Marvel and Sony’s latest spider-verse movie takes a swing at a new approach but misses the mark massively with “Madame Web.”
Dakota Johnson leads a predominantly female cast in a messy and confusing plot that can’t decide which spider-man universe it’s a part of.
Playing a paramedic, Johnson gains the ability to see into the future after a near death experience. This leads to her protecting the other three leads, following a vision that results in their death.
There’s no spider bite, wall crawling, building jumping or web swinging combat. Fans expecting action are better off revisiting Johnson’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy.
The film fails to answer whether it takes place in Tobey McGuire, Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland’s Spider-verse. By the end of the film, I was glad this story exists in none of them.
Despite what the trailer leads the audience to believe, Johnson and the other female leads only embrace their inner spider-woman and their costumes for a brief amount of time.
Sydney Sweeney, playing Julia Carpenter, is forced to wear what looks like an orange Party City wig that nobody bothered to detangle.
The directors attempted to have fun cameos with people like Emma Roberts as a pregnant Mary Parker. Unfortunately, they seem to forget her halfway through and her part feels like a wasted addition.
Johnson and Sweeney do their best to save the film, but the script feels like an AI generated project from a filmmaker forced to make a superhero movie.
Amid this chaos, the villain, played by Tahar Rahim, becomes forgettable. It feels like he was added post production during reshoots.
The film’s climax leaves multiple unanswered questions and the stakes feel low. There’s a lot of fireworks, literally, but the flames fizzle quickly.
What was supposed to kickstart a new superhero franchise, fails miserably. In an interview with Bustle, Johnson admits fans will probably never see Madame Web again.
“I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now,” Johnson said.
“Madame Web” misses its mark as a promising addition to the Spider-Verse, leaving both fans and its talented cast questioning its place in the superhero cinematic universe.
