Superhero movies as of late have been struggling to attract people’s attention, especially after the end of Avengers: Endgame. Every new superhero movie release gets low grosses, regardless of whether it is from Marvel or DC. The new superhero movie involving the Spider-Verse, Madame Web only continued the trend, instead of reviving the series.

Premise

Madame Web follows the story of Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Webb, a paramedic who after being involved in an unfortunate accident during a rescue mission, gained the power to look into the future. With her newfound powers, she tries to save three teenagers: Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazon, and Mattir Franklin, who are being hunted by a Spider-Man who is willing to do anything to kill them.

A Tangled Mess of Storytelling

While the premise for the story seems reasonable, much like any superhero movie, the way it was presented in Madame Web was anything but that. 

Sitting through the entire movie, we couldn’t even figure out what was the main point the story was trying to convey. Yes, we know that this is supposed to be like an origin story for Madame Web, but the way it was delivered was terrible.

The film’s main antagonist, Ezekiel Sims, also lacks a strong motivation to justify his evil intentions. Even until the end of the movie, the reason why he was obsessed with the powerful spider was never made clear. The only thing we know is that he wants to escape the future which shows that he will be killed by the three Spider-Women.

Adding to that, the story did not give any sense of mystery to the three Spider-Women that showed up in Ezekiel’s dream. All it took was using the NSA’s advanced technology and boom, their identities were revealed. Funnily enough, the 3 Spider-Women didn’t even know what made them fall prey to Ezekiel until the end of the movie. 

To add insult to injury, we only get to see the three Spider-Women in action at the beginning and ending of the movie, which is a total of less than 10 minutes. Not to mention that there were no post-credit scenes for the movie, which makes teasing them feel like a big letdown. The superhero suit for Cassie also only shows up in the last few minutes of the movie, instead of being used in the final fight.

Even without prior knowledge from the comics, the script for Madame Web just seems off. Not to mention that they’ve even reworded the famous quote from Spider-Man, from “‘With great power, comes great responsibility”, to “When you take on the responsibility, great power will come.” which no longer holds any of the original quote’s meaning.

Looking back, there were many subtle hints and references in the movie that relate to Spider-Man, but those never get any mentions until the end. It feels like cheap fanservice that was only included to get overly hyped fans of Spider-Man to gossip and speculate about.

CGI Fit for the Eyes of a Spider

As for the CGI for the film, the movie feels like a project from a small indie studio, not what you expect from a multi-million company. Every time Cassie gets a hint of what is happening in the future, it feels like you’re watching Final Destination again, with lights flashing all over the place, effects that date back to the 2000s.

The movie also plays around a lot with the camera movement, especially with zoom-in and zoom-out effects being constantly used, making the movie nauseating to watch. Which makes us feel like we are watching Tamil movies which are infamous for such camera movements.

A Call Back to Form

It feels like it’s time for filmmakers to look for those who know the source material to produce a film. Looking back at recent titles, there have been so many similar adaptations that end up making the audience feel disappointed, especially those who are fans familiar with the source material.

If the filmmakers were really serious about introducing Madame Web, it would’ve been better to focus on Madame Web instead of involving the other Spider-Women who end up not being important to the movie. As for the antagonist, Marvel really ought to just introduce a better antagonist that has a stronger motivation. With how plain Ezekiel was, coupled with how easily he was defeated in the movie, there is really no reason for him to return to another entry.

And of course, we can’t leave out the obvious commercialization of the movie. Just one look at the final fight and we can tell that PepsiCo has a partnership with the movie, with a can of the drink standing out like a sore thumb during the scene.

Verdict

With messed-up storytelling and cheap, dated CGI, watching Madame Web is just like being prey to a spider, confusing and frustrating. There are even people comparing the movie with Morbius, with many saying that Morbius was better than what Madame Web had to offer. Morbius at least had a narrative that it follows on its own pace, unlike Madame Web which was all over the place with its storytelling.

We feel that for Madame Web to succeed, the movie needs to stay true to the source material while having a vastly improved storyboard writer, with the story focusing on only the main protagonist instead of shoehorning multiple characters in, only for them to end up as background characters and wasted potential, confusing the audience further. Let’s just hope the next spin-off, Kraven the Hunter, will be able to save Sony’s Spider-Verse from the webs Madame Web tangled it with.