This review contains spoilers for Madame Web.
Sony's latest Spider-Verse entry, SJ Clarkson's Madame Web, received poor reviews even before it was released in theaters. Starring Dakota Johnson in the titular role of Madame Web, the film seemed to be about on par with its failed predecessor, Morbius. The movie follows paramedic Cassie Webb (Madame Web) and her partner Ben Parker (yes, Uncle Ben). The beginning of the film depicts a traumatic event for Cassie, which ultimately reveals Madame Web's ability to see into the future (which is, of course, explained a bit more in the film).
When she discovers her powers, she becomes embroiled in the midst of three teenage girls running for their lives from what appears to be essentially a dark and evil Spider-Man. And this is where things start to get weird. While the storyline is perfectly simple, it feels bland and lacks the humor we've grown accustomed to from the Spider-Verse films. This is the first superhero character (at least for Marvel) to have mental superpowers, and how she can only use her mind to get herself (and others) out of poor situations. I felt like the movie had a hard time portraying that. At the same time, Johnson does a good job of making the characters relatable, but they don't have much room for development.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this movie was the action scenes, especially those involving roads and ambulances. These scenes contained unparalleled attention to detail and high-stakes stakes, creating an intense viewing experience that was difficult to look away from. I also really liked the amount of color used throughout the movie. While many action movies typically add a tint that darkens the entire screen when filming in New York City, Madame Web's brighter, more colorful scenes make it a little more fun (albeit bland) , easier to understand. Stories are useless).
On the contrary, when it came to bad Spider-Man Ezekiel (Tahar Rahim), his monologues were particularly poorly dubbed and the film seemed to lack attention to detail. His costume also looked too similar to the recent black Spider-Man costume (from “No Way Home”) to feel like a legitimate prequel movie. I also felt like Ezekiel was underutilized in this movie, and by the time the credits rolled I wanted to know more about his backstory.
Overall, I think it was a decent movie in its own right, but I can't compare it to Sony's other Spider-Verse movies. It was bland and the storyline was simple enough to follow, but the lack of action scenes left me wanting more. It was also cool to see the connections to classic Spider-Man (Aunt May, Uncle Ben and her parents), but they weren't explored as much as I expected. As it turns out, Madame Web understands the limits of her own powers, but the rest of her future predictions don't make sense as to where they'll go. This movie left more questions than answers, and we're probably setting up a sequel that will never happen.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Torch.