Cinematic Universes are the order of the day in the superhero movie world, but all of them seem to be having problems. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is still trying to find itself post-Infinity War. The DCU is going in for the full reboot treatment, and Sony’s Spider-Manless live-action Spider-Verse, is still running in place. Madame Web the latest entry in the franchise is a movie nobody asked for, and even Sony doesn’t seem sure why it exists.
I was one critic who was…lucky(?) enough to see Madame Web to review, and I just found the movie a complete mess. Despite some potentially interesting characters, none of them are allowed to actually be interesting. Instead, they simply fill out their roles in a trope bingo card. As I said in the Madame Web CinemaBlend review…
Every scene seems to exist to exposit on a character's motivations, give us a character revelation, or provide a setup for something that clearly will need to be paid off later. As a result, none of the dialogue or the protagonists feel natural.
And most critics seem to largely agree with my own sentiment. Germaine Lussier at i09 essentially accuses the movie of a bait and switch, a charge which is entirely merited, as much of what might make Madame Web look interesting isn’t really what the movie is about. He said…
Madame Web is a two-hour trailer for the movie you think you’re watching, but actually aren’t. If that’s confusing, welcome to the world of Madame Web, where everyone—the characters, the actors, the audience, and everyone in between—is confused about basically everything, all of the time.
Variety says that there are some bright spots in the Madame Web cast (including Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeny) and that there is some evidence that the film was trying to be more than it turned out to be. Unfortunately, it never pans out.
By contrast, Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney bring an endearing irreverence to their characters that could be read as camp, if needed. There are signs (loose ends, really) that “Madame Web” wanted to be more ambitious and eccentric than it turned out.
In looking at the different critical reactions I’m trying to find some positive responses, and the ones I’m finding, I’m reasonably certain are meant to be jokes or intentional trolling. There just doesn’t seem to be anybody who found much to like about Madame Web. Though Discussing Film does think the movie is such a mess that it can be fun...
The thing is, though, Madame Web has a lot of surprising merits. We’re just going to get this out of the way now and clarify that this is yet another messy Spider-Man spin-off from Sony, but one that’s actually quite entertaining and dare I say, maybe even a new guilty pleasure?
In the end, there's clearly just not enough here. Several critics indicate the movie feels like a superhero film from decades ago, back when they were almost all bad. IndieWire wonders just who this movie is for...
Madame Web is a superhero movie that feels like it was made by and for people who have never seen a modern superhero movie. In theory, that might have been a blessing in disguise. In practice, only Johnson is able to make it seem that way.
This is certainly not an auspicious start to superhero movies on the 2024 movie schedule. With only one upcoming Marvel movie in the MCU this year and the new DCU still a year away from its official theatrical debut, it's going to be an unusual year for the genre. Hopefully, this isn't a hint at what's to come.
