Brand New Day\u2019s bringing in the big bucks at the box office, but quantity doesn\u2019t necessarily equal quantity. Here\u2019s my ranking of the friendly neighbourhood dude\u2019s best and worst offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
And just to clarify, the only big screen Spidey flick that\u2019s still on my watchlist is The Amazing Spiderman 2. Which sounds decidedly not amazing, from what folks say. Anyway, let\u2019s go from worst to best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Amazing Spiderman <\/p>\n\n\n\n
No offence to Andrew Garfield, the guy\u2019s a compelling actor. At the time this joint came out, however, it just felt all kinds of cynical. Reviving a superhero franchise wasn\u2019t a new phenomenon. Batman\u2019s done it plenty of times, as have Superman and many other well-known comic book heroes. But it was the lazy plot rehash of the first Toby Maguire flick that really burned. We already knew Spidey\u2019s origin story from that one. We don\u2019t need a repeat. Change the disc. They should\u2019ve tried some new comic book material, but going back to the familiar definitely didn\u2019t pay off here. The main villain in Amazing Spiderman one was pretty weak too (the guy\u2019s just an angry lizard), especially compared to the first TM Spidey. Willem Defoe\u2019s got a lot of rizz as it is, and the Green Goblin\u2019s just a more compelling bad guy with the Jekyll and Hyde dynamic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spider-Man 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tobey\u2019s third Spidey outing definitely suffers from an overload of villains alongside the poorly written screenplay, but you\u2019ve gotta make time for the memes, man. That\u2019s right, the Bully Maguire memes. These memes essentially centre around how much of a douche Peter Parker is throughout the film, whether he\u2019s being rude or just darn cringey. Sure, it\u2019s the Venom suit that\u2019s causing all of that emotional change, but the way the filmmakers chose to manifest that transformation in visual terms was pretty chuckle worthy. Black clothes, goofy dancing and that wild emo fringe. As Bully Maguire says at one point, \u2018I\u2019m gonna put some dirt in your eye\u2019. Oof. Ouch. Very ouch. The pain of the 12A insult truly knows no bounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spider-Man Homecoming<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not terrible by any means. I guess I was just getting used to this new Spidey and was kind of tired about the endless amounts of superhero reboots. But Tom Holland does a solid job here as the new Spidey in town. And Michael Keaton makes a solid baddie as The Vulture, too. While he\u2019s more well-known as Batman or perhaps even Birdman, he\u2019ll always be Captain Gene to me. If you haven\u2019t seen The Other Guys, by the way, you need to check it out. That\u2019s one of Keaton\u2019s funniest performances, and let\u2019s be honest, he\u2019s the real superhero here. Working two jobs as a police chief and a manager at Bed, Bath and Beyond to put his kid through NYU so he can explore his sexuality and become a DJ? Admirable behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spider-Man Far From Home<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another solid Holland entry. And you\u2019ve gotta feel for the guy on some level. He\u2019s going up against Tom Holland (the author, historian and broadcaster) and Tom Hollander (the actor). It can\u2019t be great to have your name be mentioned and then people go \u2018uh which one though\u2019 and such like. Most likely the younger generation who maybe don\u2019t know who those other guys are won\u2019t be saying that, but, you know, it must be frustrating nonetheless. Jake Gyllenhaal\u2019s really fun here as the villain, and it was extra fun watching interviews of him trying to hide the fact that he\u2019s actually the big bad. Still, he saved Tom Holland from revealing spoilers at any interview opportunity, so that\u2019s kind of heroic in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman Brand New Day<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This one was nice and refreshing in the sense that it did something a bit different with the whole superhero idea in an era that\u2019s increasingly congested with superhero fatigue. Nothing revolutionary, necessarily, but there was a decent main villain as well as a solid story arc. And they didn\u2019t capitulate to doing the whole \u2018oh I remember who you are now\u2019 thing. Well, mostly. Apart from Ned. It was weird seeing in The Punisher outside his usual 18-rated context, but they just about made that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman No Way Home<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The multiverse revelation gave Marvel the perfect excuse to bring old Spidey guys back into the fold, and the result was surprisingly heartfelt and affecting. The villain overload scenario in Spiderman 3 was dealt with a lot more effectively in this one. There are plenty of bad guys, sure, but they\u2019re woven into a more rewarding narrative that builds some decent character development for Tom Holland\u2019s central Spiderman. It\u2019s also pretty funny, too, which I forgot Spider-Man trilogies could be since the TM Spider-Man era. Not that I\u2019m knocking the previous TH films, but the three Spidey guys vibing together provided some good laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, onto the good stuff. No, I\u2019m not roasting the previous joints, I\u2019m just saying that the quality\u2019s noticeably higher from this point. Which still sounds like I\u2019m roasting it, but I\u2019m not. A dab of nostalgia might be present, but I remember really enjoying this flick, and I wasn\u2019t aware of Toby Maguire up until this point. Bear in mind that I\u2019m talking about myself like a fully mature film critic here when I was just a small child. But hey, I enjoyed it at the time, and that\u2019s what matters. Willem Defoe blows it out of the park here as the film\u2019s charismatic, conflicted villain. And James Franco\u2019s got a lot of rizz, too. Sure, he\u2019s been cancelled, but apparently he\u2019s returning to the film world soon. Anyway, I can separate the artist from the art here. And Kirsten Dunst is very solid as MJ here too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my first experiences where I was blown out of the park by the concept that sequels could eclipse the original. No, I was too young to watch the first two Godfather films at this point (it\u2019s a tough battle, but I think the second\u2019s marginally better. It\u2019s my all-time favourite Robert DeNiro performance, anyway). Doc Oc\u2019s a great villain, and there\u2019s plenty of solid CGI, too. It\u2019s also just really great when you consider how much of a disappointment the third part of the trilogy was. Lots of good performances combined with a compelling story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fantastic follow-up to the OG with similarly outstanding animation, voice-work soundtrack and just pure inspiration. Plus a super compelling villain that isn\u2019t really an outright villain.\u00a0And loads of interesting and fun character additions like Daniel Kalulya\u2019s Spider Punk. The graphics are just so zany and out there in the greatest of ways. A relatively simple but compelling plot too. And I love how it played with the origin story trope like the previous one. There\u2019s so much going for it. The only reason this didn\u2019t get the top spot was just because I was used to the high-class animation style from the first film. A visual treat that backs itself up with stellar voice work and an eclectic soundscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just. Wow. One of those moments like in Mitchells and the Machines where I\u2019m initially sceptical and wondering how a new and exciting animation style can ever be created after what\u2019s gone before in terms of amazing existing creative material (hoping to get similar feels when Wildwood hits screens, but I\u2019ll wait and see). But this joint managed that and then some. The multiverse schtick didn\u2019t feel exploitative, but wholly creative. Peter Porker? Dammit, the puns are on point. And voice casting Nick Cage for Spider Noir? Genius. Then creating a separate compelling series based entirely on the character? More genius. And there\u2019s also the brilliant central character of Miles Morales. There\u2019s just brilliance everywhere. Very glad this film exists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brand New Day\u2019s bringing in the big bucks at the box office, but quantity doesn\u2019t necessarily equal quantity. Here\u2019s my ranking of the friendly neighbourhood dude\u2019s best and worst offerings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2077,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions\/2077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nancyepton.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}