Rob Felicetti's Spider-Man Movie ranking
When he's not throwing up rock hands or jumping around on stage, your favorite bass player is probably somewhere watching or chatting about his favorite comic book and movie franchise: Spider-Man. To give you an insight into Rob's love for this iconic character, here’s his ranking of the Spider-Man movies. So, grab some popcorn (or a beer) and dive in!
Possible spoilers below...
S Tier – Perfect
The movie I’ll happily watch over and over again.
Film: Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Favorite moments: Every single scene featuring Spider-Man and the Punisher.
Best action scene: Spider-Man vs. the Hulk.
Top emotional moment: The close up shot of Frank Castle after accidentally shooting Peter (no pun intended).
Baddest villain: The Hulk … back to basics!
Favorite quote: “I’m sick of your soft serve bullshit!”
What makes it special: It is just exactly why I’ve loved Spider-Man my whole life. There were always lots of other characters he would end up alongside or against in both the comic books and the cartoons, and they executed that perfectly. It also had real acting and emotion, and I believed the characters.
Final Verdict: Aside from the core plot and soul of the movie revolving around a bizarre magic spell from a wizard in a previous movie. As far as a movie being centered on a guy who has radioactive spider powers, it has the most real and relatable version of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. It captures the two sides of him perfectly. Tom Holland plays a VERY likable Peter AND Spider-Man; and that is beside the fact that he is a wonderful actor. I loved the story. The “twist” villain didn’t seem like pandering and didn’t seem like a bunch of shit shoved in just to get a “wow” from the audience. Picking Jean Grey as this “villain” was just a clever and smart move from the writers. Even though the movie went way past where I thought it would end, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and never got bored. I realize I’ve only seen it once, and am aware of the idea of it being “new” being a novel reason to like it the most, but I’m willing to bet this rating will stick.
A Tier – Amazing
Fantastic Spider-Man movie that comes close to perfection.
Film: Spider-Man: Far From Home
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
What works: Taking Spider-Man out of NYC and having him still feel like Spider-Man is not an easy thing to accomplish. The movie centers around a trip to Europe, and the very clever way they used Mysterio gives that silly villain a real cause for his actions. The underlying theme that Peter still needs to figure out his “spider sense” makes for an awesome character arc at the end of the film.
What stops it from reaching S Tier: Simply that “Brand New Day” was a better movie. Also, ironically, something that I loved about the movie itself just didn’t sit right with me as such a huge fan of Spider-Man, in that his identity is revealed at the end of the movie, and the anonymous Spider-Man that no one knows is just a kid is such a big part of liking the character in the first place.
Standout performance: Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio. Excellent.
Top scene: Either when Peter gets his ass kicked by Mysterio and then gets hit by a train, because it demonstrates that he isn’t perfect; OR when he gets redemption and learns how to use his “spider sense” and then cannot be beaten by Mysterio because of it.
B Tier – Great Fun
Really enjoyable, with a few flaws.
Film: Spider-Man: No Way Home
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Good: Setting some more serious tones at times and higher stakes with some huge doses of depressing, life altering Peter Parker stuff.
The Not So Good: Jamming dozens of characters at us at once. It just feels like everyone insatiably demanding that past Spider-Man actors be featured in the movie made its way to the production, rather than it being a genuine part of the story that needed to be told. Ironically, I thought that Tobey McGuire was the most likable version of Peter/Spider-Man in this movie than any of his other ones. Andrew Garfield was great, but he always was.
Best Character: Willem Dafoe plays the most intense version of the Green Goblin, which is great … it’s just very gimmicky and silly that he’s from another universe or dimension or whatever. It would have impacted harder if they had more of a rapport (again, no pun intended, because Aunt May gets impacted to death by his glider)
Would I rewatch? Absolutely, and I have! It’s a great airplane movie.
C Tier – Good… But…
Has plenty to enjoy but didn't quite stick the landing.
Film: Spider-Man: Homecoming
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
What I liked: Peter Parker genuinely looks and acts like a high school student and is dealing with high school student problems. All while trying to take on criminals and people with more control with what they are doing than he has. You get a better sense of him just being a teenager, putting him up against full-on adults with planned-out agendas.
What didn’t work: The tie-in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was two-fold. It’s great that it is apparent that Spider-Man was now fully part of this greater MCU story, but it focused a bit too much on Peter trying to live up to and impress Tony Stark.
Biggest missed opportunity: It’s been told so many times before, but no reference at all to Uncle Ben. As a Spider-Man fan my entire life, taking him out of the story entirely just because it’s been done in two other film franchises misses a big part of the story to me.
D Tier – Disappointing
Some good ideas buried underneath bigger problems.
Film: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Rating: ⭐⭐
The positives: Andrew Garfield plays a fantastic, dare I say “Amazing” Peter Parker AND Spider-Man, aside from him being way too old. He’s a great actor, is very likable, and can somehow really emanate real emotion even with a mask on just from his movements alone. He’s got a really great grasp on the differences between Peter and Spider-Man. The costume looked pretty cool, too.
The negatives: Without copping out: literally everything else. There are a few great moments between some of the characters, but nothing to do with the messy and rushed story is any good at all. The entire Electro thing was painfully cheesy and cliché. Oh, and let’s discuss that Harry Osborn had absolutely no problem with this family “disease” until his dad told him he had it, then it instantly advanced and he went crazy.
Could it have been saved? Probably not. It’s too “SONY-fied” … everything looks like a PlayStation game, and there’s more focus on blue lightning effects than actual direction, character development, acting, or story.
F Tier – Ouch…
The one I struggle to enjoy.
Film: Spider-Man 3
Rating: ⭐ … and that’s only because I can’t give it zero stars…
Where it went wrong: The moment the movie got greenlit for production …But if you want an actual answer about the movie, let’s start with Eddie Brock: aside from the portrayal as some sarcastic weiner man, the entire idea that Venom can so easily beat Spider-Man because he has everything he does. Plus the intense and enhanced hatred for him harbored by Eddie Brock was rushed and deserved its own movie (or even movies, plural). Everything about Sandman was cheesy. Peter turning “bad” couldn’t have possibly been handled or portrayed any worse. Tobey McGuire has absolutely no likable characteristics as Peter Parker, and yes, I’m talking about when he’s “good”; he acts like someone who is pretending to be nice; it’s actually painful to watch. Sam Raimi is a fantastic director … let me finish … for campy horror movies that have ridiculous (yet awesome) visuals. The dialogue and delivery from literally everyone is like watching a Saturday Morning cartoon in the 80s. There is not one believably delivered line in this movie.
One redeeming feature: When it ended and I never had to see it again.
Would I ever watch it again? No.
Quick fire... The best and the biggest!
Best Spider-Man
Tom Holland.
Why? Because he’s likable, a great actor that had great direction for the character, and he looks the part.
Best Villain
The Vulture.
Adrian Toomes had a real reason to do what he did, and backed it up. He wasn’t just “evil” for the sake of it.
Best Love Interest
Credit where it’s due: Emma Stone did a fantastic job at being Gwen Stacy, even though the movies weren’t great. Zendaya’s MJ is a more interesting and fun character, though.
Funniest Scene
Peter Parker and Frank Castle bickering, and their very different ways of handling things.
Most Emotional Moment
I’ll give a top 3:
Aunt May getting killed pretty much completely because of Peter.
Frank Castle shooting Peter (more because of Frank’s emotion and guilt because of his insanely fucked up past).
Surprisingly, in Spider-Man 2 when Tobey McGuire’s Peter cannot catch a break when he’s photographing John Jameson and Mary Jane (good job!).
Best Action Sequence
Either Spider-Man vs. Mysterio and his drones on the tower bridge, OR Spider-Man and the Punisher vs the Hulk.
Best Soundtrack
Let’s go with that Nickelback song because that’s the funny answer.
Best End Credits Scene
In Far From Home when the Daily Bugle report in Times Square shows everyone that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
Best Spider-Suit
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Biggest Surprise
I really was surprised that Jean Grey was the antagonist in Brand New Day.
Biggest Disappointment
Spider-Man 3 and MOST of the Amazing Spider-Man 2
There you have it, Rob's full review of the Spider-Man universe! Do you feel like this was a fair ranking? What’s in your S Tier? Drop your rankings in the comments and let’s compare notes!
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