Madame Web Review: About an hour into Madame Web, I thought to myself, “It’s not as bad as the critics in West are saying.” However, I realised soon enough that I jumped the gun too soon. The remaining film not only corrected by initial opinion but also left me asking a gazillion questions, one of which was “Why is this movie made so badly?” Starring Dakota Johnson, Madame Web is one of the many Spider-Man spin-off movies that Sony Pictures decided to explore.
The film is an origin story that focuses on the comic book character, Cassandra “Cassie” Webb aka Madame Web. After losing her mother at birth and switching between foster homes, Cassie becomes a paramedic in Manhattan who shows psychic abilities after she has a near-death experience. The abilities allow her to see events that could unfold in the immediate future.
Although she doesn’t pay heed to it as first, she soon saves the lives of three teenagers from Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) who learns that the girls will kill him in the future. The rescue operation results in the three of them — Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) — getting entangled in a messy web that only Cassie can fix. She travels to the Amazon forests to learn about her skill, about her mother and more that help her defeat the Sims.
On paper, it is a great comic book to explore, especially since Sony hasn’t shown a standalone female superhero. However, by the time it translates onto the big screen, it seems like they decided to leave the script in the Amazon forest. The film is badly written. I am not going to lie, Madame Web had all my attention in the first half. I was invested in Cassie’s journey of discovering her power and was eager to see how the girls contribute to the journey.
By the interval hit, I told myself, “This isn’t all that bad.” However, little did I know the bad was yet to come. As soon as the second half rolls out, the film nosedived. Madame Web’s second half was supposed to focus on Cassie learning about her powers, allowing fans to witness how she goes from being Cassie to Madame Web. It was also supposed to focus on developing the villain, Sims, and project him as a villain worth fighting.
Instead, director S. J. Clarkson along with screenplay writers Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, and Claire Parker get lazy and leave the sub plot development to your imagination. They do show her in the Amazon, learning the mind games but how, what, why is none of your business. If you have read the comics, you would at least have a little idea of her powers and the discovery of it. If you haven’t, you would find yourself lost. The climax only makes you ask several questions instead of actually giving you answers.
What the film lacks in the writing, it makes up in the visual department. Madame Web boasts of good looking actors distract you from the half-baked plot. Dakota Johnson holds the screen every time she comes on. She not only tries to save the film which only keeps falling apart but also shares an interesting chemistry with the girls, even if it is limited to a few scenes. Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced’s casting in the film sparked a hope to see a Charlie’s Angels kind of action scenes but they were unfortunately wasted.
Credit where it is due, Madame Web’s strongest superpower is the cinematography and the premonition scenes. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore does a great job in presenting the details and truly getting you involved in the premonition and action scenes. His work is so fine that you spot the flaws also properly. Such as, in one scene, when Tahar Rahim’s Ezekiel Sims is addressing his assistant, he is not speaking but the ADR (automated dialogue replacement) is so obvious.
Speaking of dialogues, Madame Web gives Brahmastra a competition when it comes to dialogues. SJ Clarkson takes the liberty to mend the iconic ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ only to make it a shockingly bad dialogue.
Madame Web feels like a wasted opportunity to connect Dakota’s Cassie with Spider-Man. It raises hope in every twist only to smash it in the climax. I would not categorise this as one of the worst movies I’ve watched in a while. But it is not the best superhero movie either. If you do plan to watch Madame Web, walk in with negative expectations. You might actually be surprised, at least with the first half.
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