I had high hopes for Madame Web, Marvel’s newest installment in their fantasy multiverse. Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Tahar Rahim, the movie centers around Cassandra Webb (played by Johnson), a New York paramedic who shows signs of clairvoyance. She learns to use this ability to change the future for the better, and her path crosses with three teenage girls whose futures happen to fall into Webb’s hands. The movie follows the four characters as they attempt to escape a menacing adversary connected to Webb’s past.
Webb uncovers the truth about her mother, who died during childbirth while searching the jungles of Peru for a rare spider said to have healing properties. Ezekiel Sims (played by Rahim) was a part of the mission, and he claimed the spider for himself, evidently betraying the team and leaving Webb’s mother to die. The plot follows Ezekiel’s quest for vengeance as he attempts to murder the three teenagers for fear of the trio destroying his own future.
Although the storyline was compelling, I thought the overall production of the film lacked quality and it didn’t meet the standards that I held the Marvel franchise to. Quite frankly, the production looked cheap. I also felt that there was so much more potential for character development in each of the main characters, and the producers just didn’t take advantage of the incredible cast and storyline. The scriptwriting also didn’t quite hit the mark. There were several lines that left me cringing, and some of the humor was untimely in my opinion.
My guest Grace echoed similar thoughts. “I feel that for a cast that had a lot of potential, the script writing was poor, the scene design was abysmal, the movie focused on the wrong scenes (giving little attention to potentially interesting plot points), and the character development was rushed for the main character and practically nonexistent for the others. We leave the movie knowing no more about the three young future spider women other than their main personality traits (smart, kind, and rowdy) and their parents’ absence from their lives. This is nowhere near enough to make me actually care about them,” she expressed.
Overall, this installment of the Marvel franchise didn’t meet my expectations, and I feel like other Marvel fans would leave theaters disappointed in a wasted plot and cast. I wouldn’t recommend this film to Marvel fans, but if you have two hours to spare and are looking for an action-filled, sci-fi movie then this is for you.
Movie Times: click here for showtimes
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Run Time: 1 hour 54 minutes
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Tahar Rahim
Rating: PG-13
