“Madame Web” stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, and Tahar Rahim. Released on February 14, 2024, the film has a paramedic with psychic abilities protecting three young women from a nefarious explorer. The film featured the feature directorial debut of S. J. Clarkson, who also directed the 2010 television film “Toast”. She also helmed episodes of several television shows like “Doctors,” “EastEnders,” “Heroes,” “Dexter,” and “Ugly Betty.” It is based on the Marvel character created by Denny O’Neil and John Romita Jr. It is also the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It bears repeating that Sony’s business with the web-headed superhero has been booming for years, especially with its recent content, including the Spider-Verse movies and the MCU Spider-Man films. However, its attempt at providing a cinematic universe without our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has repeatedly proven that anything involving Spider-Man is better than anything involving his adversaries and allies. Despite the misfortunes surrounding its installments, aside from the Venom movies, the studio is still pushing through with this messy blueprint by introducing another character from the Spider-Man lore to cinematic audiences. But unlike the previous installments centered on the villains, this movie focuses on one of the hero’s allies. An ally that can lead spider-people to their chosen destinies. This direction seems like a suitable change of pace for Sony’s “villainous” cinematic universe, but is it enough to get itself off its web of problems? Let’s find out. The story centers on Cassandra Webb (Johnson), an awkward paramedic in Manhattan with a mysterious past. While on duty, Cassandra has a near-death experience that results in her developing clairvoyant abilities, allowing her to see into the future. However, the future she’s seeing isn’t so bright and dandy, as she can see how and when people will die, including three young women: Julia Cornwall (Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (O’Connor), and Anya Corazon (Merced). Cassandra sees that the women would die at the hands of Ezekiel Sims (Rahim), an enhanced explorer with the same psychic powers as her and a black Spider-Man-stylized suit. With their lives at stake, Cassandra strives to harness her newfound abilities to protect them before their destinies are erased forever. Regarding my history with the Spider-Man lore, I’ve only remembered Madame Web from the 1990s Spider-Man animated series. Anything else? Zippo. Then again, I haven’t seen much of the character in the other Spider-Man media, so that could be another reason for my lack of experience with her. Regardless, I know her enough to see how this seemingly profound Spider-Lady is portrayed in movie form. While I didn’t have much expectations for “Madame Web,” considering my current feelings toward Sony’s Spider-Man-less universe, I expected it to have enough redeeming qualities to overcome its web of flaws. I was smart enough to find a couple in “Morbius” despite it being overly mediocre, so I had no problem doing the same with “Madame Web”, especially since I’m not a massive comic book fan. In the comics and the 90s Spider-Man series, Madame Web is portrayed as a blind and paralyzed older woman who’s connected to a life support system and is fully experienced with the Spider-Verse. In the film, she’s changed to a young, ordinary paramedic experiencing her given abilities for the first time. So what we have here is another superhero origin story where a protagonist gains superpowers and goes on a journey of self-discovery while defeating a significant threat. You can pretty much connect the dots on how the plot will turn out, but what matters is the execution. Not only does it need to be at least entertaining, but it also needs to honor the character through her personality and journey. Unfortunately, it lacks the commitment required to accomplish both of those tasks. While it’s not without a few moments that I found slightly tolerable, they’re not enough to save “Madame Web” from its disastrous future. In addition to being another basic superhero movie, “Madame Web” is also described as a grounded suspense thriller involving Cassandra protecting the three teens and learning about herself. This seemed like an interesting direction on paper, considering the amount of fundamental, high-budget superhero blockbusters we’ve been getting. It would’ve allowed itself to go beyond its superhero tropes and provide a realistic and tension-filled approach to the worn-out genre. But, of course, this is Sony and Marvel we’re talking about. They want to ensure they give audiences the superhero movie they deserve, complete with costumes and CGI. The problem is that audiences want refreshing and exciting ideas from the superhero genre…and good quality. Regarding its formulaic and muddled plot, “Madame Web” showcased that Sony kept neglecting that issue, resulting in something that’s as poisonous as a spider’s venom, and I’m not talking about the symbiote. But before I talk about what went wrong with “Madame Web”, I want to start with the positives that prevented me from giving it the lowest grade possible. I felt like other people were wasting their breaths focusing on only the negatives of “Madame Web” first, and I didn’t want to be like those party poopers. So, I decided to change things up for this review because why not? One of the elements I somehow enjoyed was Dakota Johnson as Cassandra. Since appearing in the “Fifty Shades” movies, Dakota Johnson has tried to prove herself a reliable actress. Some of her recent projects have been hit-and-miss, but she does appear to be giving it her all to stay relevant. “Madame Web” has Johnson performing a similar feat in the superhero genre regarding her performance as the titular character. It’s far from extraordinary, but Johnson seemed to be the only member of the cast making an effort to carry the movie. Her portrayal of Cassandra’s awkwardness and wit is the only part of the web that isn’t all tangled up like the rest of it. She’s no Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man or Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, but she does get brownie points for trying. But what about the rest of the cast, you ask? Well, they’re not awful, but I wouldn’t call them amazing, either. It sucks, considering the amount of talent involved, including the three actresses playing the potential Spider-Women. Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor were all fine in their roles as Julia, Anya, and Mattie, respectively. Sadly, due to the direction and script, the chemistry between the three lacked the charm and emotion that most superhero films are known for, especially the MCU. On the bright side, their Spider-Women costumes looked surprisingly decent. Tahar Rahim attempted to provide life to the film’s mediocre antagonist, Ezekiel Sims, but it came off as bland and uninteresting even with his Spider-Man-like abilities. At least Matt Smith’s villain in “Morbius” has moments despite him being forgettable. What’s Ezekiel’s excuse other than not having webs coming out of his hands? If there’s one performance I dislike the most, it’s Kerry Bishé as Cassie’s mother. While she’s only in a couple of scenes, her performance sounded forced and corny. Another element I found tolerable was the movie’s visuals. I can occasionally tell whether they used CGI, especially from Ezekiel jumping around like Tigger from "Winnie the Pooh". However, the visuals weren’t to the point where it’s overly dated or embarrassingly cheap like in “Expend4bles”. They’re passable for what they’re attempting to accomplish, especially with Cassandra’s powers and the final fight, which I found surprisingly better than “Morbius”. Sure, it follows the typical structure of other superhero movies, but that scene should deserve credit for being slightly diverting. But, of course, those rewards come from sitting through the majority of “Madame Web”, which can be a chore if you’re not as patient as I was. Part of the movie’s issues was its screenplay. In addition to its formulaic trappings and expositions, “Madame Web” failed to take full advantage of its tension and character depth to provide something unique and enthralling to the genre. It also had a few instances of cheesy dialogue that I didn’t know if they were intentional or not. However, its biggest offender was Cassandra’s arc, which wound up being less interesting than I thought it would be. Besides her past and struggle with her powers, nothing about Cassandra regarding her personal journey stuck for me like a fly on a wall or, in this case, a web. Part of the tension comes from the film’s engaging characters, not just the action and stakes. If you don’t have good character writing, you lose that part of the excitement, leaving the latter two to carry the rest of the weight. As for S. J. Clarkson, I will say that her transition from television to cinema needed more adjustments. While its dark tone is welcoming, Clarkson’s approach to the action and emotional stakes was equivalent to my bathroom towel: rough and dry. If she wants to continue directing feature films, Clarkson would have to take notes of what went wrong in “Madame Web” and improve herself in her next project. Finally, we have the movie’s editing. Unlike the cons I listed, the editing left me feeling mixed regarding its intention. To give credit where it’s due, it did well in reflecting Cassandra’s unnerving and kinetic peeks into the future. On the other hand, everything else between those sequences was a different story. The reshoots could be the cause of this issue regarding its role in the Spider-Man universe, but besides that, it had a sense of inconsistency that disrupted the film’s flow. As a result, the suspenseful parts feel less exciting and a tad sloppy. The sequence involving Cassandra rescuing a driver from a car hanging off a bridge is one example of this. Overall, “Madame Web” is an unfortunate fly tangled in a messy web of mediocrity and blandness. Its grounded suspense thriller approach to the superhero genre seemed promising at first glance, and its focus on the Spider-Women instead of the villains was a suitable change of pace for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Sadly, those ideas were bogged down by its abysmal execution, resulting in a heavily formulaic and tensionless superhero film that couldn’t stick to the wall longer than it should. Dakota Johnson was a fine fit as the titular character, and the visual effects were passable at best, especially for its final fight. Unfortunately, they couldn’t erase its future of being another cinematic equivalent of getting punched in a gut regarding Sony’s Spider-Man-less franchise. With this and “Morbius”, it’s clear that the studio lacks the commitment and passion for its Marvel characters that aren’t Spider-Man and Venom. Sure, the “Venom” movies aren’t flawless, but they’re flawed in a fun way. “Morbius” is unintentionally amusing with the right mindset, but “Madame Web”? It…just exists. I’m sure there are a few people who enjoyed it more than I did because I met one who thinks it’s better than “The Marvels”. If so, more power to them. With the upcoming "Kraven the Hunter" and "Venom 3" set to release later this year, Sony needs to make a significant change in direction if they want to continue expanding this universe. D-
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