The Amazing Spider-Man 2: 10 Ways The Reboot Is Superior

9. A Less Cartoony Tone To Spidey's Universe

As good as it was, if you watch the first Spider-Man now in relation to Marc Webb's reboot, it comes across as a little hokey. Scenes mesh together like they're ripped straight out of a comic and while that might have been fun at the time, audiences are looking for more sense of realism appropriate to the story that is being told. One of the biggest faults that can be labelled against Raimi's trilogy is that some of the characters are just plain silly. From the clichéd Russian landlord in the second film to the high school bullies of the first; while some characters are given depth to breathe, others are just archetypical stereotypes. Worse than that though is the design of the Green Goblin himself; they might have struggled to portray his physical transformation from the comics, but the green Power Ranger costume? The biggest shame is that William Dafoe had all the facial mannerisms to portray a wonderfully manic, deranged villain and it's hidden under a mask. Perhaps The Lizard wasn't the best choice as a villain (I will admit the 'turn everyone into Lizards' plot is a touch hokey) but what made The Amazing Spider-Man so great was the fact this his descent into a monster was just the end game of his story. He was a man who worked with Peter's father and is genuinely trying to gain that scientific breakthrough to help himself and aid the mysterious Norman Osborn in his illness. Like Doc Ock, Connors is a tragic hero and judging by the approach to Max Dillon in the sequel trailers, we might be seeing a similar approach here. With a much stronger narrative and element of mystery, Marc Webb's Spideyverse is clearly moving away from the simplicity of Raimi's trilogy.