Andrew Garfield Vs. Tobey Maguire-who is a better Spiderman?

[Darth Klingon]

I personally feel that Tobey Maguire was a better actor for Spiderman, and I enjoy Sam Raimi's Spiderman movies a lot more than the reboot. Andrew Garfield didn't have the personality and emotion that Tobey Maguire had, he was rather emotionless compared to Tobey.

This is a debate thread about which guy you think was a better actor for Spiderman, and why.

[Crazedwraith]

Garfield by far. But that could just be because I saw ASM more recently.

[Zablorg]

I kinda liked that Andrew Garfield's Parker had more difficulty expressing himself and had this vaguely aspergerish non-verbal stuff going on when he became uncomfortable

I loved this scene when they released it on Youtube and I wish they had kept it in the movie



Then again I find TASM to be vastly superior for a whole bunch of reasons, so

[Darth Klingon]

Garfield by far. But that could just be because I saw ASM more recently.

Why Garfield? Tobey Maguire had more emotion than him. He didn't just seem like an actor, he seemed more like a real person expressing himself in stressful situations.

Sure, I agree that the love story in Spiderman 3 was too angsty and whiny, but other than that, Maguire's performance was superb.

[Crazedwraith]

Why Garfield? Tobey Maguire had more emotion than him. He didn't just seem like an actor, he seemed more like a real person expressing himself in stressful situations.

Sure, I agree that the love story in Spiderman 3 was too angsty and whiny, but other than that, Maguire's performance was superb.

... I didn't mention Spider-man 3?

At which points did you think Maguire showed so much emotion?

I feel exactly the opposte. Maguire always felt like a caricature of a geek to me. Garfield acted like a real person. While we spent the first parts of Spider-Man being shown what a doofus he is. In ASN we seem as as a real shy reticent person (to the point of minor creepiness with the camera but i digress) who nevertheless actually has guts and a sense of right and wrong. He actually stands up to flash. It gets him a beating but he still does it.

Now some of this is writing and the film as a whole rather than just Garfield's Acting but there you.

[Darth Klingon]

Why Garfield? Tobey Maguire had more emotion than him. He didn't just seem like an actor, he seemed more like a real person expressing himself in stressful situations.

Sure, I agree that the love story in Spiderman 3 was too angsty and whiny, but other than that, Maguire's performance was superb.

... I didn't mention Spider-man 3?

At which points did you think Maguire showed so much emotion?

I feel exactly the opposte. Maguire always felt like a caricature of a geek to me. Garfield acted like a real person. While we spent the first parts of Spider-Man being shown what a doofus he is. In ASN we seem as as a real shy reticent person (to the point of minor creepiness with the camera but i digress) who nevertheless actually has guts and a sense of right and wrong. He actually stands up to flash. It gets him a beating but he still does it.

Now some of this is writing and the film as a whole rather than just Garfield's Acting but there you.

I think Maguire showed emotion in Spiderman 1, when telling Norman that Ben Parker was his father, when he stood up to Doc Ock in the second movie in various scenes, and most of all-when he talked to Sandman about forgiveness.

Also, Maguire's Spiderman looked more humble to me. This is partially because of the way the actor looked and his voice. He looked like the kind of kid that gets bullied, which makes him more hero-like to me, because heroes are usually people who don't really have the best of everything. Also, he looked the way that I imagine Spiderman to be.

[Zablorg]

Garfield showed emotion all over the place! When being with Gwen, fighting with Ben, humiliating Flash, being confronted by May, when Gwen is talking to him about her father's death. I don't know how you're not seeing it, man.

[FaxModem1]

Andrew Garfield's Spider-man came off as a bit of jerk to me. Though I want to say this is more based off the script than Garfield's acting.

[Darth Klingon]

Garfield showed emotion all over the place! When being with Gwen, fighting with Ben, humiliating Flash, being confronted by May, when Gwen is talking to him about her father's death. I don't know how you're not seeing it, man.

Thanks for pointing that out for me. I never really noticed that until now.

I've changed my stance from before. Now, I don't think Garfield's Spiderman is 100% emotionless, I'm just saying that I think Tobey Maguire was at least on par with Garfield as an actor.

My main pet peeve with these debates over which Spiderman is better is that people always criticize Tobey Maguire. The scene where he told Sandman that he forgave him showed a lot of emotion. I just don't understand people that think, "tobey maguire was a horrible actor".

[Darth Klingon]

Andrew Garfield's Spider-man came off as a bit of jerk to me. Though I want to say this is more based off the script than Garfield's acting.

I noticed that too. It wasn't Tobey Maguire's fault that he was given a horrible love story to act in, that was the director's fault.
People have a tendency to form their opinions of actors on the script that they were given.

IMO even if Andrew Garfield starred in the Sam Raimi films, he never would've been able to play the Sandman forgiveness scene the same emotional way that Maguire played it. Emotion makes dialogue scenes feel realistic, and that's especially important for intense scenes.

[Ralin]

The whole time I was watching the new Spider-man movie I kept thinking that Garfield made a way better Spider-man, but that he never really felt like Peter Parker.

That said, I always thought the Maguire Spider-man focused waaaaay too much on Spider-man's whiny/emo side and much prefer the new one.

[Lord Relvenous]

I much prefer Garfield's Spiderman. He has the right amount of sarcasm and fun in his voice while he's taking down the bad guys.

Maguire's portrayal of Parker might have been better (I'd say they both had their positives), but he got saddled with really bad directing and scripting choices. Overall, I much more preferred the ASM, and thought the movie had a better Peter, due to how he was handled.

[Havok]

TM played the classic PP, and did it well. AG played the more current SM and did it great.
TM's Spider-Man was off to me and carried over too much of the Parker persona, while AG's Parker did the reverse. I prefer AG overall though as to me Spider-Man is far more important to get right than Parker.

[Alkaloid]

I'm in the TM was a better PP, while AG was a better SM. That said, AGs spidey seemed less witty bantery and more like he was just an absolute dick.

I think part of the new spider man movies is that people seem to give a massive shit about Gwen Stacey. Someone like me, who has literally never read a spidey comic went into the Sam Raimi ones with the knowledge that spidey was Peter, Uncle Ben died, Aunt May was in it and Mary Jane was Peters girlfriend, so I didn't get all worked up about it and still think SM2 is a better movie than ASM.