8. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
After the less-than-impressive Spider-Man 3, it’s pretty obvious that Sony lost faith in Raimi’s ability to bring the webhead to life. Five years later, the hero reappeared on our screens with a new face and a slightly revised story, offering a new look at Spidey’s origins as a hero. Directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield, The Amazing Spider-Man was the reboot no one really asked for.
Even so, it did a serviceable job of adapting the source material. Though it replaced some of the shine of Raimi’s trilogy with a dark grittiness, The Amazing Spider-Man had a certain charm about it. Its unnecessary elements felt a little shoehorned in simply to set it apart from the previous iteration, but they did at least make The Amazing Spider-Man feel fresh and interesting.
Unfortunately, an abundance of CGI and rehashing of the same basic ideas as Raimi’s early movies make for a generally underwhelming experience. It’s good in the sense that it’s an interesting interpretation of Spidey’s story and its city feels practically alive, but it’s just not exciting enough. More care seemed to be put into making Garfield’s Spider-Man as different to Maguire’s as possible, and that shows in the finished film in a way that’s particularly hard to ignore.