20th and 10th Anniversary TLDR: Spider-Man 2 (2004) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
I believe there's a hero in all of us.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Plot: Peter Parker is going through a major identity crisis. Burned out from being Spider-Man, he decides to shelve his superhero alter ego, which leaves the city suffering in the wake of carnage left by the evil Doc Ock. In the meantime, Parker still can’t act on his feelings for Mary Jane Watson, a girl he’s loved since childhood.
Direction: From getting the gig to direct the first Spider-Man to the release of Spider-Man 3, Sam Raimi spent seven years of his life working on this trilogy. Whether or not you've reclaimed that third entry, there's no doubt that the series' quality is a bell curve with this film reaching its peak. It's energetic, campy, heartfelt, and sincere, while totally understanding the mechanics of family entertainment.
Screenplay: Alvin Sargent made a career of writing scripts for the 70s' finest directors, like Sydney Pollack, Alan J. Pakula, Peter Bogdanovich, John Frankenheimer and more, while picking up a few Oscars for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980). He wrote or co-wrote the script for all of the entries in this Spider-Man trilogy, so if nothing else, the man understands story structure. He also co-wrote The Amazing Spider-Man, so I'm choosing to believe all of that movie's good decisions were his because otherwise everything I know is a lie.
Performances: From the leading performances (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina), to the supporting performances (James Franco, Rosemary Harris, Donna Murphy, J. K. Simmons) to the world-building characters (Dylan Baker, Elizabeth Banks, Bill Nunn, Elya Baskin, Mageina Tovah) to the one-sceners (Joel McHale, Hal Sparks, Bruce Campbell, Aasif Mandvi, Emily Deschanel) - they're all perfect. No notes.
Music: I simply do not understand how Danny Elfman can create the perfect superhero film score with Batman and then...just...do it again, re-inventing his work and putting a different, lighter twist on it for the Spider-Man franchise. This man literally created the soundscape for my two favorite superheroes. I'm indebted.
Best moment: "You want to get to him, you got to go through me." "And me." "Me too."
Fun fact: This movie ruined almost all other movies for me.
Imaginary accolade: Best Spider-Man Media of 2004, though the Universal Studios in-park stage show Spider-Man Rocks! finished a close second.
Everything is too long. Is it too long? No - I want more!
Rating: The best comic book of all time.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Plot: For Peter Parker, life is busy. Between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen Stacy, high school graduation cannot come quickly enough. Peter has not forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away, but that is a promise he cannot keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro, emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn, returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.
Direction: Marc Webb made his directorial debut with (500) Days of Summer which is very easy to goob on, but still holds up. As was the norm of the time (and still kinda is), one strong indie and/or smaller-budget movie landed him a franchise and he made the first Amazing Spider-Man. It is a mess. I can't believe he got to make this one. But good for him, and this one is better.
Screenplay: One screenwriter (Alex Kurtzman. Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner) per villain (Electro, Green Goblin, Rhino), I suppose. It seems to be a Spider-Man rule - I think the same thing happened with Turn Off the Dark.
Performances: Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are so clearly ready to be better actors but they're stuck doing this. For their sakes alone, let's be grateful they didn't make another. Should Jamie Foxx and Paul Giamatti have...switched roles? Wizard of Oz style. Letterboxd says Dane DeHaan kept making movies, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Music: The Music section of the film's Wikipedia page is wild. Hans Zimmer was the second choice? Pharrell Williams assisted? They named their composing supergroup The Magnificent Six after The Sinister Six?
Best moment: Good for them for actually doing that famous comic book moment.
Fun fact: Shailene Woodley filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson, but they were all cut from the final film. I’d like to see those.
Everything is too long. Is it too long? 142 minutes and still not enough Giamatti.
Rating: I remembered it being way worse.
Credit: Plot synopsis from Letterboxd via TMDb.