It is no secret to say that interest in superhero films are dwindling. It is therefore refreshing to hear that this year there's only a small handful of superhero films being released. This concentrated output should in theory mean more focus on quality over quantity. Saying that, the first big superhero film of the year, Madame Web, appears to not have the quality you would have expected from an obscure comic book character. Sony Pictures still owns the cinematic rights to the Spider-Man characters and they are attempting to make their own cinematic universe with characters from the Spider-Man comic books. From Venom to Morbius the results appear to be very middling and it seems to be more of the same with Madame Web.
Madame Web is a character not many people are familiar with. Most people who recognise this name will know she is a clairvoyant who can see the future and is an elderly blind lady who guides various Spider-People across the multiverse. It looks and feels like Sony have forgotten that this is who the character is, instead the studio has opted to create an origin story that makes zero sense and only has the slightest connection to the comic book character. Instead of using the Spider-Man brand, the studio has decided to focus on the Spider-Women of the comic book universe. Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor all play three young women who will one day become Spider-Women of some degree. It is up to Dakota Johnson’s character, Cassandra Web and the future Madame Web, to protect and save these young women from someone who wants them dead before they become superheroes.
The plot and story makes zero sense. The main villain, Ezekiel Sims, has spider-like powers and instead of using his powers for his own nefarious needs he is instead obsessed with preventing his future death. So what is the point of his powers if he isn’t going to use them for anything besides stopping his death? Even though the film is set in 2003, this version of New York feels weirdly technologically advanced to the point where Sims can track these women from images in his dreams? It doesn’t make sense and the whole film is based around Cassie Web protecting these women even though she doesn’t want to, and everyone keeps asking why he is after them and no-one providing these young women any answers.
The budget for the film is small which is a good thing as it means there is more focus on the characters than the visual effects. Sadly though the visual effects look cheap and poor with the script being equally and badly written with a lot of forced Spider-Man references without actually reference Spider-Man, like the villain’s Spider-Man looking “evil” suit, younger versions of Peter Parker’s parents and a lot of dialogue referencing great power and responsibility. Cassie isn’t even a compelling character, with Dakota Johnson giving a rather flat performance, and this all comes together to create a very poor film which doesn’t really engage or entertain well with audiences. It is a shame as this film could have had a lot more potential, but maybe in a different universe we would’ve had a better script and better direction.
★☆☆☆☆
1/5
Final Verdict:
Madame Web is sadly a messy film which isn’t very interesting. The film feels and looks cheaply made and it has some of the worst dialogue and narrative decisions ever committed to a superhero film. Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and Sydney Sweeney are all great actresses and it is a shame to see them suffer from the poor decisions that went into the making of the film. The villain and the hero are both tragically underwritten and at the end of the film, you will be thankful to never see these characters again, hopefully.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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