REVIEW -- Madame Web (2024)

Madame Web is a 2024 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name. Produced by Columbia Pictures and Di Bonaventura Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment and TSG Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the fourth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The film was directed by S. J. Clarkson (in her feature directorial debut) from a screenplay she co-wrote with Claire Parker and the writing team of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. It stars Dakota Johnson in the title role, alongside Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott. The film serves as the titular character's origin story and involves Cassie Webb (Johnson) confronting her past while trying to save three young women and their futures from Ezekiel Sims (Rahim).

Sony began development on a Madame Web film for its shared universe by September 2019, with Sazama and Sharpless hired to write the script. Clarkson joined as director in May 2020, while Johnson was cast in early 2022. This was followed by additional castings in the following months, particularly for the three Spider-Women characters, played by Sweeney, O'Connor, and Merced. Filming began in mid-July 2022 and wrapped before the end of the year, occurring throughout Massachusetts, including Boston, and in New York City. Clarkson and Parker's involvement as writers was revealed in November 2023. Johan Söderqvist, a frequent collaborator of Clarkson, was hired to compose the film's score.

Madame Web premiered at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles on February 12, 2024, and was released in the United States on February 14. The film became a box-office disaster, grossing $78 million worldwide against a budget of $80 million, and was panned by critics, being described as an "embarrassing mess".

Cast

• Dakota Johnson as Cassandra "Cassie" Webb / Madame Web

• Sydney Sweeney as Julia Cornwall

• Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon

• Celeste O'Connor as Mattie Franklin

• Tahar Rahim as Ezekiel Sims

• Mike Epps as O'Neil

• Emma Roberts as Mary Parker

• Adam Scott as Ben Parker

• Kerry Bishé as Constance Webb

• Zosia Mamet as Amaria

• José María Yazpik as Santiago

Additionally, Jill Hennessy appears as an NSA agent seduced by Sims, Josh Drennen plays Julia's father, while Yuma Feldman plays her step-brother, and Kathy-Ann Hart portrays O'Neil's wife, Susan. The birth of Peter Parker is depicted in the film with an uncredited infant actor portraying the character.

Plot

In 1973 in the jungles of Peru, a research team led by Ezekiel Sims and his pregnant partner Constance Webb discovers an unidentified species of spider with rare healing properties. Ezekiel betrays the team and claims the spider for himself before leaving Constance for dead. An indigenous tribe attempts to save Constance, but she dies shortly after giving birth to Cassandra.

In 2003, Cassandra, going by "Cassie", works as a paramedic in New York alongside her co-workers Benjamin "Ben" Parker and O'Neil. During a dangerous call, Cassie falls into the water and has a near-death experience. Ben revives her but she begins to experience visions. Initially, she dismisses them as déjà vu, but after failing to prevent O'Neil's death, Cassie realizes that she can see into the future.

Ezekiel, who has limited precognition power and enhanced physical abilities, collects information on three young women: Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazon, and Mattie Franklin. His visions lead him to believe that they are destined to kill him. Cassie is also drawn to the same women and intervenes to stop Ezekiel from ambushing them at Grand Central Station. She steals a taxi and takes Julia, Anya, and Mattie out of the city to hide them in a nearby forest. Cassie returns to her apartment and finds Constance's notes, which reveal Ezekiel's identity and the true nature of his powers. Ignoring Cassie's instructions, the girls go to a diner where Ezekiel finds them. After briefly incapacitating Ezekiel by ramming him with the car, Cassie takes the girls back to Queens and they take refuge in Ben's house.

Cassie flies to Peru and tracks down the tribal chief who saved her mother. The chief puts Cassie through a ritual that separates her soul from her body. She experiences a plane of higher consciousness where all living things are connected and where every possible future can be seen. She learns that Constance sought the spider to save her from a fatal hereditary disease.

Ben's pregnant sister-in-law Mary goes into labor and he takes her to the hospital, along with the girls. Ezekiel intercepts them again, but Cassie rescues the girls in an ambulance and distracts Ezekiel so Ben and Mary can escape. The group lures Ezekiel to a condemned firework factory and sets up traps to disorient him while Cassie calls for a medical evacuation helicopter to fly to their location. Ezekiel destroys the helicopter and separates the girls, then taunts Cassie with Constance's death.

By tapping into the Web of Life, Cassie guides the girls to safety. She sets off the final trap, which fatally crushes Ezekiel. An ignited firework strikes Cassie in the face, blinding her. Cassie is taken to the hospital just as Mary gives birth to her son.

Cassie wakes up to discover that she is now blind and paraplegic due to her injuries. However, her connection to the Web of Life enables her to see fully into the future. Cassie assures the girls that she will mentor them in their future roles when the time comes.

Here's my biggest problem with this film. You know that big scene that was advertised in the marketing of this film that teased the debuts of three Spider-Women appearing in this film? Oh that never actually happens. It's just a premonition of the future that Ezekiel Sims sees at the start of the film in dream and later Cassandra "Cassie" Webb sees at the end that is recycled and reused on several occasions in this film. It's a tease for a Spider-Women film that will NEVER see the light of day given the reception of this film. For the record, I thought it was cruel for this film to hinge completely on that minor tease when it wasn't going to play out in this film in the least. As a result, you have a superhero film without any costumed superheroes that was built entirely from its marketing as a lie. This entire film expected to draw the masses into the theater upon false pretenses to begin with and for that reason alone, I don't blame people for vocalizing their massive distaste for this film as not many people are going to like being lied to.

Narratively speaking, it's that very same vision of the future that sets the events of this film in motion as Ezekiel sees this vision and sees his own death at the hands of these three costumed Spider-Women. He just miraculously comes across experimental government technology (from the early 2000s no less) that conveniently has facial recognition software that can identify and locate the three women from his dream. Here's the first problem there. How could he dump his memories into this device and what software were they using to de-age those women into their teenage equivalents unmasked when he had no idea how they would look without their masks? That right there is a lot to ask your audience to buy into right off the bat, especially if the whole tribe of people with spider powers that AREN'T Spider-Man that no one knows about are still a thing of mystery in this continuity. 

Cassie's mom, Constance, was fatally wounded by Ezekiel after finding one of the special spiders that would grant these unique abilities, but that same tribe of spider people tried to save her life, only for Constance to die during child birth. For some reason, this film makes it a thing that Cassie is under the impression that her mom hated her and that's why she was left in the foster system her entire life, despite having all of her notes and research on the rare spiders, along with the fact that Constance died during child birth. I didn't understand this writing, much like a lot of this film, where it just shoehorned this attitude into Cassie just to justify her "lone wolf" mentality. She looks out just for herself and doesn't want to help anyone else, but ironically chose a profession where she has to save people on a regular basis as a paramedic. Yeah, this shit is already not adding up at all. 

The film would later make a point after Cassie visits Peru to gain a better understanding of her powers to reveal that Constance didn't hate Cassie, but was risking her life to further her research on the mysterious spiders as she sought them out as a cure to the fatal hereditary disease that Cassie would have been born with otherwise. I thought that was a tad touching but couldn't have Constance left her daughter a note to explain all of this in the event that she didn't make it from her trip? To say that all of her extensive research made it into Cassie's possession, it came across as more lazy writing not to have Constance journaling about this research that was so important to her and why she was doing it. 

The core issue with Ezekiel Sims being centered as the titular antagonist in this is the fact this film never bothers to inform the viewers why are the Spider-Women trying to kill him in the future and why is he so laser-focused in being justified in his actions as if killing those three young women are going to stop the machines from taking over the world like he is the Spider-Man equivalent of John Connor in the Terminator franchise. Even when he was gunning down Constance and the witnesses when he obtained the Peruvian spider, he boasted reasons there that could be interpreted as heroic given the circumstances. As a result, the audience is left confused about whether this guy is a bad guy or just a desperate one trying to survive by any means necessary. He does infect that NSA agent with his toxic venom that allegedly only paralyzed her and we just see him knock out those police officers on the subway, but never anything completely fatal. Sims' own assistant who was tracking the girls via the facial recognition software didn't question his motives in the least, so that's yet another plot hole since she goes along with helping him without any resistance. She kept following his orders without question. Here I thought she was going to have a change of heart or something by the end of the film, but nope. It comes across as if the film completely forgot she existed by the time this was over. 

I should go on record and state that I don't believe that these films are restricted nor banned from mentioning Peter Parker/Spider-Man. For Christ's sake, Sony currently owns the film rights to the character for crying out loud. Marvel Studios are trying to get it back from them. It's nothing like that, nor is this film "ashamed" of its comic book history and origins. There's numerous occasions in this film where it blatantly points them out actually, whether it's from the tongue-in-cheek references to the three girls' history to Cassie's snarky remarks to Ben as if they are doing a "wink, wink, nod, nod" to the audience. 

That line from Cassie asking Ben jokingly that he doesn't want to get shot in Queens was both cringe and hilarious at the same time if that's even possible. I was in disbelief that she actually even said that. That's not even the only occasion where this film has some questionable dialogue too as if it was written by some sort of an algorithm. Hmmm... I wouldn't be surprised if the information comes out that this film had some sort of AI-written revisions/rewrites to the script's dialogue.  

Cassie's powers first manifest after she suffers a near-death experience early into this film, conveniently before Ezekiel starts hunting down these three teenagers, and starts having pre-emptive visions. This was where I thought the film had some promise. If they leaned into more of the Final Destination (with a sprinkle of The Butterfly Effect) vibe they initially teased in the trailers and stuff with Cassie's powers, I think this could have worked for the better, especially for something like this that shouldn't demand the use of many visual effects or sophisticated fight choreography and/or stunts. I think this film should have leaned more into that instead of devolving into whatever mess this end result turned out to be. 

Cassie is a horrible guardian/protector of sorts to these three young women. She starts off half-assing her way as a reluctant protector when Ezekiel first comes after them, only to leave them stranded in the woods without any food nor supervision while she goes home to review her mother's notes. Mind you, Ezekiel is tracking them via facial recognition software, but no one bothers to track where Cassie is driving around New York in a stolen taxi for majority of this film. Oh, let's not forget that she's a wanted fugitive for allegedly kidnapping those girls after Julia exclaimed that she was abducting them when they first all met on the train. If Ezekiel wasn't looking for her, then people around the city should have been leery of her presence too. Just look at how fast that one guy in the diner called the police after recognizing those three girls showing up there. 

Speaking of Ben, he doesn't question Cassie at all in the least when she calls him and asks him to watch over those three girls while she decides to hop on a plane and venture off to Peru. Ezekiel didn't even bother following her there either to stop her from getting that convenient exposition dump explaining her origins and powers that they have both manifested. Ben just goes along with it and pretty much serves as an accomplice to Cassie's alleged kidnapping if he were to get caught. And why the fuck does this Ezekiel guy have a Spider-Man-style costume in the first goddamn place??

When Cassie comes back from Peru with the newfound knowledge about her powers, she's on a next level in terms of predicting the future and manipulating actions to her factor. It's to the point where even the girls make jokes about it. Cassie is on some Jedi mind trick level fuckery in that last act in terms of mastery over her powers. It's just too bad that it's presented in a low budget fashion in terms of effects and cinematography. 

I feel that this is the pivotal misstep/mistake that this film made in terms of Cassie's powers. Even after her mastery over them, this film nor the audience have any coherent idea of what exactly is the full extent of her powers outside of a few throwaway lines of dialogue, with the biggest eye roll-inducing moment is her splitting into multiple clones of herself to rescue and guide the three girls out of the harm's way within the ruined building. This film should have taken the time to have more "fun" with the idea of Cassie having more trial and error over how she approaches these tasks with her foresight instead of just magically obtaining this knowledge without any difficulty nor resistance. For clarification, I'm thinking more along the lines of Dr. Strange using the Time Stone in the original Doctor Strange film to "bargain" with Dormmamu and dying and restarting that battle infinitely with different angles and mastery of said powers until Dormmamu forfeit the duel since he didn't want to be locked into this cycle for all time. Cassie should have been able to attempt and replay sequences, such as her fight with Ezekiel in the diner more than once or twice and deduce a different approach until successful for her and the girls' survival instead of just miraculously having the answer at every turn. It robbed this film of any sort of imagination or wonder with Cassie's powers and made this film even more one-dimensional and boring. 

Cassie ends up defeating and killing Ezekiel, not in a fist fight but simply luring him in the way of a falling Pepsi sign that squashes him like the bug he is, only for Cassie to get blinded and injured from the exploding debris in that same building. How stupid was that to see that she was manipulating all of this shit to save everyone else from harm, but she couldn't do the same to save herself from harm? Talk about a lame super power. 

The three young women that Ezekiel is desperately trying to kill in the present before they could do so in the future are Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazon, and Mattie Franklin - all three different Spider-Women at various points of the Marvel Comics mythos. Julia Cornwall, portrayed by the smokin' hot Sydney Sweeney, is strangely renamed from her comic book-counterpart, Julia Carpenter, who is known as the second woman to take the Spider-Woman moniker following Jessica Drew. If I were to take an educated guess, Sony decided to go with her maiden name before marrying Larry Carpenter in the comics. Anya Corazon (portrayed by Isabela Merced) was known as the first Araña and then as the third Spider-Girl in the comics continuity. In Marvel Comics, Martha "Mattie" Franklin (portrayed here by Celeste O'Connor) is the niece of J. Jonah Jameson (she hints at this in the film actually) and is the third character to be called Spider-Woman.

(Busts out laughing) One look at Sydney Sweeney in that Catholic school girl outfit and I can EASILY see why guys were caught jerking themselves off to her during screenings of this film. The biggest casualty of this film is that she was cast in this film and probably be so soured from the experience of doing a superhero film that she wouldn't want to be cast in this genre ever again. 

Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing these three young women cast in a proper origin story for their superhero careers instead of whatever this film was supposed to be. 

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Don't get it confused. You're not reading a typo above nor is there anything up for debate. I repeat - this is not a film I could recommend to anyone in good conscience. And it's not a film that anyone asked for. The cast couldn't save this film either, despite the fact it looked like they were miserable filming it at various occasions of the film. Sony Pictures failed this project the moment this not so bright idea was greenlit and the screenplay was approved to put this into production. 

To make a long story short, don't waste your precious free time nor well-earned cash checking this one out in the theaters. I checked out and reviewed this stinker for you wouldn't have to. If you have any desire whatsoever to see a great Madame Web adaptation, go revisit Spider-Man: The Animated Series.