10 Criticisms Of The Amazing Spider-Man Films That Are Completely Unfair
8. It Was Too Similar To The Original Trilogy
One criticism made about The Amazing Spider-Man immediately after its release was that it was too similar to the original Sam Raimi film. This is one of those criticisms that makes you wonder whether or not the person was actually watching the right film, because it isn't even close to being true.
While of course there are a few broad similarities between the two films, the entire way in which Peter's origin story is portrayed is different. For one thing, there is a strong focus on his parents, which wasn't there in the original film. His parents' disappearance and Peter's desire to find out what happened to them is actually the driving force behind this version of the origin story, because it is what motivates Peter to sneak into Oscorp, which results in him being bitten by a genetically modified spider.
It's also true that both films involve a love interest, but so do most superhero films. However, The Amazing Spider-Man handles Peter's relationship with his love interest in a fundamentally different way to how the 2002 Spider-Man handled it.
In the original film, MJ never finds out Peter's secret. On the other hand, in the 2012 film, Gwen finds out relatively early on. This enables her to support Peter as he struggles to defeat the villain, which is completely different from the role that MJ has in the earlier film.