Just ten short years after Tobey Maguire’s first film as everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Andrew Garfield took over the role. After the tragedy of Spider-Man 3, I was so freakin’ excited to hear about a new Spidey film in the works. Each actor delivers a very different version of the same character. This article will only be based on the origin films (ie: SM1 & TASM1). I'm gonna keep this short...
ANDREW GARFIELD:
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) starts off with Garfield, a confident, somewhat cocky version of Peter Parker. He sort of reminded me of Tony Stark, minus the money, girls, and armor. Sure, Andrew’s Spidey joked around with the bad guys and all that, but none of his jokes were funny, so how is that a good thing? He was over-confident before he got his powers, and still the same after. Remember that scene with the car thief? The “small knives” scene? Yeah, he was being a dick there. I mean, I just wanted to slap him across the face right there. He was pretty much the exact opposite of Tobey’s Spider-Man. Now, fast-forward to the end of the movie, after Gwen’s dad gets killed. Why wasn’t Peter there to support Gwen at the funeral? And then he breaks Captain Stacy’s promise and decides he wants to get back together with Gwen. Are you f*cking kidding me?! First you ditch her in her time of need, then you say “don’t worry baby, we’ll get back together in the sequel.” Yeah, I REALLY like you now, Pete! (< That was a joke.) That guy getting beat up by Flash at the beginning of TASM1 reminded me of Peter Parker more than Andrew did. I'm not even kidding...
TOBEY MAGUIRE:
Spider-Man (2002) begins with Maguire, a shy, nerdy teenager, who’s in love with the girl-next-door. From the start of the film, before he becomes Spidey, it’s absolutely clear who this guy is. You can easily see how Tobey portrays a bullied weakling who can’t really stand up for himself. His version of Peter Parker is a very likable, innocent teenager, almost like a character from the 1960′s. (< See what I did there?) And even when he does get his powers, he doesn’t start fights with everyone for no reason, unlike Mr. Garfield. When he finally goes on that first swing, the audience is right there with him. I mean, you really want this guy to succeed at being a superhero, whereas you sort of want Garfield’s Spidey to fall face-first into the pavement, due to a web-shooter malfunction. At the end of SM1, Peter tells MJ that he can’t be with her, for obvious reasons. That clearly shows how he understands the meaning of responsibility, and that he knows not to get his loved ones involved in his superhero life. He did not need anyone to TELL him to stay away from her...
THE VERDICT:
The thing that makes a good movie is when your main character becomes a different person by the time the credits start rolling. Tobey’s Peter Parker was an entirely different guy at the end, whereas Andrew’s hadn’t really changed that much. I had extremely high expectations for TASM (2012), but it did not deliver. In short, I'll say this: Tobey's PP/SM was very likable, while Andrew's was sort of a dick. But the writing is to be blamed for that.
Tobey Maguire clearly gets the win from me.
Thanks for reading,
Henry