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

5. Performances That Don't Feel Forced Because Of Bad Scripting

We certainly don't want another round of emo Peter Parker in Webb's version of the saga. As discussed, Tobey Maguire made his Peter a three dimensional character but there were times when his reactions felt unnatural because of what was in the script. In the third Spider-Man, you wondered why, even under the influence of the symbiote, he would act like a douche. But it was other characters where Raimi's trilogy failed in this respect. The board at Oscorp in Spider-Man were one step away from twitching their moustaches as they voted Norman out. The same goes for the 'I'm a military badass' General Slocum or the wide-eyed voice of reason Dr. Stromm, whose sole purpose was to warn Norman of the perils of taking the formula that transforms him into The Green Goblin and become his first victim. Worse still is Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, playing angry just because it needs to be loosely believable that the symbiote will feed on that anger in order to transform him into Venom, or Harry Osborn's 'I'm good now just because I've lost my memory'; it all felt staged. At the other end of the scale we have some brilliant and truly believable performances in The Amazing Spider-Man; Captain Stacey's antagonism to Aunt May's frustration and fear for Peter - the realism of their reactions made us really engage with the characters and the story.