
BEST SPIDER-MAN
Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Again, just like with the last category, I do that Maguire
was also great as Spider-Man, but this is a character that is known for being a
very wisecracking superhero and I hate to say it, but I don’t think that Tobey
Maguire really got that part of the character down that well in the Raimi films.
A lot of his wisecracks (what few there were actually, now that I think about
it) were rather mediocre. Plus, as we saw from ‘Spider-Man 3’, sometimes the
humor got a little bit too goofy. Garfield, on the other hand, really got the
wisecracking aspect of the character down perfectly and I’m not just talking
about the scene where he’s dealing with the carjacker (“You found my weakness…
it’s small knives!”). There were a few other instances of his wisecracking nature,
like when he’s fighting the Lizard in the High School (“Someone’s been a bad
Lizard!”). I just feel that he just made it work much better. Plus, as shown in
the trailers for ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’, it’s clear that Garfield is continuing
to maintain that attitude (“I was cleaning the chimney…” “We have no chimney…” “What???”).
So, overall, going back to what I said earlier, while I do like Maguire in the
Raimi films, I feel that Garfield is the superior lead.
BEST VILLAIN
Winner: SPIDER-MAN (2002)
Rhys Ifans was really good as Curt Connors AKA ‘The Lizard’;
he’s one of those villains who were actually a bit sympathetic given the whole
situation with his goal of trying to regenerate limbs because he himself lost
an arm. But, at the end of the day, you just can’t top Willem Dafoe’s
performance as Norman Osborn AKA The Green Goblin in the first Raimi film.
Sure, it’s incredibly over the top, but it’s just a very fun and entertaining
performance and Dafoe really gets into the role. Plus, I do think that Dafoe’s
role was better-written than Ifans mainly because there was apparently scenes
cut that featured his family. This would have really helped when it came to
making him a more sympathetic villain. It’s still there in the final film, but
this would have helped convey that just a bit more. This is actually a rather
close decision, but because of that material that ended up on the cutting room
floor, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin is the better villain, not the best in
the entire film franchise (see Doc Ock in ‘Spider-Man 2’ for that), but still a
very entertaining one.
BEST LOVE INTEREST
Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
There really isn’t any contest here. It’s nothing against
Kirsten Dunst, as she did do a really good job as Mary Jane in the Raimi films.
But as Gwen Stacy (a part that’s done much better here than in ‘Spider-Man 3’,
I might add), Emma Stone was just the superior female lead in almost every way.
She wasn’t just the ‘damsel in distress’; she was very charming and likable but
also very smart. When New York is being infected with the Lizard’s chemicals,
she helps develop the antidote for it. When the Lizard confronts her in Oscorp,
she wards him off with fire. And when Peter tells her ‘he can’t see her
anymore’, she immediately realizes that it was because her father made him
promise to ‘keep her out of it’. Thank god this character turned out the way
she did, not just through the writing but from Stone’s performance in the role.
Of course, she also had terrific chemistry with Garfield, making them one of
the best superhero film couples of all time whereas Maguire and Dunst’s
chemistry was a bit forced at times. In fact, I’d say that her character, and
performance, might just be the best aspect of the film.
BEST SUPPORTING CAST
Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Both films have terrific supporting casts, so this was a
tough decision. The first film had Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, James
Franco, and of course, the man behind everyone’s favorite hot-headed publisher
J. Jonah Jameson, J.K. Simmons. The reboot has another really great supporting
cast; Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Ifans, and Denis Leary. So why do I prefer
‘Amazing Spider-Man’s supporting cast over the original? Well, I just like the
characters in the reboot more, not just this version’s Peter and Gwen. I also
liked some of the qualities of these interpretations of the characters when
compared to the Raimi films. I liked how Sheen and Field’s versions of Uncle
Ben and Aunt May were a bit more authoritative, which you really didn’t see
from Robertson and Harris in the original film. Don’t worry, they’re still the
loving surrogate parents, but I liked that they were a bit strict at times, and
that’s because they care about Peter and they’re worried about him (we’ll get
to a certain aspect of Uncle Ben’s role in both films in a bit). I also like
that they gave George Stacy (Leary) a much more substantial role than he was
given in ‘Spider-Man 3’; Leary had such a great presence in the role and when
his character died, it really sucked. So again, this one was rather hard to
pick, but because I prefer one movie’s characters more when compared to the
other film, I have to go with the reboot’s cast.
BEST SCORE
Winner: SPIDER-MAN (2002)
Believe it or not, this was closer than you think; I
actually think that James Horner’s score for the first ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ is
actually a bit underrated. I really enjoy it, especially the two motifs that
Horner did for the film. The first is a more somber tune that plays during the
sadder parts of the film and the other is a very heroic melody that I feel
really fits the character well as he swings through New York (both motifs are
used to perfection in this track from the score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze3HwnWWJ-s). But, let’s be honest,
just like with Hans Zimmer’s music for the ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’, as good as it
is, it just can’t beat the original which, in both cases, was done by Danny
Elfman. Elfman also had a great motif that he used for the Raimi Spider-Man
films and as much as I like the motifs from Horner’s score, Elfman’s motif,
which I’ve heard is referred to as the ‘Responsibility’ theme (which is a
pretty fitting name (here’s the link for those who may not be familiar with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_pkajOdsIA)), is just straight-up iconic and I’ll admit that Elfman’s score was just
a tad bit more memorable than Horner’s score, which as I said I do like, but in
the end I have to go with Elfman’s score. You just can’t beat that motif.
BEST COSTUME
Winner: SPIDER-MAN (2002)
I’m not going to lie… I am not the biggest fan of the
costume they gave Garfield for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. I mean, I don’t think
it’s a bad costume, but there’s a certain part about it that I just can’t get
over. When the first image of the costume, minus the mask, came out, I thought
it looked really good. And then a pic of the suit with the mask was released on
the internet… and I just couldn’t get over the eyes. I mean, I’m fine with
having it look different than the costume from the Raimi trilogy, but I just
couldn’t get over how the eyes looked on the costume. I can’t really explain
why, but I just felt that it looked a little off when paired with the costume
as a whole. So this round goes to the Raimi trilogy costume; I literally don’t
have anything bad to say about it… it just looks terrific. Although I have to
say, I really love the new look of the costume for ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’.
Now that suit looks awesome. But, of course, I’m not comparing that version of
the costume to the original film, so I’m still sticking with the Raimi version.
BEST PORTRAYAL OF UNCLE BEN’S DEATH
Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Now this is a pretty darn tough one as both death scenes
were handled very well in both of these films, but in the end, I give the edge
to ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ mainly for the reason that we actually see it
happen onscreen whereas in the original film, Uncle Ben was shot off-screen. I
feel that this makes the reboot’s death a little more impactful especially
considering that in this film, it happened while Uncle Ben was out looking for
Peter and not only that, but he went out in a fairly heroic way, actually
trying to stop the thief that ended up shooting him. Both scenes are real
tear-jerkers and as they were followed up in both films, you can definitely see
the guilt that Peter has about it, as he regrets how, in both movies, he was
rather rude to Uncle Ben the last time he talked with him. I mean, maybe the
one in the Raimi film is a bit more meaningful, but in the end, I found myself
shedding more tears when Martin Sheen’s Uncle Ben died because I was more
emotionally connected to the characters in the reboot and while Cliff Robertson
was terrific in the first ‘Spider-Man’ film, I feel that Sheen’s take on the
character felt more ‘fatherly’ in tone.
BEST PORTRAYAL OF ORIGIN STORY
Winner: SPIDER-MAN (2002)
Now this isn’t because the reboot, being a reboot of course,
had to basically tell the same story again. I mean, in a way, I think that the
reboot’s origin story is a bit more substantial given that it adds in the
storyline of Peter’s parents and their sudden departure… too bad they don’t
really delve into that much. For what was probably the biggest selling point of
the actual marketing, they don’t really do much with it. From what I can tell,
all that they do with is flash a newspaper article stating that they died in a
plane crash and not much else after that. Just like with Dr. Connors and his
family, it feels like this aspect of the story ended up getting cut in
post-production. But like I said earlier, despite this not being very relevant
within the film itself, you could still see the impact that their absence in
Peter’s life has had on him which again is why I find Garfield’s Peter to be
more sympathetic. You find yourselves wanting to know what happened to them
just as much as he does. Ah well, hopefully we’ll see more of that in ‘The
Amazing Spider-Man 2’. But, because this element of the origin apparently ended
up being cut, I do have to give this point to the first Raimi film, as it
really did handle the origin story really well from all aspects from Peter’s
talk with Uncle Ben, where he says his famous line, ‘with great power comes
great responsibility’, to Peter’s eventual decision to become a vigilante in
memory of Uncle Ben. Still, for what it’s worth, the reboot at least did a good
job at handling those aspects of the origin as well.
Ultimate Winner: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (5-4)
I loved ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, and because of its rather
rushed origins, I wasn’t really expecting to love it so much but I did. The big
reason for this was that I really liked this film’s cast of characters more and
I found myself really connected to them on an emotional level. I thought Andrew
Garfield and Emma Stone were far superior leads compared to Tobey Maguire and
Kirsten Dunst, who for the record were both still really good, but I felt that
Garfield’s Peter/Spidey was more relatable and sympathetic and Stone’s Gwen was
the better female lead and not just a damsel in distress for Peter to rescue.
Their chemistry was fantastic and they were both very likable in their
respective roles. I also liked the supporting cast of the reboot more (even if
they don’t have J.K. Simmons as Jameson) and felt that Uncle Ben’s death in the
reboot was handled much better. Sure, this film will never escape the fact that
it was a pretty rushed reboot. I mean, five years after the last Raimi film was
just way too early to move on to a new franchise. But, in the end, I felt that ‘The
Amazing Spider-Man’ truly was… Amazing!
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