Madame Web (2024) Review

TANGLED IN ITS OWN STICKY

(AND DERIVATELY BORING) WEB

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has indeed been a rocky road throughout its endeavors, electing to expand upon various Marvel Comics characters and properties that are commonly associated with web slinging hero….Spider-Man. While the initial plan was to begin this particular cinematic universe endeavor following the release of 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the idea was abandoned, leaving a lot of the numerous plans’ sequels and spin-offs in cinematic purgatory. Yet, all wasn’t loss, with Sony Pictures making a deal with Marvel Studios to share the Spider-Man film rights and reboot the character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While both studios shared the profits within the character of Spider-Man, who was now played by actor Tom Holland in the superhero team up films as well as Spider-Man “home” trilogy, Sony Pictures began to develop spin off, which began back in 2018 with the release of Venom and then followed back its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021. While both films received mixed to negative reviews from critics and moviegoers, both Venom movies still managed to come away with big box office numbers worldwide, which did deem them a success. However, 2022’s Morbius, the third installment in this Spider-Man spin-off universe, was both critically panned by critics and moviegoers alike as well as being considered to be a box office bomb. Now, two years after the release of Morbius, Sony Pictures Studios (in association with Marvel) and director S.J. Clarkson present the latest film in the Spider-Man Universe series with the release of Madame Web. Does this spin-off project right the wrongs made from Morbius’s poor release or does this haphazard and boring film mark the end for this potential Spider-Man Universe?

THE STORY

In 1973, in the Amazon of Peru, Constance Webb is a pregnant scientist that is working to locate a special type of arachnid specimen that’s capable of tremendous healing capabilities. She’s joined by Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), a colleague who wants the insect, shooting her when the spider is found, leaving the woman to die. Rescued by an indigenous Amazon tribe, Constance’s injuries are too severe, but is gifted a spider bite, which allows her daughter to be born and live on. Thirty years later, Cassie (Dakota Johnson) is now a paramedic in New York City, doing her rounds with co-worker partner Ben (Adam Scott), whose sister-in-law, Mary (Emma Roberts), is expecting the birth of her first child. When a standard rescue situation goes wrong, Cassie is exposed to death for several minutes, brought back to life with unique psychic abilities, giving her the chance to glimpse see the future before it happens. Elsewhere in the city, Ezekiel also has such powers from spider he procured decades ago, haunted by the image of his own death at the hands of three Spider-Women, setting out to find and kill them before their powers are made self-aware, putting young teenagers Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor), and Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) in mortal danger. Running into these three young adults and offered glimpses of their deaths, Cassie seeks to protect them while figuring out the extent of her mental gifts and becoming more than what she thought believe capable of doing.

THE GOOD / THE BAD

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been the biggest fan of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It’s definitely admirable, especially since Sony made the deal with Marvel Studios (and Disney), how much moviegoers are still very much interest in seeing Spider-Man flying onto the silver screen. There’s no doubt that Tom Holland’s portrayal of the iconic Peter Parker / Spider-Man character was indeed a success and fan-favorite amongst his featured installments within the expansive MCU playground. I remember hearing all of about this “expanded” Spider-Man Universe project back when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 originally came out in 2014, with the film’s ending hinting at numerous possibilities, including a Sinister Six film project in the works. However, that was shelved for several years when Sony / Marvel Studios deal took place and the two studio juggernauts were trying to figure out if Holland’s Spider-Man would work for moviegoers everywhere. Since he did, Sony then began to map out their expanded universe for Spider-Man, with the character of Venom. To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the two Venom movies. I did like Tom Hardy as an actor and he did a good job in a very commended role in both the features, but they didn’t have a very exciting appeal to me, especially Let There Be Carnage, which was all-over the map and way too rushed. Fairing even worse was Morbius, which was disaster unto itself. The cast was great (Leto, Smith, Harris, etc.) and story was intriguing, but everything about it was bland and mismanaged right from the get-go. In the end, I do applaud (and like the idea) of such expanded Spider-Man Universe to be made, especially since the character has plenty of dealings of heroes and villains throughout his comic book history, but Sony’s attempts at such cinematic endeavors sort of need to go back to “drawing board” for a more wholesome and engaging superhero films of entertainment rather than weak and mediocre attempts.

Naturally, this brings me back around to talking about Madame Web, a 2024 superhero film and the fourth installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe series. I think it was sometime before or after the release of Morbius that there was going talk of a Madame Web character movie being planned, with the announcement being sometime after that, which included that actress Dakota Johnsons was going to be playing the lead role. Now, my knowledge of Madame Web was quite limited, with my viewing experience of seeing the character was from 1994’s Spider-Man cartoon series (the Secret Wars arc and the Spider-Man Wars arc), with the psychic individual playing a part during the portion of the animated narrative. So, beyond that snippet from the cartoon series long, I really didn’t know much about the character, so I was definitely intrigued to see what this movie brought to the cinematic table. Then the film’s previews and marketing campaign began to appear and, I do have to say, that I wasn’t quite impressed with it. The movie trailers alone looked mediocre and didn’t exactly entice me to go see the movie. Heck, even the previews for Morbius did a better job. Again, I was still quite leery about this movie, especially since Sony’s Spider-Man universe hasn’t produced much excitement or stellar installments within this cinematic universe sandbox. Still, made the studio learned from the mistakes made and that this new entry would be better. So, I went into Madame Web with a little bit of optimism in me rather than a jaded one. I did see the movie during its opening weekend, but, due to my work schedule as well as trying to complete all my 2023 movie release reviews (in a delayed, yet timely manner), I had to keep on pushing getting this review done. Now, with all of that out of the way, I am ready to share my personal thoughts on Madame Web. And what did I think of it? Well, I do have to say that all that all the negative reviews and “word of mouth” online is very much true form, color, and character. Madame Web, despite a few very minimal redeeming qualities, is a cheap imitation of a superhero movie that is too derivate, too boring, and too mundane to make a splash within the cinematic landscape of today’s blockbuster endeavors. Basically, all the negative stuff you heard about this movie…. completely true.

Madame Web is directed by S.J. Clarkson, whose previous directorial works include many TV series episodes from shows like EastEnders, Dexter, and Anatomy of a Scandal. Given her background on the episodic smaller screen variety, Clarkson does seem like a bit of an odd “dark horse” type for this particular endeavor, especially since it was going to be a superhero film, a blockbuster-ish presentation, and part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, which was in need of a “win” after the commercial failures of 2022’s Morbius. So, Clarkson takes the reins of this superhero film and approaches the material with a sense of “back to basics” style, with the movie having more of an early 2000s approach to the now popular blockbuster genre. Much like what 2023’s Blue Beetle did within the DCEU, Clarkson does the same with Madame Web, scaling back a lot of the superfluous natures of what modern day superhero films and presents an origin story that seems more commonplace when the genre was just started to flourish in the early 2000s era. Basically, the movie is more about the film’s characters rather than large scale “saving the world” daring dos. Thus, Clarkson makes the feature more personable within Cassie’s journey from beginning to end. It’s definitely origin story…. there’s no doubt about that, which does carry a lot of formulaic pitfalls, but it’s easier to follow and doesn’t require a whole lot of prerequisites to follow in similar way that MCU has recently done. Additionally, while the story plotting is quite messy, I did like the main storyline of Cassie and how she has premonitions of the future; an interesting psychic power that makes for a good narrative of the superhero genre and I think Clarkson does try to have fun with such an idea. In the end, while the movie isn’t perfect (by any means necessary), Clarkson does give a rudimentary fundamental approach towards Madame Web, which can be a relatively okay-ish sign of reverting superhero properties to a more smaller scale endeavor rather than jumping headfirst into massive narratives in scope and grandeur.

For its presentation, Madame Web is an adequate display of filmmaking aesthetics that certainly “meets the industry standards” of what today’s superhero films. As mentioned, the movie doesn’t boast large scale set pieces or heavy usage of CGI visual effects, but it utilizes the city landscape skyline of New York City the right way; showcasing the hustle and bustle of the large metropolitan city and the various pocket areas therein. Plus, heightened settings and locations that do flow into the superhero genre look pleasing to look and are presented in the correct way of style and fashion. Thus, the feature’s “key players” for these categories, including Ethan Tobman (production design), Ana Icazbalceta, Mila Khalevich, and Vanessa Knoll (set decorations), Ngila Dickson (costume designs), and the entire art direction team for their efforts in bringing the film’s background world to life. This, of course, stands out to me a bit more since majority of the picture lacks focus and proper execution. Also, the film’s cinematography work by Mauro Fiore is mediocre-ish and doesn’t really develop beyond a few moments. It’s not terrible and there are some good visuals of dramatic poise of camera angles and usage of shadowing, but it doesn’t compare to some of Fiore’s more famous works such as Avatar, The Island, and The Magnificent Seven. Lastly, while the film’s score, which was composed by John Soderqvist, does a decent job in projecting a musical composition befitting a superhero film, the movie’s soundtrack song selection that are featured throughout are perhaps the real winner, with plenty of recognizable songs from 90s to early 2000s, including “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, “Miles Away” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and “Dreams” by The Cranberries just to name a few.

Unfortunately, as know already know, Madame Web is far from a solid superhero feature film and is marred by many numerous (and glaring problems) throughout the movie’s runtime. Where to begin? Well, let me start by saying the movie itself is quite boring and dated. Yes, I do praise the project for having a “back to basics” approach and feeling like the superhero films of yesteryear (circa early 2000s era), but that doesn’t mean that such rudimentary aspects need to be at the forefront of endeavor. From a director’s standpoint, it seems Clarkson is way over her head on tackling such a project like this movie, especially one that is a superhero blockbuster. There is a lack of directorial finesse throughout the entire feature, with Clarkson struggling to maintain a proper balance of all Madame Web’s story elements and character plot points. This results in the film being quite lopsided numerous times, which then gives way to several pacing issues that causes the movie too feel boring at various points. In truth, the film, which has a runtime of 116 minutes (one hour and fifty-six minutes) and fits under the standard two hour runtime for a modern motion picture, feels longer than it actually is due to the simple fact that not a whole lot happens in the narrative. Yes, stuff moves along, but at a sluggish that doesn’t excite nor entice viewers to fully engage / invest in the characters moving around the story. Suffice to say Clarkson fails in that particular category and ends up staging a lot of scenes (almost most of them) in rather boring way and poorly conceived, which results in a rather dull and bland presentation. This then makes Madame Web feel very dry and dated superhero movie that lacks the entertainment value of modern filmmaking attributes as well as engaging viewers in a cinematic narrative.

Clarkson’s inexperience on the movie also continues in the overall flow of it all, with many sequences rather choppy or just plan boring. Of course, this could also be contributed to the film’s editing process, but Clarkson (presumably) also had a hand in overseeing this as well, which gives the impression that she struggling from all of points throughout the movie. Again, another point is that Clarkson might not have been best suited to helm such a project as Madame Web. This also extends to the action and overall visual appeal that the movie has to offer….or rather lack of. Naturally, Madame Web does have action scenes throughout the plot being told, but it comes off as weak and uninspiring, with no extra “oomph” or any other appease to make them work beyond the standard conventions. Adding more salt to the already festering wound, the feature lacks that extra punch of action that is somewhat customary for superhero movies nowadays. What’s presented feels dated and wonky and not all exciting. There’s very little in the way of intricate action sequences to make for some exciting and tense filled moments, with Madame Web feeling stale in that department. Even the feature’s third act climax portion feels quite underwhelming and rushed, with a disappointing finale that felt like a season finale from a CW Arrowverse TV series conclusion….yet far worse and made magnified more due to a theatrical motion picture framing.

Then there is the film’s script, which is utterly flimsy at best and reeks of a “first draft” attempt that made it all through to the finish product. Everything about Madame Web’s story and characters is thinly sketched and feels either underdeveloped or not all the way though about properly. Who’s to blame for this? Well, the script for the project was handled by Clarkson as well as Matt Zazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, and Kerem Sanga, which, given all of those hands in shaping it, gives off the classic saying of “too many cooks in the kitchen”. It is because of this the script for Madame Web is quite all over the map and messy….to say the least. It’s even made worse that the movie’s staleness seeps throughout the entire project and made even more infamous due to the small scale nature of the story being told. Now, a smaller scale superhero story has indeed worked in the past (i.e. Deadpool and Spider-Man: Homecoming), which deals with more character-based narratives rather than the expansive “saving the world” plot, but those two features were heightened and shined in other various aspects (i.e. action, comedy, and performances). Sadly, Madame Web can’t drum up any other redeem qualities to match that, which makes the movie feel quite small and poorly conceived. This comes from the script handling, which takes a rather conventional origin story and dilutes it and reduce it to almost like a TV movie pilot, lacking the proper expertise in translating a script / story the correct way. With a weak hero, a lame villain, and stock-like side characters, the script for Madame Web is profoundly messy and should’ve been further develop back in the storyboarding process.

In addition to the movie’s script, the dialogue for Madame Web is quite horrendous indeed and has justly so being heavily scrutinized for moviegoers everywhere about how bad it is. Of course, I wasn’t expecting anything sharp or witty, especially from a superhero film, but I was expecting a lot more that wasn’t so derivate and dull. In truth, the movie is littered with cheesy and / or dry material that it becomes boring to watch and even laughable at times….and not in the good way. And, of course, you know of the famous line / deliver that was given from Johnson’s Cassie “He was in the Amazon with my when she was researching spiders right before she died” that has memed to the death online and social media platform, but it is quite the prime example of such awful written dialogue for the movie. Furthermore, the script is filled with characters stating the total obvious, which is quite redundant and lame, as well as corny dialogue moments (eye rolling inducing), and breaks the fundamental rules of media storytelling medium….show, don’t tell. Even the comedy aspects of the dialogue driven moments are so mundane and tiresome that it didn’t even drum up any type of levity within the movie as well as from myself, which is never a good thing. This all is wrapped together in a movie’s script that is desperately weak and too forced, which begs to question as to why it was giving the “go ahead” from Clarkson and her team. Yes, it goes without saying that script (everything about it) needed to be finesse and handled better, for it was…. then Madame Web could’ve been more redeemable.

Lastly, the film’s visuals should be criticized and how they are rendered / handled throughout the picture. From the previews alone, I wasn’t expecting a heavy CGI visual effects presentation from this superhero movie (a more street level narrative rather a global trotting adventure). That being said, I was expecting more with the feature’s visual were to a lesser degree than what the industry standard is meant for either superhero flick or a blockbuster film of today’s making. Shots feel very rigid, muddy, and almost like a step below a video game display (one of the bad ones) and it clearly shows that such computer generated renderings in a very bad light, which doesn’t help build upon Madame Web’s more fantastical moments.

The cast in Madame Web has many recognizable faces and acting talent attached to this superhero project, which was one of the main draw for viewers to see this movie. However, it all sort of backfires, with most (if not all) actors and actresses in the film have little to no direction for their particular characters, rendering them all to be either half-baked or severely underdeveloped throughout the entire feature. It’s not for a lack of trying from the cast as they try to figure out their respective roles with the shallow written material given to them from the film’s script, but even their acting talents can’t make heads or tails of these particular individuals. Perhaps the perfect example of this comes from the movie’s main protagonist Casandra “Cassie” Webb, who is played by actress Dakota Johnson, with the both talent and the character failing to spark some type of vigor within a rather flat character. Johnson, who is known for her roles in Fifty Shades of Grey, How to be Single, and Bad Times at the El Royale, has proven herself that she be a capable actress within her field of acting. Of course, her performance of Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades movies were both abysmal and laughable at the same time, which didn’t help Johnson to be taking serious. However, I think (given the right character) she can shine….as she did in Bad Times at the El Royale. So, seeing Johnson playing the main role in a superhero feature wasn’t a “shot in the dark” as I felt she had the chops for it. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that as Johnson feels very much so “out of place” within this movie and ends up being rather generic throughout. Perhaps the paper-thin script is to blame for this as Cassie’s journey, though semi-interesting, is very straightforward and bland as if it was ripped out of a “how-to-guide” for superhero origins 101. It’s been done many times before within the classic “hero’s” arc, but does not have much to stand on with a very weak and formulaic narrative trajectory. So, with a meek script for her character, Johnson has to do with what little material she has to help elevate Cassie beyond being vanilla, but even the actress can’t even do that. This movie clearly shows that Johnson isn’t made for a superhero movie, especially one in the leading role, with the actress struggling to drum up a compelling (or competent) performance, which results in making Cassie Webb an extremely flat and uninspiring turn of the famous comic book character..

Who perhaps falls in the same category (and maybe even a little bit worse) is the film’s main antagonist character Ezkiel Sims, an ambitious man who has spider-like abilities as well as gaining clairvoyance into glimpsing the future, and who is played by actor Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian and Napoleon). The idea for the villain is there, but the movie, much like the rest of the cast, doesn’t know what to do with such a character, which backfires to an unforgettable foe for the heroes of the story. The script does very little to make the Ezekiel a threatening menace as he quite generic and formulas to the touch and never rise above such mediocre level of the stereotypical “villain of the week” mantra from superhero TV series (aka a sort of “one note” bad guy). Likewise, Rahim himself is not that villainous in his performance of Ezekiel, which renders a lot of his nefarious muted and watered down. I definitely think that he was a miscast (as well as Johnson herself), with the pair struggling to find the necessary rhythm within their respective characters. Overall, while Rahim might be a good actor in some of his past endeavors, he’s definitely lost in this movie as Ezkiel Sims and ends up being a rather unmemorable superhero villain, which is disappointing.

Looking beyond the main hero and villain, the movie does shine a spotlight on several larger supporting characters in the film, which includes Julia Cornwall, an awkward teen, Anya Corazon, a smart youth, and Mattie Franklin, a rich teenager, who are played by actresses Sydney Sweeney (Anyone But You and Euphoria), Isabela Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight and Dora and the Lost City of Gold), and Celeste O’Connor (Freaky and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire). Collectively, these three talents have done memorable roles in their careers, with most being recently of late, but their participation in Madame Web, while welcoming, isn’t as stellar as expected. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s not for a lack of trying on their parts, with their acting good throughout, but the direction that they were for these characters is quite shallow and one-dimensional. Even the script for their characters is stripped down to the barebones, with their girls drum up an initial persona (i.e. Julia is the awkward girl next door, Anya is the brainy one, and Mattie is the rebellious one). To make it even worse, the movie pairs these three with Johnson for most of the screen time and I do have to say that there various interactions from scene to scene is quite awkward and painful to watch. They just don’t mesh well with her and that’s not a good thing on everyone’s parts. Plus, as mentioned above, the movie’s trailer is misleading and their so-called superhero moments are very brief and feels like a cop out.

In the more supportive characters category, the movie does try to set something up with the characters of Ben, Cassie’s paramedic co-worker and friend, and Mary, Ben’s pregnant sister-in-law, who are played by actor Adam Scott (Severance and Parks and Recreation) and actress Emma Roberts (Nerve and American Horror Story) respectfully. While Scott and Roberts are perfectly fine in their acting talents, the movie doesn’t allow them to shine wholeheartedly as they get pushed aside rather quickly during the second and third act of the movie. Plus, the set-up of which the script is trying to do with these two (I won’t spoil it) seems rather rushed and weak, with the idea of expanding upon such narrative threads in a potential future installment. Yet, it all comes off as contrived and clunky.

The rest of the cast, including actor Mike Epps (The Hangover and Next Friday) as Cassie and Ben’s co-worker / friend O’Neil, actress Kathy-Ann Hart (Patriots Day and Go Chase Yourself) as O’Neil’s wife Susan, actor Josh Drennen (Leave the World Behind and American Rust) as Julie’s dad, actress Zosia Mamet (Girls and The Kids Are All Right) as Ezekiel’s gifted research assistant / hacker Amaria, actor Jose Maria Yazpik (Polvo and Nacros: Mexico) as a member of the secret native tribe in the Peruvian jungle named Santiago, and actress Kerry Bishe (Red State and Argo) as Cassie’s mother Constance Webb, are delegated to minor supportive roles in the movie. Most of these characters have very minor roles in Madame Web, so I didn’t expect any of them to be extraordinary or even expanded upon. So, the acting talent in this grouping is fine for what it is….and nothing more (neither good or bad), but just simply there for several moments of character back-and-forth dialogue or plot progression.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After escaping from death, Cassie’s hidden clairvoyant abilities are awakened, glimpsing into the future of possibilities as she must protect three young women from the nefarious hands of Ezekiel Sims in the movie Madame Web. Director S.J. Clarkson’s latest film takes the famous comic book character from the Spider-Man threads and gives the movie a classic origin tale of the individual’s upbringings and the ultimate turn from “zero to hero” narrative path. While the movie does have a more “back to basics” approach and has a more grounded story in comparing to many other superhero features out there currently, the film itself is riddled with glaring problematic areas throughout, including poor and inexperience direction from Clarkson, a bland presentation, a derivate plot, dated and stale mechanics and story points, wooden / clunky dialogue, muddy visuals, wasted acting talent (one or two miscast roles), and one-dimensional characters. Personally, I did not care for this movie at all. I was interested to see what the film was going to be about and how they would present the character of Madame Web in this live-action Spider Verse, but, suffice to say, that it’s quite a grueling and tiresome viewing experiences to sit through. Almost every aspect one can imaging how this movie failed is there and is cinematically crystal clear for everyone to see. The plot, the script, the payoffs, the comedy, the dialogue, the action, the cast, and the characters are all bland and derivate in nature to the point of being cheap imitation of a superhero movie from the early 2000s, but far weaker, watered down, and poorly executed from one of those endeavors of that era. Basically, this movie makes 2022’s Morbius look like a masterpiece….and that’s not great thing to be proud of. It just truly baffles me that a movie like this (given the abundance of problems that I have heavily outlined) ever got greenlit by Sony for a final and finish product. Furthermore, it’s a shame that the movie was so bad put together as one can see glimpses of greatness, especially for a character like Madame Web, but never come fruition and yet another terribly bad movie from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Thus, as one can surmise, my recommendation for this film would be a very hard “skip it” as it really doesn’t have much going for it nor does it bring anything new or exciting to the cinematic table or even entertainment value to neither the superhero genre nor to Sony’s own cinematic “Spidey” universe. By the film’s ending is concluded, the door is open for possible future installments within this own universe (or even a multiverse collaboration of some kind), but, given the negative reception that this movie has been giving by critics and moviegoers alike, such an idea of a Madame Web 2 seems very unlikely…..and maybe for good reason. In the end, Madame Web is sluggish and monotonous superhero picture that gets tangled in its own sticky (and derivatively boring) cinematic web.

0.9 Out of 5 (Skip It)

Released On: February 14th, 2024

Reviewed On: July 18th, 2024

Madame Web  is 116 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for action / violence, and language

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