Why 'The Amazing Spider-Man' Movies Are Underrated

But Are They Amazing?

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • 4 min read

Top Story - March 2022

When Spider-Man: No Way Home hit the movie scene in December 2021, Spider-Man fans were given the ultimate treat, with all three Spider-Man actors from the recent movie arcs making an appearance. So we had the original Spider-Man Tobey Maguire, The Amazing Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, and the modern-day MCU Spider-Man Tom Holland. This movie was absolutely brilliant and really delivered, and the three-way story arc was perfect.

When you talk to fans about the Spider-Man movies, the general consensus seems to be that most people either are big fans of the Tobey Maguire or Tom Holland incarnations of Spider-Man with a lot less love show for Andrew Garfield and The Amazing Spider-Man version. Personally, I think this is a little unfair and feel that The Amazing Spider-Man movies deserve much more praise than they get.

Andrew Garfield made his Spider-Man debut in 2012 with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield's portrayal of Peter Parker showed an incredible social awkwardness, youthful arrogance, and bravado that I could really relate to. He also carries a certain darkness that was absent from both the Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland versions. We also see his high IQ and scientific/technical brilliance from an early stage adding to the cleverness we expect from Peter Parker. Peter Parker hides his inner turmoil by taking a comedic approach to what he does, keeping the role very close to the comics. It was also great to see how important photography was to Peter Parker in these movies.

Talking of being close to the comics, the whole relationship between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey is terrific in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. It's a strong contender for one best romantic matches in a comic book movie. The chemistry between the two of them is fantastic, which could, of course, be attributed to the fact that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were actually in a real-world relationship at the time. Another thing that enhanced these movies was also around relationships. Firstly with the well-trodden path of Aunt May and Uncle Ben but secondly in the less talked about area of Peter Parker's parents and especially the impact that Richard Parker's work had with the story being expanded across both movies.

While maybe not as iconic as the villains that appeared in the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, we still get some good ones in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. The Lizard, played by Rhys Ifans in The Amazing Spider-Man, was a great example of how the misuse of science can have dramatic implications even if it started with the best intentions. Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, was excellent in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and there was a lot of story revealed for him, from Spider-Man fan to the eventual big bad.

The action sequences in The Amazing Spider-Man movies are a delight, whether swimming through the streets or in a fight. We not only get a feel for the great reflexes and strength of Spider-Man, but the flow is excellent too, with nothing feeling too forced or impossible. Andrew Garfield does a superb job at portraying Peter Parker/Spider-Man bringing new dimensions to the character that hadn't been seen in movies before.

The soundtrack and the visual effects were brilliant in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, really working together to build the relevant emotional feelings as the scenes needed. Unfortunately, the original Tobey Maguire movies suffered from some CGI issues that were understandable given the state of the technology at the time. However, better advances meant that The Amazing Spider-Man benefitted from better visuals that at times gave off a very modern MCU vibe.

Fun trivia for all you youngsters out there… Did you know that these weren't the first The Amazing Spider-Man movies? In 1977, there was a TV show called The Amazing Spider-Man, which was led into by a made for television movie called Spider-Man that served as a pilot. It starred Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Two sequels in the movie series, Spider-Man Strikes Back, released in 1979, and Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge, released in 1981.

The sequels were also made for television films that were actually just episodes from The Amazing Spider-Man TV show. All three of these movies had cinematic releases outside of the United States. I have fond memories of seeing Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge at the cinema, and that was my radioactive spider bite, and I became a Spider-Man fan for life after that.

So what do you think? Do you have any love for The Amazing Spider-Man movies? I loved them when they came out and love them now. If you have seen Spider-Man: No Way Home (and if not, why not?), then I would highly recommend you go back and rewatch The Amazing Spider-Man movies, and maybe you'll see them in a different light?

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