Reviews listed below of all the live-action Spider-Man films. This list does not include the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that feature Spider-Man as a supporting character (Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame), Sony’s Spider-Man films that don’t include Spider-Man at all (Morbius, Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter and the Venom trilogy) and the animated Spider-Verse films from Sony Pictures Animation.
Spider-Man (2002)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: David Keopp
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons
Music by: Danny Elfman
Rated: 12A
Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is an awkward young man who excels in the classes, but is shunned by his fellow students apart from his best friends, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and Harry Osborn (James Franco). His life seems to change for the better as he gains supernatural powers, such as the ability to shoot webs and climb up walls after being bitten by a radioactive spider. However, a selfish decision to let a thief get away from justice leads to a tragic loss, which sets Peter on the path into becoming Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Harry’s father, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), undergoes a hideous transformation into the powerful Green Goblin, who vows revenge on New York City for rejecting his mind…
Plans to adapt Stan Lee’s favourite superhero to the big-screen, Spider-Man, had been on and off again throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with the likes of Roger Corman and James Cameron both being attached as directors at one point. After numerous legal battles between MGM, Sony and Cannon Films, the creator of the Evil Dead trilogy Sam Raimi, was chosen from a list that included the likes of Tim Burton and Roland Emmerich, to finally bring the origin story of the amazing web-crawler to life.
It may not have aged well in terms of dialogue and visuals, but Sam Raimi’s take on the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man still manages to be a great film, thanks to it’s faithfulness in spirit to the source material, Danny Elfman’s majestic score and even though he may not have done a good job as Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire does manage to capture the heart and soul of Peter Parker.
Despite having numerous other issues such as the weird design of The Green Goblin and the second act being a bit unfocused, Spider-Man managed, along with Blade and X-Men , to kickstart the modern age of superhero movies with a bang.
Rating: 4/5
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Alvin Sargent
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, Donna Murphy and J.K. Simmons
Music by: Danny Elfman
Rated: 12A
Two years after defeating the Green Goblin, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is struggling with his new double life as Spider-Man. His best friends Mary-Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) and Harry Osborn (James Franco) have fallen out with him due to the former being frustrated with his dishonesty over his commitment to keep her out of his life for her safety and the latter for protecting Spider-Man from his desire for revenge for his father’s death. Things are made even worse due to Aunt May’s (Rosemary Harris) money problems, Peter slowly losing his powers and worst of all, his new mentor Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) has become the supervillain Doctor Octopus after a lab accident who wants to recreate a dangerous experiment that could wipe out New York…
Aside from having a few goofy moments, Spider-Man 2 is still the greatest Spider-Man film thanks to the heartbreaking, yet powerful journey that Peter Parker is forced to go through due to his commitments as Spidey causing him to fall out with his friends, losing his powers and not getting any support for his actions. The late Alvin Sargent of Ordinary People fame, did a great job in tying Peter’s story with Octavius’s arc, in terms of the same message of someone being forced to give up their dreams to save the world. Alfred Molina owns the role and manages to deliver the right balance of camp and drama to make his version of Doctor Octopus one of the best comic-book villians ever.
Add in an amazing setpiece involving a train, more funny Jameson moments curtesy of J.K Simmons and Rosemary Harris delivering a powerful speech on heroes that would bring anyone out of depression forever, Spider-Man 2 is a bodafide classic.
Rating: 5/5
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Written by: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris and J.K. Simmons
Music by: Christopher Young
Rated: 3.5/5
Life seems to have taken a turn for the better for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) who has finally managed to balance his life as Spider-Man with his studies, work and his budding romance with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). However things get complicated when after trying to kill Peter as the new Green Goblin, Harry Osborn (James Franco) gets injured and loses his memory, Peter learns that the true killer of Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), a thief named Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) is still at large as the powerful Sandman and M.J. loses her job while at the same time Peter starts getting distracted by his new classmate Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard). Just when things couldn’t get any worse, an alien symbiote attaches itself to Peter’s suit making him more aggressive and brutal as a result…
It was never going to be an easy task for Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi to top what he did for the Spider-Man franchise after the critically acclaimed second film in 2004, but that doesn’t change the fact that Spider-Man 3 is still slightly disappointing as both a sequel and as a Spider-Man film, in spite of being slightly better than expected.
Although some of the subplots such as Peter having to face the truth about how his Uncle Ben’s death was more complex than he thought originally and Harry Osborn finally getting closure in his built-up character arc throughout the other films are some of the best ideas for an outstanding Spider-Man film, others such as the decision about the romance between Peter and M.J. going back to square one with a terrible romantic triangle between Peter, M.J. and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Gwen Stacy, and the forced origin story for the fan favourite villain Venom (Topher Grace) that was shoehorned into the film despite Sam Raimi’s protests is simply too much for one film to handle.
The visual effects are still stunning though, with the sequence of the Sandman’s birth standing out in how good the CGI looks even by 2007 standards, and even if this Venom lacks the bulky body of the comics and animated shows, the design does manage to capture the animal-like nature of this character well.
Overall, Spider-Man 3 may not be the worst Spider-Man film out there, but compared to the last two films, it just misses the swing of the first films.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen and Sally Field
Music by: James Horner
Rated: 12A
In a universe separated across space and time from the world of the first three films, a different variant of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) has spent his entire childhood living with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), after he was left there shortly before his parents, Richard (Campbell Scott) and Mary Parker (Embeth Davidtz), were assassinated in a plane crash. When Peter discovers a photo of his father’s lab partner Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans) in an old briefcase, he eventually ends up exploring the Oscorp building where he gets bitten by a radioactive spider. After gaining mysterious powers from the spider’s venom and losing Ben to gunfire, Peter decides to become a masked vigilante called Spider-Man to avenge his death. But when Connors uses a faulty experimental drug to transform himself into the savage Lizard, Peter must rely on the help of his new girlfriend, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), if he ever hopes to save New York City from being turned into literal lizard-people…
The Amazing Spider-Man had the potential to be outstanding, it really did. Marc Webb and Andrew Garfield really wanted to something different from the Sam Raimi trilogy by setting it entirely in Peter Parker’s high school days, with a slightly altered origin story with the added elements of Peter’s relationships to both his real parents and Gwen Stacy.
However it ultimately falls short due to the need to rehash numourous elements from the previous ones, and having too many important scenes cut from the film, that would have given the narrative a bit more bite. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have absolutely adorable chemistry as both Peter and Gwen, Denis Leary is a lot of fun as the cynical Captain George Stacy and both Martin Sheen and Sally Field manage to make their versions of Uncle Ben and Aunt May unique when compared to other versions. However, Rhys Ifan’s Lizard is one of the weakest antagonists of the film franchise due to rehashed motives and having way too many scenes cut to make his plot interesting.
Overall, The Amazing Spider-Man would have been better if a bit more risks were taken with rebooting the source material and those crucial deleted scenes were left in.
Rating: 3/5
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Jeff Pinkar
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Jones and Sally Field
Music by: Hans Zimmer and The Magnificent Six
Rated: 12A
Two years after defeating the Lizard, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) is struggling to keep the promise he made to Captain George Stacy (Denis Leary) to keep his daughter and Peter’s loyal girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), out of his life as Spider-Man. Although Gwen and Peter are still madly in love with each other, a series of unfortunate events such as an electrician named Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) becoming the sinister Electro, the truth about Peter’s father Richard (Campbell Scott) finally being revealed and Peter’s childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) desperately trying to cure himself of a genetic illness that claimed his father Norman’s (Chris Cooper) life, will tragically tear them apart forever….
Despite having a lot more entertaining set-pieces than the last entry such as the Times Square battle with Electro, and having genuine chemistry between Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 does a terrible job at handling narrative structure by cramming six subplots revolving around Electro, the mystery of Peter’s parents, setting up the Sinister Six, Peter trying to keep his promise to stay away from Gwen, Aunt May (Sally Field) getting a job at a hospital and lastly, shoehorning the Green Goblin into the climax, solely to reenact The Death of Gwen Stacy which makes this one of the most unfocused examples of the entire superhero genre.
Plot motivations make no sense such as Max’s motivations for turning evil and Hans Zimmer’s score, while epic at times, does feel too silly in some scenes. While both Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have always been the highlight of this short-lived series, both Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan are given such odd directions with their characters, with the latter’s Green Goblin looking even worse than the Sam Raimi costume.
Although it does have its moments such as having the most intense final battles of the entire franchise, I’m glad that The Amazing Spider-Man 2’s failure at the box office led Sony to collaborate with Marvel Studios for the next reboot.
Rating: 2.5/5
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Directed by: Jon Watts
Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau, Jacob Batalon, Zendaya, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Donald Glover, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daley, Marisa Tomei, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr.
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
A few months after being recruited by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) to fight in the Avengers Civil War, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), returning to school life in Queens, can’t wait to become a full-time Avenger as Spider-Man. But when a group of disgruntled thugs led by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) steal technology from the Avengers’ past battles to become super powered themselves, with the latter becoming the deadly Vulture, Spidey must swing into action while also having to deal with his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) knowing his identity.
Throughout the last decade, it had been a really rough ride for your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man in terms of his film career. Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 all suffered from Sony’s ruthless executive meddling and poor attempts at trying to emulate the Marvel Cinematic Universe solely to keep Spidey in their greedy hands. However after the latter underperformed at the box office and Sony got hacked thanks to a certain Seth Rogen comedy upsetting certain nations, in early 2015, Sony finally agreed to a deal with Marvel Studios to allow the WebCrawler to appear alongside the likes of Captain America, Thor and the Hulk in future films, in which the first example of this was seen in Tom Holland’s more youthful portrayal of the character in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Now that this young Spidey has his first solo film, it thankfully does manage to keep audiences interested in a smaller scale narrative than usual.
Due to the existence of the Sam Raimi trilogy and the Marc Webb films, Homecoming establishes it’s own identity from the other films by having much smaller stakes for the WebCrawler as Peter Parker is shown trying to balance school life with underground super-heroics while having to deal with his best friend Ned Leeds knowing about his double life. This John Hughes inspired adventure may lack the thrills and life or death stakes of both Raimi and Webb, but it’s light-hearted approach to Spidey’s world does give it’s own charm while also subverting a lot of the clichés present in those films such as showing Uncle Ben’s death and not focusing on a boring love story.
Tom Holland once again proves that his Peter Parker is fantastic by staying true to his sense of responsibility while also adding in quirks related to his age, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon do great as Peter’s friends Michelle and Ned, although a twist regarding the former does raise a lot of questions with the MCU’s take on Spidey’s mythos and despite not having as much screen-time as the advertising suggested, Tony Stark’s inclusion in the film does lead to a nice subplot with his father-son relationship with Peter coming full circle. Michael Keaton does an impressive job as The Vulture, although despite having an interesting twist to his relationship with Peter compared to the other Spidey villains, he once again falls under the shadow of forgettable Marvel villains.
Overall it may not be as exciting as the first two Raimi films, but Spider-Man: Homecoming is miles better than Sony’s last three films thanks to Marvel Studios’s understanding about why the character works in the first place and it’s willingness to move the character away from plots motivated entirely by romance and family tragedy for a change, opens up many new possibilities for Peter in his future career as a new Avenger.
Rating: 4/5
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Directed by: Jon Watts
Written by: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, J.B. Smoove, Martin Starr, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
Thanos has finally been vanquished for good and all of the victims of the snap have been brought back to life, but at the cost of the life of Tony Stark. Heartbroken over the death of Iron Man, the revived Peter Parker (Tom Holland) decides to take a break from being Spider-Man and go on a trip to Europe with his friends Ned (Jacob Batalon) and MJ (Zendaya). However, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) puts a stop to Peter’s plans when he hires him to work with Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a superhero from another universe, to stop numerous monsters called the Elementals from destroying Europe…
Throughout the third Phase of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most difficult character to adapt into the Infinity Saga has been the character that was once Marvel’s most iconic superhero before the likes of Iron Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy ever came to the screens, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. Already having a successful movie trilogy from Sam Raimi, two divisive Mark Webb films and hundreds of animated appearances and videogames, it’s not surprising that despite finally getting permission to share the rights with Sony in 2015, Marvel Studios have had to make their version unique compared to all of the other versions of Stan Lee’s favorite superhero.
Introducing Peter Parker as a minor character in Captain America: Civil War, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming dropped the elements of Uncle Ben, The Osborn Family and any villains which had already appeared on the big screen and gave audiences a much younger Spidey with a friend who knew his secret identity, a more realistic version of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and looked up to Iron Man as a father figure in a high-school setting. Now, after pitting him against Thanos alongside the Avengers, killing him off and bringing him back to life in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, returning director Jon Watts is finally allowed into full superhero mode with Spidey’s second solo MCU film.
Although some of the plot twists are a bit too obvious and Zendaya acts like a completely different character compared to her performance in Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home is one of the most entertaining Spider-Man films to date in terms of scope and action even if Sony Animation’s Into the Spider-Verse will never be topped.
Tom Holland’s acting has gotten a lot better over the last few years, and his friendship with Jacob Batalon’s Ned still gets the biggest laughs, Samuel L. Jackson is great as always as Nick Fury, but the highlight goes to Jake Gyllenhaal’s scene-stealing Mysterio, whose look and character arc proves that Marvel still has life left after saying goodbye to Robert Downey Jr.
Overall, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a mostly satisfying epilogue to the 22-film arc of the MCU films released so far at that point in time, even if the general public may get tired of so much Spidey in films.
Rating: 4.5/5
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Directed by: Jon Watts
Written by: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, J.K. Simmons, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: 12A
Seconds after Mysterio revealed the secret identity of Spider-Man to the world, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), his best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and his girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) have had their lives completely turned upside down with constant government interference and all four of them getting harassed by everyone. In a desperate attempt to return things to normal, Peter seeks the help of fellow Avenger Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make the world’s population forget his identity, but Peter accidentally messes up the spell when he tries to alter it midway into completion. Their worst fears are confirmed when villains from two alternate universes such as Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) start being drawn into the Marvel Cinematic Universe itself…
Despite it being half a decade since he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man, being the third live-action actor to take on the role of Stan Lee’s favourite character, has grown to be a bit divisive when compared to previous ones. Whether he was fighting battles alongside the rest of the Avengers in Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame or doing his own thing with his classmates in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, a lot of critics have said that Holland’s version of this beloved character feels a bit too far-removed from how he was depicted in other forms of media by being too reliant on the other characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be interesting , especially when other recent versions such as the PS4/5 Insominac video games and Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse have given fans much more interesting options.
Thankfully, director Jon Watts seems to have heard these complaints for the third and final instalment of the Homecoming trilogy which not only brings Tom Holland’s Spider-Man’s coming-of age character arc to a satisfying conclusion, but also brings closure to twenty-years worth of Spider-Man theatrical films by also being a crossover between the 2002-2007 Sam Raimi trilogy and the 2012-2014 Marc Webb duology as well.
Although comic fans will be slightly disappointed to know that the group of villains are one member short of being the Sinister Six film that so many have desired, it is so entertaining to see the likes of Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx and even Thomas Haden Church and Rhys Ifans back as these iconic characters, with some even getting some of the most character development out of any Spider-Man film. Defoe in particular, steals the show as possibly the most terrifying depiction of the Green Goblin to date.
Tom Holland finally comes full-circle as a Peter Parker that can stand on his own terms with some moments getting the biggest cheers and tears, both Jacob Batalon and Zendaya are absolutely wonderful as his supportive friends Ned and MJ and although one may have to wait for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for better character development, Doctor Strange does a good job in following the footsteps of Iron Man and Nick Fury as the supportive MCU hero mentor that the other two played in the first two films.
Overall, aside from a few plotholes regarding certain character’s motivations, Spider-Man: No Way Home is both a fantastic Marvel Cinematic Universe film for being the biggest game changer since Avengers: Endgame and an emotional Spider-Man film for going back to the roots of the characters best movies by finally addressing why people love the web-slinger in the first place and bringing back the message of “with power comes great responsibility!”
Rating: 4.5/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 