The Good – Spider-man 2
Tobey Maguire will always be Spider-man for me. His dorky, awkward but tough in the face of adversity portrayal of Peter Parker is far better than Garfield’s ‘skateboarding hipster’ and in Spiderman 2, he shines. Maguire does an amazing job portraying Parker’s internal conflict as he struggles to balance his everyday life with being a superhero, whilst all the while pining over an engaged Mary-Jane. This is why Spider-man 2 is still considered the hallmark of superhero films. How can you forget that train car scene?
The Bad - The Great Gatsby
I love The Great Gatsby; the novel is amazing, and I even thought Leonardo DiCaprio deserved a lot of recognition for his pitch perfect version of Gatsby, but Maguire nearly ruined the film for me as Nick Carraway. They use his character as a framing device that doesn’t need to be there, putting Maguire in the limelight as he awkwardly murmurs his way through the story of his amazing surroundings. This does nothing but exaggerate how boring and lifeless his character is, with a serious lack of any agency or development.
The Ugly - Spider-Man 3
Oh boy, what a nightmare. I like to forget that this film exists, to be honest with you. After growing up watching the previous 2 films, to transition into adolescence and be met with this monstrosity was a real kick in the teeth. This time, Maguire plays Peter as he encounters the Symbiote suit, a parasite that turns him into the exact opposite of his character. Obnoxious, rude, and overbearingly confident, the whole film Maguire is basically playing to his weakness as an actor, and it is truly hard to watch. Those finger guns will follow him to the grave.