The Tobey Maguire trilogy is my favourite set of Spiderman films. So lets go through them one by one obviously the first one is: Spiderman
This film could've been better for me at least if there hadn't been 2 other Spiderman film series (starring Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland respectively) which i watched first as when Spiderman 3 came out i was 3 so obviously I ended up watching the Andrew Garfield's films first which are underrated. then i ended up watching the Tom Holland ones which came out with the Marvel cinematic universe. this as well as my knowledge of comics and T.V. meant that when i got round to the Tobey Maguire ones I had already gone through the origin story a dozen times which damaged the story. The next fault with the first one is the cheesiness of it which is due to 2 things it being based off of a comic and the fact that was much more prevalent in the early 2000s. the only other problem with it is personally I don't think Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst quite fitted into their roles but that got majorly better as the series went on. The score by Danny Elfman is perfect and is now what comes into my head when I think Spiderman I even think that it has inspired many later Spiderman themes so is now quintessential Spiderman. The roles of Green Goblin and J. Jonah Jamieson are cast perfectly with JK Simmons reprising his role in the Tom Holland Spiderman films because he fit the role so well. The manic style of Willem Defoe's Green Goblin is perfect. The story is a bit predictable but it is an origin story after all so that can be forgiven. The cheesy nature of some parts of the film is enjoyable and i think that some superhero films could do with some because if you're bringing a character over from comics to film you need to bring some of the tone with them or they end up looking totally out of place. Overall the 1st Spiderman film with some misfires is a solid superhero film even today. next Spiderman 2:
This is my favourite Spiderman film of all time. Sam Raimi does a great job of advancing the character the performances of Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire are much better as they come into their own in their respective roles. I think that this film even compared to modern day superhero films stands out because it perfectly strikes that balance of cheesiness and seriousness this is very much the opposite of some of the DC films which have a style of dark and gritty means better GRRRRRRRRRRR SADNESS DARKNESS AHHHHHH while also having characters like batman wonder woman and Lex Luthor. I think that it strikes that balance so well is one of it's strengths. everything good from the previous film carries over. but this time with a better more explored universe and I think a better villain. One of the reasons I think Dr. Octopus is better is because he is much similar to Peter a scientist with powers intelligence and a love interest. all of this I think creates a better villain as it puts him at perfect odds with Peter Parker knowing what to do and how to effectively attack Spiderman. The other villain being Harry Osborne I think is quite rightly kept more in the background which should've made him the perfect villain for the third film as he would have the power to not only destroy Spiderman but Peter Parker as well. This film also has MJ struggle with her relationship with Peter this would've also perfectly factored into the 3rd film with MJ having occasional dalliances with Harry Osborne. this all creates an incredibly good film.
This is obviously the worst Spiderman film but it even then doesn't deserve all the hate it gets. lets start off with the problems. 1. too many villains some of them just seem to come in when and where it is convenient for the plot sandman dies but then gets better venom gets put in a box and the Green Goblin gets amnesia. this all means the villains are weaker and come off a bit weak. 2. as the series progresses it got less cheesy this was the perfect place to dump the cheese and be a serious film showing the evolution of Spiderman from a dumb kid to an adult in a constant struggle with his identities instead it dumps on more cheese this is partially due to too many villains as I said earlier if transferring a character you need to bring some of the atmosphere with it meaning in total there was a bit too much cheddar. 3. MJ gets pissed at Peter this is fine but its all we have seen for the last 3 films and feels a bit done and unneeded. 4. love interests why did we need more we already had MJ an established one then we have JJs secretary the neighbour and Gwen Stacy why maybe 1 more to create conflict as Peter has to choose between his player personality as Spiderman and MJ. 5. Venom Peter eughh an alien comes from outer space and makes Peter Parker just weird angry horny and ignorant all at the same time what could have worked was it making Peter constantly more and more angry until a breaking point where he knows he's gone too far rather than idk emo Spiderman which greatly takes away from Venoms scary demeanour and style. 6. the effects are in a middle ground between sticking to the original style of early 2000s effects and new swankier ones which creates a bit of a mess. 7. The inworld continuity isn't perfect as in the last two films islt was portrayed as a problem when the Daily Bugle blasted Spiderman but that is then quashed when out of nowhere every single other news agency loves Spiderman very publicly now with parades and everything but there was no middle ground or gradual lead up in the last two films leaving the whole thing jarring. My last quarrel with this film is the fact Venom can be beaten by sound he could be beaten by an airhorn and a baby realistically this obviously takes even more away from what is meant to be a menacing character. There aren't really any good things to talk about in the film the rest is just solid. Harry has a good character arc in the end getting killed by his own glider was a bit on the nose but i think if you can look past its many mistakes and look more at the great bits of previous films which remain prevalent here you can still enjoy it.
Spiderman 7/10
Spiderman 2 8/10
Spiderman 3 6/10
those are my thoughts of the Tobey Maguire Spiderman films and if there is one thing to take away from this its emo Spiderman.
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