Sony collaborated with Marvel on the first superhero movie of 2024, Madame Web. The movie premiered in Los Angeles on February 12th and is now playing in theatres nationwide. Madame Web is the superhero movie to kick off the year. Here is what you need to know about it.
Madame Web is originally a comic book character from the 1980s. She’s clairvoyant, meaning she can see into the
future while sitting on a life support device that looks like a chair. Dakota Johnson plays Casandra “Cassie” Web, the main character, who is a young paramedic working in New York City. She does not know having any superpowers.
Throughout the movie, Cassie finds her strength and takes in three young women played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor, who are all versions of Spider-Women. The villain, Ezekiel Sims, knew Cassie’s mother and did research with her in the jungle. He ran off with a powerful spider that would have saved her mother from a disease, and taking it gave Ezekiel powers of his own. He sees visions of the three young spider-women killing him so he tries to beat them to the punch but fails when they are taken under the wing of Cassie with a promise of mentorship.
When you think of superheroes you think of action sequences, fighting, gorgeous costumes, and a good villain. Madame Web is lacking in all of it, when there are action sequences they don’t hold your attention, you barely see the girls in their costumes, and the villain’s main goal is just to kill them because he thinks that’s their destiny.
Many people who viewed the movie agree that Madame Web is not one of Marvels’ best movies. It has a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 2.6 stars out of 5. Overall, most, if not all, of the movie reviews are negative. A writer from Variety feels that “The script is confusing, the action stale and the visual effects cheap.” viewers commonly share this sentiment and not many have any ways to defend it. People are struggling to find things to like about this movie, though one specific actress sticks out when it comes to the press tour.
Dakota Johnson, a talented actress best known for her main role in Fifty Shades Of Gray, has mixed feelings about the movie and isn’t afraid to show it. From the film’s content to the other actresses, she has been sure to share her experiences. For example, Johson states, “The 3 of them really bonded and then there was me” expressing how her age separated her from her younger costars as well as how they annoyed her. She also admitted to not having watched the movie and leaving during the premiere to get dinner instead. She was worried it wouldn’t be good after so much editing and cuts the production team made. The worst part about this situation is that people find Johnsons’ interviews more entertaining than the movie itself.
Madame Web has been in theaters for two weekends and grossed $77 million globally and $26 million domestically. This may sound like a lot however, it was one of the lowest starts for a film based on a Marvel character. There are many more superhero movies planned to be released in 2024, so let us hope they all are better than this one.
