REVIEW:
Believe it or not, Madame Web isn’t terrible. It’s not even all that bad. Now, it’s also far from good, but the movie definitely has it’s merits and it’s moments. It’s a B movie to be sure, and on that note it is actually better than many other B movies in the superhero / action genre including some by Marvel (in particular, the Marvels,) Fast and the Furious 9 (the John Cena is a villain movie where Roman goes to space,) and even Birds of Prey, the Harley Quinn movie, Unlike those films which try too hard in the wrong direction, Madame Web doesn’t try too hard and that’a actually a good thing.
It has a good amount going on, including a story about Amazonian Spider People who crawl up trees and cover themselves with vines, but unlike other movies that might make this a whole long subplot, exploring the world of these people, Madame Web handles them pretty quickly. And the movies run time, coming in at an hour and forty minutes, is something to be commended. Shorter is better. Don’t hold your audience captive, but instead keep things moving, energetic, and to the point.
So let’s talk about what works and what doesn’t. The acting isn’t great by any means. And neither is the dialogue. It’s not laughable or cringe-worthy, but it’s just clunky. And that’s okay. If treated like a B movie, that we’re just having fun with, it’s fine. The story about how this woman can see the future before it happens is right out of Final Destination, and that’s kind of cool. Those movies are always compelling and spooky because of the character sees and how we think it’s real only to learn that it’s not. When it comes to fake outs, this is a far better way to do it to the audience then all of the movies that kill a character (or multiple characters,) only to have them come back to life later in the film, (I’m looking at you Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.)
The villain is nothing special at all, but he’s fine. I’ve heard multiple reports about how his dialogue was all ADRd, which means recorded in a sound booth by another actor, and not on the day of shooting. This is not really noticeable and doesn’t get in the way of the movie. What does is the action. It’s not very good. Starting with the first time we see the villain in his costume, when the girls look up and he’s just crawling on the ceiling towards them, it looks incredibly goofy. And that’s part of the fun. How ridiculous it is. They even comment on it, “is anyone seeing this?”
The movie doesn’t seem to want to show us anything up close, not the villain in his costume, nor the Spider People in their red skin covered in vines thing, and that’s got to be intentional. Perhaps it knows that these characters would look silly up close and so it strategically hides them, That being said, just a few more minutes of showing us something about the villain’s costume, like how he developed it or why he chose that style, would have gone a long way.
The story here is fine. Madame Web gets the power to see things before they happen, and she sees a madman who keeps coming after these girls, trying to kill them. So she takes it upon herself to protect them. We get plenty of back story for each girl as to why their parents can’t protect them, and while the backstory is all kind of forced, it also works. It is certainly better than not having the backstory at all, and being left wondering these things.
Another thing that works is all of the Easter Eggs to Spider Man. From having Ben Parker (Uncle Ben,) in the movie to seeing the moment where he becomes an Uncle, (when Peter is born, although the baby is never named here.) There are jokes like how Ben likes being an Uncle who gets to be around the baby but doesn’t have the responsibility, because of course we know that later in life he and Aunt May become the caretakers of Peter. And speaking of responsibility, this movie even gets in a take on the iconic line. This version here is “when you take on the responsibility, great power will come.” Talk about reversing it, and still making the pieces it fit.
So how does this movie really go wrong? Two big things. First is its use of Sydney Sweeney. This actress is at the top of her game right now as far as appeal. Men are crazy about her. And what does the movie do? Dumb down her looks. It puts her in thick glasses, dresses her all buttoned up throughout the film, and makes her a prude. I understand that this movie was made by a female director, and they probably didn’t want to exploit her sexuality in any way, going for feminism and girl power and all of those things, but if you want people to come, you have to play the game. And Sweeney is clearly comfortable with what she’s got, (just look at her SNL episode where she plays a waitress at Hooters, as well as a few other choice skits.)
The other way the movie goes wrong is with the action. They really should have hired a good action choreographer. The settings of the action scenes are fine, (the end takes place at an abandoned fireworks factory – they say it’s full of explosives,) which is incredibly goofy, but also kind of fun. Especially when you see that it’s on the island bordering Manhattan with that giant Pepsi Cola sign that’s in all the 4th of July Macy’s Fireworks Shows. The movie probably should have dropped a line about that to help explain all the fireworks. There are definitely action moments that feel dumb here (Madame Web drives an ambulance through a building somehow knowing exactly where to come out on the second floor so that when the ambulance lands on the street it will land on top of the villain.) But for the most part this movie isn’t bad. It’s B movie fun. And yes, it has plenty of flaws. But it also has enough appeal to make it somewhat enjoyable.