MADAME WEB reviewed by GREG KING
Director: S J Clarkson
Stars: Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, Sydney Sweeney, Tahir Rahim, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Zosia Mamet, Emma Roberts, Kerry Bishe, Mike Epps, Jill Hennessy.
Sony’s Spiderman series of movies has always been the most consistent and enjoyable franchise within the Marvel comic universe, although the spinoff movies based around minor characters from the comics – including Venom and Morbius – have been something of a disappointment. And that holds true for Madame Web, the latest spinoff from the Spiderman universe. Madame Web gives us an origins story behind the character created in 1980 by Denny O’Neil and John Romita jr.
But, as scripted by Matt Samza and Burk Sharpless (Morbius, etc) and Claire Parker, this is a disappointing and messy female centric superhero movie that lacks much in the way of originality. And much like the recent box office flop The Marvels, it also lacks broader appeal to the typical superhero fanbase. Some willing suspension of disbelief is required here as well. And here the central character is vastly different from the character depicted in the comic books where she was a blind, wheelchair bound older woman who occasionally gave Spiderman some timely assistance.
It is the year 2003. Cassandra Webb (played by Dakota Johnson, from the Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy, etc) is an aloof New York paramedic who survives a near fatal accident only to discover that she now has clairvoyant powers and can see into the not-too-distant future. This somehow leads her to three teenage girls who are in danger from a mysterious adversary who also has superpowers that, like Spiderman himself, give him strength and the ability to scale buildings and leap athletically across the city.
He is Ezekiel Sims (played by French actor Tahir Rahim, from A Prophet, etc) who has a connection to Cassandra’s own scientist mother Constance (Kerry Bishe), who, thirty years earlier, died during childbirth while in the Amazon. She was searching for a rare spider that apparently contained special healing powers. Sims was her guide through the jungle but then he betrayed her to take possession of the spider, which has given him incredible strength and speed. For some reason he has dreams in which three young, masked women track him down and kill him. He decides to take proactive action to ensure this never happens and he is not particular whom he has to kill along the way.
With the help of his computer savvy assistant Amaria (Zosia Mamet) Sims is able to identify the girls and track them down. The way his assistant is able to use a use a computer to harness the power of the world wide web for facial identification, to change and control traffic lights and perform other tasks is a symptom of the lazy writing that shapes many of these movies.
As with most other superhero movies Cassandra has to learn how to control her powers and use them effectively, but she initially seems reluctant to face her destiny. But there is an inconsistency in her ability to see into the future – sometimes she can see a minute or so into the future and at other times she can see an hour or so into the future.
Of course, there is initially some friction between her and the three girls who have trouble believing Cassandra can see into the future until she rescues them from an attack by Sims in a diner. The three girls are the mousey Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney, recently seen in the romcom Anyone But You, etc), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced, from Dora The Explorer, etc), and the aggressive and angry Mattie Franklin (Kenyan born actress Celeste O’Connor from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, etc), all of whom are awkward, self-centred teens dealing with complex personal and emotional issues such as loneliness, alienation and neglect. They soon consider Cassandra the maternal and protective figure that is missing in their own lives, thus forcing her out of her personal comfort zone. She eventually becomes something of a mentor to the three girls, shaping their lives and giving them a positive direction.
Madame Web marks the feature film directorial debut for S J Clarkson, a British born filmmaker who hails from a background in television having helmed episode of tv series including House, Dexter, and EastEnders, etc. Her handling of the material is effective enough as she brings some energy to the key action sequences, but the film is tonally uneven. As usual the final confrontation is destructive but also somewhat messy, noisy and chaotic, and some of the clunkily staged key scenes are dwarfed by the special effects and shoddy green screen effects. Much of the action takes place at night, which gives the material a murky visual quality. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore, who shot the superior Spiderman: No Way Home, makes good use of the dark settings to enhance the atmosphere.
For the most part though the performances of the cast lack enthusiasm. Johnson displays a lack of enthusiasm for her character, and this is reflected in her performance. Adam Scott is largely wasted as Ben Parker, Cassandra’s paramedic partner, as is Emma Roberts as his heavily pregnant sister-in-law. As for Rahim, his performance is rather disengaged and for a villain he lacks personality and really fails to leave much of an impression.
Unlike most superhero movies, there is not even a post-credits teaser here, but there is plenty of gratuitous product placement (hello Pepsi, Calvin Klein, etc). On the positive side, the film does feature an impressive soundtrack of late 90s pop tracks including The Cranberries, Deep Blue Something, Meredith Books, 4 Non Blondes, Tiffany, and even Briteny Spears.
Given the recent failure of many superhero movies to fire up at the box office, it is hard to see the underwhelming and soulless Madame Web leading to any further sequels or expansions of the Spiderman universe. Especially given the lacklustre display here from this troubled production which has seen most references to the Spiderman canon excised during post-production. And for those who pay attention to such things, Madame Web has attracted a dismal score of just 13% on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate site.
★★☆
