Here's my take on the "Amazing Spider-Man" movies: They just weren't good enough. Webb was coming off a highly stylized film debut, "500 days of Summer," which earned good box-office and rave reviews. He had to contend with the fact that Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" was THE best depiction of the the web slinger we had ever seen at the movies or on television. What happened with that 2004 sequel might never be replicated again. It was such a perfect blend of story, effects, performance and direction. Webb's two movies didn't even come close to touching that masterpiece. They were O.K, but that just isn't good enough when you've seen "Spider-Man 2" and know the potential.
Here's Webb defending his films:
“It’s hard for me to think about it, in terms of regrets. There are so many things that I’m proud of. There was an ambition with the second movie, in particular. The idea that it’s a superhero that can’t save everybody is something that I’m really proud of. I’m really proud of the ambition of that because it’s an important message, and I believe in that. I believe in what we were after,” he told Collider. “They’re really, really difficult movies to make. They’re complex in ways that people don’t fully understand. They weren’t disasters. But in terms of regrets, I don’t think of it in those terms. I felt really, really fortunate to have that opportunity. That’s a whole other long, in-depth conversation that I probably shouldn’t have publicly. I loved everybody involved. I really did. I didn’t have an adversarial relationship with the studio, at all. There were a lot of very smart people. These are just incredibly complicated movies to make. I am proud of them, in many ways, and I stand by them. I’m certainly not a victim, in that situation.”