Madame Web: Does anything connect?
The Marvel Universe has had a huge impact on cinematic history. It’s a shared universe centering around superheroes, spanning over 16 years, accumulating 33 films and includes some stellar casting choices. Growing up I found Marvel through a film called Adventures in Babysitting where the excellent Vincent D’Onofrio plays a mechanic who seemingly looks a lot like Thor. This got me curious about the hero and therefore I was introduced to the spectacular world of heroes, villains, magic and power.
Madame Web tells the standalone origin of one of Marvel’s most ambiguous heroines. Dakota Johnson takes on the role of Cassandra Web, a paramedic who suddenly develops powers that not only enable her to see the future but alter it. Forced to face her past she forges a relationship with 3 other girls, learns to accept responsibility and battles to defeat an unstoppable evil.
It doesn’t take clairvoyance to know this film has no hereafter. Failing in almost everything it sets out to achieve, the more I watched, the more hopeless I felt. A flavourless plotline, severely underused characters and wooden dialogue combined with effortless action solidifies it as a forgettable Marvel entry. What should’ve been a well-constructed movie brimming with new female heroes was instead a poorly written, bland mess. Sony must be sorry about this one, Right? It feels like a tangled web of frustration, embarrassment and comes across as a soulless attempt at a comic book movie. An action movie with no action, a superhero movie with no heroes, what was the point?
Honestly, apologies to Morbius are deserved and that film starred Jared Leto.
Tahar Rahim, who plays Ezekiel Sims must be the most absurdly lame bad guy in existence. Taunting 3 girls like he’s Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls. None of his character worked, the delivery of his lines felt forced, awkward, and you really hated his time on screen. When our main girls came into focus their performances weren’t any better. You could see on their faces how much they didn’t want to be there; second hand embarrassment hit hard. As for Dakota Johnson, who played the infamous Cassandra Web, I appreciated what she tried to do with her character, but fluent sarcasm wasn’t enough to save her; furthermore, interviews have stated drastic changes had been made to the script after Dakota signed on which seems rather unfair. What we were meant to get is far from what we have seen on screen.
S.J Clarkson is no stranger to the superhero world. Her work has been seen on The Defenders and individually, Jessica Jones. A jump from TV production to directing a film would obviously be an intimidating but exciting opportunity. Her credibility extends past Marvel which should see her have no problem with this film however all we seem to have are problems.
I personally try to find the best in any movie I watch no matter how bad it can be perceived and yet; I’m struggling with this one. Admittedly it's playlist was fun, the camera work dealt some cool shots, the slow-motion walking from the burning car wreck for one example. A simple but effective image, that’s about it though. It’s unfortunate because Madame Web has the potential to be a big element within the Spiderman Universe and she wasn’t utilised to the best of her ability at all.
Sony’s deal with Marvel Studios which requires them to commence production on one Spiderman film every 5 years has impacted the latest installment fatally. It was missing that wit, heart and charm we love so much in these types of movies. Where was it? It’s become so easy for them to pump out whatever they seem fit just to keep the deal alive. All creativity is lost, the passion is fizzled out, in fact it’s quite sad.
To everyone involved in the film: I’m sorry studio interference butchered the film you worked so hard on. To the executive’s responsible: congratulations on making Morbius look like Citizen Kane. Hand the rights back over to Marvel as soon as possible.
Overall, entertainment can be found within this nonsense. It is in no way the director or the actor’s fault, they’re far from blame. Who is to fault are the writers, who constantly change scripts to benefit the studio that seek profit over quality cinema.
