The Amazing Spider-Man swings into cinemas this week, taking a classic superhero franchise back to basics and consigning the Sam Raimi canon to the cinematic archive. While it's not a revolutionary reboot by any means, it's the perfect excuse to take in all four Spider-Men and do what we internet people so love to do: rank the most memorable scenes in ascending order of merit. Just beware of spoilers ahead, especially if you haven't yet caught Spidey's latest adventure...
25. Spider-sense (As seen in: Spider-Man)
Spider-man's pre-cognitive ability isn't easy to translate to film, but Sam Raimi nails it early on in his first movie. As jock Flash Thompson (True Blood's Joe Manganiello) prepares to mash Peter Parker into his locker, Pete clocks the incoming attack and time slows down – a paper plane swoops gently overhead, a spitball glides gracefully towards its target and a fly leisurely flaps its wings. Sadly, Flash gets his ass handed to him on a plate in real-time.
24. Peter vs New Goblin (Spider-Man 3)
It's the most effects-heavy action sequence in the entire trilogy and one that starts Spider-Man 3 at a breathless pace it couldn't hope to keep up. Parker is sucker-punched by an enraged Harry Osborn, now airborne as New Goblin and determined to get revenge for his father's death. Together, Peter and Harry clatter through New York's narrows, exchanging blows and defying gravity, and all the while Peter does his best Frodo impression, desperately clinging to his precious ring throughout the rough and tumble.
23. Previously, on Spider-Man... (Spider-Man 2)
The illustrated opening credits of Spider-Man 2 are the perfect way to bring newcomers up to speed with the Spidey saga without having to crowbar awkward expository dialogue into the opening scene ("Hey Harry, I'm sure sorry your father died!" etc). Drawn by esteemed comic-book artist Alex Ross, the artwork – together with Danny Elfman's stirring score – is the perfect way to kick off one of the best superhero movies ever: fact.
22. Norman Osborn's mirror scene (Spider-Man)
Late in 2002, a CG character called Gollum would mesmerise audiences by having an extremely heated argument with himself. In Spider-Man some months earlier, Willem Dafoe did largely the same thing and was arguably more animated. Norman Osborn, suffering from an attack of the Jekyll & Hydes, succumbs to his dark side when his Green Goblin alter-ego addresses him from his mirror, whispering devilish promises in his own ear. Dafoe, hamminess turned up to 'thickly sliced', utterly convinces as a total screwjob.
21. J. Jonah Jameson IS Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2.1)
A scene cut from the theatrical edit of Spider-Man turned out to be one of its funniest, and most revealing. Anyone who watched the extended Spider-Man 2.1 version on DVD would have seen a short sequence of The Daily Bugle's editor J. Jonah Jameson dressed in Spider-Man's discarded costume, thwipping about his own office making web noises while his own staff peek through a window. It certainly explains Jameson's obsession with the webbed wonder – who knew jealousy was the cause?
20. The Lizard's arm grows back (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Though Rhys Ifans' scaly villain may have been one of the few remaining well-known bad guys still left to be picked on the playground, alter-ego Dr Curt Connors does get a great character beat before he's reduced to a raging reptile. The one-armed doc uses himself as a guinea pig to test a potentially life-altering serum that replicates regenerative lizard DNA in humans, waking up in a funk to find he's not as arm-less as he once was. Ifans is marvellous in the scene: a literal fleshing out of a villain before it all goes a bit CG.
19. Going down (Spider-Man 2)
A great example of Sam Raimi's dry sense of humour, the lift scene in Spider-Man 2 gets perhaps the biggest laugh of the movie, as a web-less wallcrawler is forced to share a lift with a member of the public. "Cool Spidey outfit, where'd you get it?" says the citizen, before enquiring on its comfort. "Yeah, it's kind of itchy," Spidey replies in a moment of candour. "Rides up in the crotch a little bit, too." Well, at least now you know.
18. The birth of Venom (Spider-Man 3)
Driven to despair by the depths the alien symbiote has plunged him into, Spider-Man finally manages to part with the black suit by clanging the church bells and causing it to flee. Meanwhile, down below, a distraught, jobless, hopeless Eddie Brock prays to God for just one thing: "Please kill Peter Parker!" The symbiote catches Brock at his darkest moment and, latching on to his physical form, creates one of Spidey's most vicious foes. Venom gets shortchanged on the whole, but at least he gets his money shot in first.
17. Green Goblin vs Aunt May (Spider-Man)
One accusation levelled at Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin was that, with his plastic action figure helmet and all, he just wasn't scary enough. Tell that to Aunt May, who had the entire wall of her bedroom ripped off by a cackling masked madman while she was praying to a God that had no intention of answering. "D-d-deliver us..." whimpers May. "FINISH IT!" yells Gobby. "From... EVILLL!" she cries, staring into the laughing yellow eyes of the devil. You tell us that's not completely bloody terrifying.
16. The Twin Towers trailer (Spider-Man)
It's cheating really, as the scene never appeared in any cuts of the movie, but the first teaser for Spider-Man, released in 2001, showed criminals fleeing via helicopter from a bank heist, only to find themselves trapped in a giant web spun between the Twin Towers. Naturally, the events of 9/11 forced Raimi to remove the scene, but it remains on YouTube as a clever example of Spider-Man's symbiotic relationship with the city of New York.
15. Flaming car sequence (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Curiously, this action set-piece takes place around halfway through the movie but is probably the high point of The Amazing Spider-Man in terms of excitement. As The Lizard tosses cars off a bridge with wreckless abandon, Spidey can only hang them from webs like wet laundry out a window. When one of the cars catches fire – and worse, there's still a kid inside – we see the human side of our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man; comforting the distraught kiddywink in the flaming vehicle by removing his mask and telling him "Look... I'm just a guy!" before rescuing him with seconds to spare. Phew.
14. Crane accident (Spider-Man 3)
There's little at stake in this Spider-Man 3 set-piece, but it's certainly indicative of the kind of budget Sam Raimi had to play with – lesser movies would save spectacular sequences like this for the final reel. As an out-of-control crane swings a giant girder into a skyscraper, decimating two whole floors, Spidey is on hand to rescue damsel in distress Gwen Stacy via some vertical heroics. At this point, Spider-Man is barely breaking a sweat, but the sheer scale of the scene takes some beating.
13. The death of Otto Octavius (Spider-Man 2)
As his cold fusion reactor threatens to engulf the city, the scientist formerly known as Otto Octavius finally understands the chaos he's caused and lays his life on the line to put things right. Training his mechanical tentacles on the machine's giant metal struts, Doc Ock's last act is one of martyrdom, pulling the reactor into the water, exclaiming "I will not die a monster!" With the doomsday machine extinguished, the last glimpse we see of Octavius is a silent, ghostly shot of his lifeless body underwater, with redemption perhaps waiting in the afterlife. Although if you believe the Daily Bugle, he's not quite dead...
12. Harry unmasks Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2)
Credit to James Franco: he had to wait for two whole movies for his proper dramatic pay-off – the moment he pulls off a prone Spider-Man's mask to find the face of his best friend, Peter Parker, staring back at him. Knife in hand and ready for vengeance, Harry Osborn is physically taken aback at the revelation and Franco plays it perfectly, conveying a mixture of emotions – anger, confusion, betrayal – and setting up his eventual transformation into his father's son: Green Goblin Jr.
11. Death of Green Goblin (Spider-Man)
Spidey doesn't kill bad guys – bad guys kill bad guys. So it is in the finale of Spider-Man, as Green Goblin dies at the razor-sharp tip of his own pointy glider, our web-slinger athletically jumping out of the way at the last moment. The death isn't particularly gruesome or loaded with deeper meaning, but Osborn's touching last words reveal there was still a man behind the monster: "Don't tell Harry." Those three little words echo throughout the entire trilogy.
10. Meet J. Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man)
Perhaps the character who retains the most of his comic-book sensibilities, Daily Bugle editor-in-chief J. Jonah Jameson is pure motor-mouthed comic-relief – a hate-slinging hack who loathes Spider-Man almost as much as he loves himself. The first time we meet him, Jameson is dismissing Peter Parker's stellar photos of Spidey as "crap... crap... mega-crap" before paying him a paltry sum and promising to tip him well: "Meat. I'll buy you a nice box of Christmas meat." To be honest, we could have filled this entire list with J. Jonah Jameson quotes if we wanted.
9. Stan Lee's best cameo (The Amazing Spider-Man)
Comic-book legend Stan Lee shows his face in almost every Marvel movie, but his cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man is his best yet. As Spider-Man and The Lizard demolish the school library in the background, an oblivious Lee stands in the foreground with huge headphones on, listening to music and completely unaware of the giant mutant reptile fighting the costumed man-spider just a few feet away. One of many neat comic touches in Marc Webb's movie, it's a welcome laugh during some heightened tension.
8. "Go get 'em, tiger!" (Spider-Man 2)
Ah, sweet Mary Jane – the cause of, and solution to all of Spider-Man's problems. Peter's relationship with MJ finally comes to a head at the end of Spider-Man 2, when the ginger minx discovers Spidey's true identity is the man she always knew she loved. Fully aware that going steady with Peter will put her in harm's way, MJ turns the tables: "Isn't it about time someone saved your life?" (We prefer this declaration to the slightly stalkerish: "I've always been standing in your doorway"). Inevitably, Spidey is called into action, but MJ gives him her blessing with a note-perfect "Go get 'em tiger!" and a bittersweet stare out of his window. Just perfect.
7. A real swinger (Spider-Man)
Capturing the sheer vertiginous nature of Spider-Man was crucial to making the character work on film, but Raimi – and his effects team – were more than up to the task of making Spidey swing like a winner. The movie's heart-stopping final shot sees ol' webhead flinging himself around New York like a champ, swooping through the city streets like a bird who's just taught himself how to fly. He ends up perched on a flagpole, with the Stars and Stripes billowing behind him: fitting, as American cinema had just found a new hero.
Again, another cheat as we've amassed three scenes in one entry, but who among you could choose from Bruce Campbell's three superb cameos? Whether he's a snooty wrestling announcer (who calls The Human Spider by the wrong name), a snooty usher (who denies Peter Parker access to MJ's play) or a snooty restaurant captain (who frequently fumbles Parker's engagement announcement), Bruce Campbell is the perennial thorn in Spider-Man's side – perhaps more so than any supervillain.
5. Octopus comes alive (Spider-Man 2)
With the Spider-Man movies being relatively bright and breezy, it was easy to forget that director Sam Raimi got his start in horror – or at least, it would have been until Doctor Octopus unleashed hell from his hospital bed. As Otto Octavius lays face down and unconscious, the robotic tentacles fused to his spine become malicious and systematically take down every last doctor in the room in a vicious manner befitting very few family-friendly films. Among the screams and the madness, you'll catch a glimpse of a few nods towards The Evil Dead, most notably the 'tentacle cam' racing across the floor towards its victim.
4. Enter Sandman (Spider-Man 3)
Never before has one scene so effectively summed up a villain's raison d'etre – the birth of the Sandman is so stunningly animated it makes the character's subsequent narrative journey pale in comparison. Escaped convict Flint Marko picked the wrong hole to fall into and finds himself de-atomised by a particle accelerator, only to be reborn as a human sandcastle. The heartbreaking shot of Sandman trying and failing to pick up his sick daughter's locket is just about reason enough to include the character in the film – he can't add a whole lot more that compares to this fantastic formative scene.
3. The Death of Uncle Ben (Spider-Man)
Nothing less than the emotional core of the character and subsequently the entire Spider-Man trilogy. Mere minutes before, Peter's Uncle Ben utters the words that would go on to define a hero: "With great power comes great responsibility." Tragically, a carjacker puts a bullet in him, leaving Peter to pick up the shattered pieces of his life. Cliff Robertson gives good dead – there's no time for further moralising, just some gasping for air and a desperate call to his beloved nephew to be with him as he passes. Truly heartbreaking and the crux for everything that Spider-Man represents.
2. Upside-down kiss (Spider-Man)
Every superhero needs an iconic scene – Spider-Man's just happened to be a bit sexier than most. It should have been cheesy as hell: having just saved MJ's life, an upside-down Spider-Man spins down to check up on her, only to have the bottom half of his mask removed and his face snogged off for his troubles. It's a shot that caters for both sexes and probably went a long way to selling Spider-Man to audiences other than teenage boys i.e. girls who wanted a bit of storybook romance in their lives. The fact that the scene took place in the rain and Kirsten Dunst was wearing a flimsy vest is neither here nor there.
1. The train sequence (Spider-Man 2)
The train sequence is everything action cinema should be: fast, fluid, thrilling, inventive and pulsing with a very real sense of danger. Spider-Man and Doc Ock find themselves fighting above, beneath, in and on an overground New York subway train in an extended set-piece that whitens the knuckles. The cherry on top is Spidey's ultimate sacrifice: his identity. As Ock puts the passengers in harm's way by knocking out the brakes, Spider-Man is forced to web up and slow the speeding train to a halt, almost killing himself in the process. Drained but still alive, the grateful commuters carry Spidey's unmasked body aloft, before placing him down and remarking: "He's... just a kid!" He sure is, New Yorkers – and that's the essence of Spider-Man distilled in one remarkable, unforgettable scene.
Source : ign[dot]com
