Review: 'Madame Web' is visions & more visions; if only there was a clearer vision on making the film better!

Madame Web

No, no, Marvel cannot wash their hands off this trainwreck; they are very much 'associated' and responsible for the muddling mess that is the film Madame Webb, starring Dakota Johnson in the titular role. It is now funny just how one Marvel movie after another continues to be worse and worse, but Madame Webb is a new benchmark for just how convoluted and unclear the studio and the makers attached to several projects seem to be. Even though this isn't directly a Marvel film, it comes from the world with a character that is actually so fascinating but made into a snoozefest. While that should be enough to tell just how bad is Madame Webb, having had the chance to see the film beforehand, here is what I actually thought about it and if, at all, there were any redeeming qualities-

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Visions, Visions & More Visions But No Vision with the Screenplay

The intriguing part about Madame Webb is that it actually starts off really well and even has a decent 40-odd minutes of story-building. Right from the little backstory of the Amazon Peruvian Rainforest, a bad guy stealing the spider and a girl being born to growing up and being a paramedic and then her gradual realisation of things made up for some fun and campy sequences for a while. However, if is after this that the bar goes lower and lower, especially when the tool of your protagonist having visions into the future gets more and more repetitive. I get it. That is what her 'power' is, but it is such a tricky tool, and director SJ Clarkson doesn't seem to understand how to effectively use it. One train sequence of Cassie (Johnson) having a vision, then the same vision and then the same vision is an example of how the intention is understood, but the execution remains sloppy.

Another Shoddy and Dumbed Villain Portrayal

And with the word sloppy - well, that would be an understatement to describe one of the most dismally portrayed villains of all time - Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim). The streak for Marvel in dumbing and not-knowing-what-to-do with their antagonists continues and somehow, it has only gotten even more abysmal than you can think. What did he actually do with that stolen spider for over 30 years? What was the power that he so desperately needed? That and so many other questions are forgotten as it only ends up being about Sims hunting down three teenage girls, of whom he had a vision that they would kill him. To make your central plot and main conflict such a wafer-thin idea is a perplexing decision to work on. Also, why these three girls? That is never explained, either. Then comes the three girls (Sydney Sweeney as Julia, Isabela Merced as Anya, and Celeste O'Connor as Mattie) and Johnson herself. There are flickers of genuine chemistry between the four women, but that is few and far away. But owing to not having enough backstory and not having much character development, the girls appear rather underwhelming. And Dakota Johnson! What is with her lack of being able to emote? Apart from looking beautiful on-screen and having a few good punchline jokes, Johnson lacks such an ability to emote here, especially with the moments involving anger, compassion and even the big realisation moment. Such a pity!

The Verdict

The sheer loss of effort is so palpable on-screen here, where it seems like the makers and the entire team involved also lost interest and just did it for the sake of it. The state of Marvel and their future projects being in question marks couldn't have been more pronounced than the fact that Madame Web doesn't have any mid-credit or post-credit scene. And this makes sense, too, knowing just how uncertain everything looks with their future slate. Madame Webb is the kind of recipe for disaster that you hope and pray doesn't happen in spite of having all the ingredients for it because you see promise. However, it keeps getting worse. The film releases in theatres today.

Rating - *1/2 (1.5/5)