Eh, gotta go with Maguire. Sure, he comes across as a bit too much of a milquetoast caricature at times, but thats better than the smarmy wise-ass caricature Garfield got lumbered with. Maybe its just me but he simply comes across as a massive douche, not a likeable smart-alec. Not do I ever buy that he's supposed to be a genius. They have him try to be a science wunderkind, building gadgets and solving equations, but nothing else he does is smart so it just comes across as intelligence ex machina. Someone who has to look up how freaking batteries work does not have the grasp on engineering and physics needed to make those web-shooters.
I give Garfield's Spider-Man credit in that he went through an actual arc (well, in the first one anyway...) as opposed to instantly becoming Saint Peter of Spiders like he does in the Raimi films, but thats really the only positive I can give him. They don't make him likeable, they don't make him smart, and even his trademark quipping is ruined by being poorly written and the way they just have him stand around doing nothing while spouting them off. Comics Spidey has some clever lines and is generally leaping about saving people or stopping the bad guy while he rattles them out, Garfield Spidey just parades a series of troll-esque insults (really, thats where he said he drew inspiration from) with no wit behind them and is either letting people be put in danger (the van chase with pre-power armour Rhino in ASM2 when he's just chatting with a guy who's driving around crushing police cars and who knows how many civilians) or just needlessly dragging things out (that car-jacker-who's-really-a-cop in ASM1) which makes him come across as a bully. Ugh. Give me Maguire and his slightly dopey optimism any day
I give Garfield's Spider-Man credit in that he went through an actual arc (well, in the first one anyway...) as opposed to instantly becoming Saint Peter of Spiders like he does in the Raimi films, but thats really the only positive I can give him. They don't make him likeable, they don't make him smart, and even his trademark quipping is ruined by being poorly written and the way they just have him stand around doing nothing while spouting them off. Comics Spidey has some clever lines and is generally leaping about saving people or stopping the bad guy while he rattles them out, Garfield Spidey just parades a series of troll-esque insults (really, thats where he said he drew inspiration from) with no wit behind them and is either letting people be put in danger (the van chase with pre-power armour Rhino in ASM2 when he's just chatting with a guy who's driving around crushing police cars and who knows how many civilians) or just needlessly dragging things out (that car-jacker-who's-really-a-cop in ASM1) which makes him come across as a bully. Ugh. Give me Maguire and his slightly dopey optimism any day
