A Film, directed by S.J. Clarkson

Having an AMC A-List membership sometimes leads me to see films I wouldn’t typically choose to watch under normal circumstances. This has resulted in some pleasant surprises where I stumble upon excellent films, but it has also led to a few disappointments. My son and I decided to see the controversial new film from Sony Pictures, Madame Web, which is vaguely associated with Spider-Man, and fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as some critics on the internet would have you believe. However, I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s good either.

“In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing’s most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who develops the power to see the future… and realizes she can use that insight to change it. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women bound for powerful destinies…if they can all survive a deadly present.”

Madame Web feels like a transparently cynical attempt to capitalize on the Marvel Cinematic Universe without featuring everyone’s favorite neighborhood Spider-Man. Sure there are references in place, subtle or not, but it never crosses fully into feeling like the Spider-Man prequel it is trying to be. While this approach has worked in some cases, such as the largely enjoyable Venom films (in my opinion at least, they were fun), it hasn’t always hit the mark. For instance, despite not having seen it yet, I’m aware that Jared Leto’s Morbius faced harsh criticism, with Sony even releasing it twice due to online backlash that was mistaken for fan-driven viral marketing. Will Madame Web be the film that finally prompts a reevaluation of these Spider-ish projects? Only time will tell.

So, I mentioned that I didn’t hate this movie as much as everyone else seems to. Sure, it has its issues, but at its core, Madame Web feels a lot like an early 2000s superhero film, for better or worse. I’d like to attribute it to the film being stylistically modeled after movies of that era since it takes place in the 90s, but that would be giving it too much credit. Essentially, this is just the way Sony produces their films, and it’s understandable that it feels dated because, after leaving Marvel, Avi Arad (who apparently had nothing to do with this film, but produced every Spider-Man film until the MCU) essentially created their blueprint for “what a Sony superhero film is” based on his experiences from the late 90s to the early 2000s. While I think the output of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become stale and formulaic, I’d still prefer it over something that feels stale, formulaic, and twenty years out of date.

Some of the positive aspects of the film included intriguing characters, notably the villain Ezekial. Despite his somewhat one-dimensional motivations, it’s thought-provoking to consider the question “what if Spider-Man were evil?” Adam Scott delivered a commendable performance as Ben Parker, yes, THAT Ben Parker, and Dakota Johnson’s portrayal of Cassandra Webb, a.k.a. “Madame Web,” was decent. The beginning and final acts of the film were pretty cool, and the premise of having a superhero with precognitive abilities is a concept seldom explored in comic books, let alone in a feature-length superhero film.

Alright, here’s what sucked in Madame Web. I can’t shake the feeling that this film’s trailer was a huge bait-and-switch, hinting at the origin of Madame Web and suggesting we’d see her leading a group of young super-heroines into battle against a formidable foe, akin to Professor X in the X-Men franchise. While the movie does have that origin story for the titular heroine, all the action scenes are condensed into a couple of instances, with the shots of the three girls, Isabela Merced as Spider-Girl, Sydney Sweeney as Spider-Woman, and Celeste O’Connor as another Spider-Woman, in costume amounting to little more than a dream sequence and a quick flash-forward at the very end of the film. It’s barely two minutes of footage, seemingly inserted solely to generate hype for a sequel that I doubt will ever get made. This mirrors the same issue that plagued the critically-panned Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film: two hours of an origin story with a mere two minutes of payoff at the end. Frankly, it’s not worth it.

Without badass superhero action, what remains for most of the movie? While there are scenes of Cassandra coming to terms with her powers, the majority of the film revolves around Cassandra babysitting three impulsive caricatures of what an executive at Sony HQ believes teenage girls act like. These scenes, where all four characters engage in incessant quipping and bickering, are annoying and feel structured and acted like a Nickelodeon children’s sitcom from two decades ago. Everyone makes nonsensical decisions solely to create perilous situations, and the whole setup feels like a cost-saving measure. Honestly, had this been a TV series with such content, resembling something akin to Charmed, for instance, it might have been a better fit for this property.

Overall, Madame Web isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen, but it’s far from the best. It’s a promising concept executed somewhat poorly, with only a few standout scenes to bolster it. As mentioned earlier, I enjoyed the finale, where Cassandra fully utilizes her powers in a showdown against Ezekial. I would have loved to see more of that, or even the four Spider-themed women kicking ass as promised in the trailer! Unfortunately, that’s not what we got. I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this movie unless you’re like me, in need of some weekend entertainment and happen to have a free movie ticket. Here’s hoping the promising scene at the end leads to something more substantial from Sony; otherwise, it feels like a wasted opportunity for everyone involved. If there’s a silver lining, my eight year old son loved the movie, so there is that – it’s likely a decent thing to take your kids to.

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