I contributed to the $140 million opening of "The Amazing Spider-Man" over the 4th of July weekend, and I enjoyed it for the most part. But instead of writing a traditional boring review that could be found anywhere, I've decided to compare the film with the 2002 original in several specific categories and decide which Spidey comes out on top. This is some real geek stuff, but it had to be done.
Tobey Maguire vs. Andrew Garfield
I liked Garfield's portrayal of Peter Parker as more of an outcast loner than an outright nerd, but Maguire was so endearing and easy to root for. I can't see Garfield having too much trouble with the chicks. Tobey has had many lonely nights. Winner- Tobey Maguire
Kirstin Dunst vs. Emma StoneI found Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy more attractive and likable. Dunst is a good actress but I never really got Peter's obsession with MJ. It's in the eye of the beholder, I guess. Winner- Emma Stone
Sam Raimi vs Marc Webb
Webb did an adequate job in the director's chair. He put together a nice cast and seemed to handle the action and effects with relative ease. But the film was slow moving at times and a little too long. Raimi didn't have any blueprint on how to make a Spider-Man movie. Winner- Sam Raimi
The Green Goblin vs. The Lizard
I was never given a reason to care about Dr. Curt Connors aka The Lizard. Can we please give the whole evil scientist routine a rest? Willem Dafoe is effortlessly creepy. All he has to do is show up. Winner- Willem Dafoe/Green Goblin
Aunt May and Uncle Ben
No disrespect to Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are just in another class. Marc Webb took a page out of Chris Nolan's playbook here. Winner- "The Amazing Spiderman"(2012)
Plot
The storyline in "The Amazing Spiderman" is a carbon copy of the first film, so it can't possibly win. Winner- "Spiderman"(2002)
Special Effects
"The Amazing Spider-Man" takes this one, but it's hardly fair. It's ten years later and film technology has taken huge leaps forward in just the last three years. Winner- "The Amazing Spiderman"(2012)
The Suit
Again, the new Spidey suit looked better, but that's a mandatory improvement that's not worth bragging about. Winner- "The Amazing Spider-Man"(2012)
Webshooters
Garfield's mechanical webshooters may have been true to the comics but Raimi understood the difficulty of plausibly explaining this in a movie. Webb didn't even try. Winner- "Spider-Man"(2002)
So there you have it. "Spider-Man"(2002) takes all the most important categories and wins 5-4. "The Amazing Spider-Man"(2012) can't possibly be considered a better film when it borrows so heavily from it. Webb did a great job treading familiar territory. The movie looked great. The actors were appealing. But ten years is not a long time in the context of cinema, so that logic doesn't work on me. The climate also has to be taken into consideration. When Raimi was handed the reigns about twelve years ago, there weren't five superhero movies a year like there are now and success wasn't a sure thing. With all that said, I'm open to the possibilities of a new series(I have no choice, really) and I can't wait to do "Spider-Man 2"(2004) vs. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"(2014).
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