There is significant hype around the Spider-Man franchise, with it garnering immense popularity for its films. However, the film Madame Web disappointingly fails to live up to the hype and greatly disappoints as a film.
OH senior Christian Acevedo Fuentes comments, “I was very disappointed; based on the trailer, I was expecting a more exciting movie.”
The film was released on Feb. 14, and it was flooded with negative reviews.
“Given how it was produced by Sony and not MCU, which has had an unfortunate track record recently, I had hope, but the film lacked characterization and a sustainable plot,” OH senior Acevedo Fuentes adds.
The film featured Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, the protagonist, alongside Anya Corazon played by Isabela Merced, Mattie Franklin played by Celeste O’Connor, and Julia Carpenter played by Sydney Sweeney.
Madame Web tells the story of a New York City paramedic who discovers her clairvoyance after being in an accident on the job. Her new powers thrust her to face the truth about her mother and her past, along with the quest of protecting three young girls from a masked supervillain.
An essential narrative thread lies in the exploration of Cassandra’s character, particularly digging into her convoluted past, notably the mystery of her mother and the origins of her powers. This narrative choice effectively connects the dots
between the antagonist and protagonist, adding depth and complexity to their dynamic relationship.
The film primarily focuses on the journey of self-discovery for the protagonist, with less emphasis on action sequences. However, some of the few action scenes are well crafted and add entertainment to the narrative, which sometimes creates commendable cinematography. However, there are several areas that need improvement, contributing to its overall quality.
Senior Elijah Duran comments, “In my opinion, I thought the CGI was good, giving some credit to the film’s overall performance.”
IMDB and Rotten Tomato reviews were horrible, bringing in a 3.8/10 on IMDB and 12% on rotten tomatoes. Compared to the film Spider-Man: No Way Home, which brought in 8.3/10 on IMDB and 93% on rotten tomatoes, the film flopped.
“One of the worst crimes in this particular superhero movie is that there are no superheroes. In a movie where there are supposed to be four different hero’s plus a villain, and also technically Spider-Man, barely any get to show any real powers; they only ever show them in glimpses,” said Emmanuel Hernandez, an employee at Kendall 11 movie theater.
The movie was mediocre at best. When the trailer was first released, the audience had low expectations, but at least expected a collaboration between the spider heroines. However, the film disappointed in that department. It left much to be desired, which influenced the overall quality of the film.
In the end, Madame Web was one of the greatest let downs in Spider-Man film history, full of incoherent plot lines and dispassionate acting. At best, this film is a dentist lobby movie.
