Andrew Garfield’s tenure as the web-slinger is a bit of a paradox. Honestly, it’s one of the weirdest chapters in superhero cinema. When people talk about the amazing spider man rating, they usually expect a simple number, like a score out of ten or a percentage on a website. But the reality is way messier than that.
The first movie, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), landed with a solid 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Not bad. It was "Certified Fresh." Fans mostly liked it too, giving it a 77% audience score. People were skeptical about a reboot coming just five years after Tobey Maguire’s trilogy ended, but Garfield’s chemistry with Emma Stone was undeniable.
Then 2014 happened.
The Sequel That Changed Everything
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is where things get polarizing. It’s sitting at a 51% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s "Rotten." Yet, if you look at the audience score, it’s hanging out at 64%. It’s a movie that manages to be both "awful and entertaining," as critics at the time pointed out.
Some people love the visuals. The swinging sequences are arguably still the best we've ever seen in live-action. Others hate the "kitchen sink" approach to villains. You've got Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin, and a weirdly mechanical Rhino. It was a lot.
Sony wanted a billion dollars. They got $709 million. In Hollywood math, that’s basically a failure.
🔗 Read more: Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus Explained (Simply)
The Amazing Spider Man Rating: A Breakdown of the Scores
To understand why this franchise still sparks debates in 2026, you have to look at the hard data. It’s not just one number; it’s a spectrum of professional opinions and fan nostalgia.
The First Outing (2012):
- IMDb: 6.9/10
- Metacritic: 66
- CinemaScore: A−
Critics generally appreciated the "gritty" and "realistic" tone Marc Webb brought to the table. They liked the shift from the campy Raimi vibes to something more Twilight-adjacent in its romance. Andrew Garfield wasn't just a nerd; he was a brooding, skateboarding outsider.
The Mixed Bag (2014):
- IMDb: 6.6/10
- Metacritic: 53
- CinemaScore: B
This is where the "corporate interference" narrative started. Sony was trying so hard to build a "Sinister Six" universe that they forgot to finish the movie they were actually making. The rating suffered because the story felt like a two-hour trailer for sequels that never happened.
💡 You might also like: Big Brother 27 Morgan: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
The "No Way Home" Effect
Everything changed in 2021. When Andrew Garfield showed up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the internet basically exploded. Suddenly, everyone remembered how much they loved his performance.
There's been a huge retrospective surge. On platforms like Letterboxd, the ratings for both movies have actually climbed slightly over the last few years. People are looking past the messy scripts and focusing on the emotional core. Garfield’s Spider-Man was funny, fast, and deeply tragic.
What the Ratings Don't Tell You
Numbers are clinical. They don't capture the fact that Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is still the gold standard for superhero love interests. They don't mention that the death of Gwen Stacy in the second film is one of the most comic-accurate and heartbreaking scenes in the entire genre.
Critics hated the plot bloat. Fans loved the suit. Critics thought the parents' subplot was boring. Fans appreciated the attempt at a deeper mystery.
Even today, you’ll find people on Reddit arguing that The Amazing Spider-Man is the most "Spider-Man-ish" movie of them all because of the quips. Andrew Garfield actually talked back to the criminals. He was a menace to the police. That’s pure 60s Ditko energy.
📖 Related: The Lil Wayne Tracklist for Tha Carter 3: What Most People Get Wrong
Why It Still Matters in 2026
With Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Brand New Day hitting theaters this year and the Spider-Noir series on the horizon, the Andrew Garfield era is often cited as the "middle child" of the franchise. It’s the bridge between the old-school blockbusters and the hyper-connected MCU.
If you’re looking at the amazing spider man rating to decide if it’s worth a rewatch, don’t just look at the 51%. Look at the craft. The score by Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams is experimental and wild. The costume in the second movie is widely considered the best live-action Spidey suit ever made.
Actionable Advice for Your Next Rewatch
Don't go in expecting a perfect narrative. Instead, treat these movies as a showcase of incredible acting and top-tier stunt work.
- Watch the first one for the tone. It’s darker, moody, and has a great "underground" feel to it.
- Watch the second one for the highlights. Skip the parts where Peter is looking at old photos of his dad and focus on the Times Square fight or the clock tower finale.
- Pay attention to the stunts. A lot of what you see in the first movie is practical wirework, which gives the swinging a weight that CGI-heavy modern movies sometimes lack.
The ratings tell a story of a franchise that struggled to find its identity. But the legacy? That’s much higher than any score on Rotten Tomatoes suggests.