Spider-Man Speed Art and Film Ranking (Miles Morales)
In this speed art, I'm illustrating Miles Morales from Into The Spider-Verse, while ranking the theatrically released Spider-Man films.
However, I am not including the 70's and 80's films, because they were essentially just long episodes of the TV series. I also won't be including any film in which Spider-Man is not the lead, which excludes Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. But the latter is included in my original animation, The Evolution of Spider-Man, so be sure to watch that video for a more complete overview of the franchise.
For now, let's spider-jump into this article and rank the films from worst to first!
warning: spoilers ahead!
7. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Starting with the true stinker at number 7 we have The Amazing Spider-Man 2. There's so much I could complain about with this film, but first I'm gonna tell you what I like. First, his suit is nearly perfect, looks like it jumped from the pages of a comic book on to the screen, second Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have great chemistry, probably because they were dating in real-life, even though their dialogue can be a little clunky, and third the CGI is top knotch, you can see where every penny of the budget went and the action scenes are pretty spectacular. So with the good out of the way, let's talk about the bad. We have the script that can't seem to give Electro a good reason to hate Spider-Man so they shoe-horn in that he forgot his name after meeting him once, and along side this they stuff in the Green Goblin and the Rhino, neither of which feel fully fleshed out. It's also a film that feels like it's missing huge chunks of plot, obviously in editing they probably cut out at least 40 minutes worth of material, I'm assuming most of it was about the mystery behind Peter's parents death, which is another plot element that should have been cut from this series fully. Now I don't want to give this film too much time, so on to number 6.
6. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
And that spot is gonna have to go to The Amazing Spider-Man from 2012, while it's loads better than it's sequel, it still lacks the pure entertainment value that the Raimi films were able to offer. Basically this film is a remake of Spider-Man from 2002 but it does everything with a little twist. I feel like it's most evident in the suit – apparently the designer was told to do something familiar but different, and that kind of sums up this film. We've seen Peter Parker in high-school getting picked on, we've seen him lose his uncle and we've seen him find his footing to become the Spider-Man – we've seen it all before and you know what it was a lot better before too. It just feels like a tired entry in a series that was just beginning. Now similar to the sequel, I do like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and the CGI is fine, for the most part – but I really dislike the design of the Lizard, he just doesn't look quite right, especially when he talks. Or maybe I'm just a little bitter because we never got to see Tobey MacGuire's Spider-Man take on the Lizard, despite being teased for the last two films. But either way I feel like this film is certainly worth a skip, especially if you've seen the original Spider-Man Trilogy.
5. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
And speaking of the original Spider-Man trilogy, at number 5 we have Spider-Man 3. I used to hate this film, when I first saw it I left the theatre pretty frustrated, and at the time I just pointed at the dancing scene and the overall chessy-ness as the main reason why it was bad, but having watched it a few more times over the years I've actually come to appreciate some of that tongue and cheek comedy, but where this movie falls apart is the over-abundance of villains. Much like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, this film has 3 villains, the New Goblin, Sandman and Venom. Unfortunately none of these villains get the screen time to truly make us care, which is unfortunate because I think if you were to cut it down to 1 or 2 villains this film could have been just as good as the previous entries, but instead it comes off as a little muddy. What elevates it high above the Amazing Spider-Man series is the craftsmanship by Sam Raimi and the pure fun it offers, it wasn't trying to be a dark new Spider-Man it just felt like watching an episode of the 90's cartoon series on the big screen, the good and bad of what that entails.
4. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Okay the next entry in my ranking also doesn't take itself too seriously, but manages to focus on one villain, which leads to a much more streamlined and less frustrating viewing experience. That film is Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first of the Marvel reboots. It's basically the anti-dote for the Amazing Spider-Man series, and feels closer in direction to the Sam Raimi films, without crossing over into the more Schlocky territory that those films basked in. But because it didn't want to cover the same ground as the previous entries it almost seems to lack a certain ingredient that made those films such spectacles. I haven't quite been able to put my finger on it, but I feel it lacks the swinging scenes of Spider-Man going through New York and flying off rooftops to giant scenery shots, instead Homecoming focuses on Spider-Man almost land locked the entire time – which doesn't hurt the story at all, because I think it's actually pretty good, it's just missing some of the visual wonder. But I think Tom Holland does a great job in the role and I'm looking forward to see where they take this series next, especially with Spider-Man: Far From Home coming out later this year.
3. Spider-Man (2002)
And it was tough deciding on if this next entry was gonna be second or third, but I ultimately have to put it in to third place, despite it being one of my favourite Super-Hero films, so coming in at number 3 is the original Spider-Man from 2002. This film came out when I was pretty young, maybe 11 years old, so I might be a little bit nostalgic in my rankings, but I fell it captures everything that makes a Spider-Man film great while giving us his origin in a non-contrived way. Sure Tobey Maguire looks about 10 years too old to be in Highschool, but he does a convincing job of playing the nerdy outcast Peter Parker, before he got progressively more handsome with each reboot. Also Willem Dafoe chews up the scenery as both Norman Osbourne and the Green Goblin, and I remember people complaining at the time that the Green Goblin was just a flight suit instead of a mutated person, but I think it actually works well within the story, allowing for Norman to interact with people during the movie more often, leading to that tense Thanksgiving dinner scene. The only real issue I have with this film is that damn Nickelback song that played everywhere after this movie became a hit, and as a Canadian I feel I have to personally apologize for Chad Kroeger's musical career.
2. Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
And moving on, okay so I don't think this is recency bias, because I watched all the other Spider-Man films a few months back, but coming in at number 2 on my list is the brand new Spider-Man: Intro the Spider-Verse. This is probably one of he most original Spider-Man films, both in it's designs and look and in it's story. Some how it's perfectly able to blend together multiple Spider-Men and villains into a seamless picture that never feels boring. There's also a lot of heart in the film, and I won't spoil it but there's a few scenes that hit me in the feels, both in terms of how what goes on with our new Spider-Man Miles Morales, but also relating to the older Spider-Man who teaches him his ways. And besides, any film that is able to include Spider-Ham and not have it seem out of place is definitely doing something right. And if you haven't seen the movie yet stick around until after the credits, I was literally the last person in my theatre to leave because I knew they were gonna have some kind of teaser for a potential sequel – yeah even my girlfriend left to go to the washroom when the credits started and the person who comes to clean up the theatre after the film finishes up started sweeping – but don't let that thought deter you because the little bonus scene at the end is probably the funniest thing I've seen in a superhero flick in a long time.
1. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
So that leads us to the number one spot, and I'm sure a lot of you were thinking it, but it's gonna go to the incredible and near pitch perfect Spider-Man 2. Taking everything from the first Spider-Man but improving on it every step of the way, from the CGI, to the acting and the villain. Doctor Octopus, who before I saw this film always felt a little flat in the cartoon series, actually feels like a fully fleshed out villain who we immediately sympathize with and understand his motivations. Sam Raimi also really let's his tongue and cheek directing blend with some of the more horror inspired scenes, which is especially evident in the Doc Ock surgery scene that looks like it came straight out of Evil Dead 2, but beyond that I need to mention JK Simmons take on J Jonah Jameson, he's amazing in this whole trilogy of course, but he truly get's to shine here as he plays a range of emotions from his usual hate to his almost longing for Spider-Man after his absence. These are just a few of the things that I love about this film, but there's an abundance to be found throughout this tightly scripted and at all times enjoyable Spidey-flick.
And that’s my ranking of every Spider-Man flick. Let me know what you think over on Instagram @tellitanimated!
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