Madame Web

Madame Web Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tahar Rahim, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Adam Scott, Emma Roberts, Kerry Bishe

Director: S. J. Clarkson

What’s Good: The build-up

What’s Bad: Boring characters, weak script

Loo Break: You can take as many as you want, and the story will still struggle to make good progress

Watch or Not?: Only if you love Dakota Johnson blindly and are okay with watching her perform poorly

Language: English

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 116 minutes

User Rating:

In the 1970s, a pregnant Constance Webb (Kerry Bishe) and her colleague Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) are in the Amazon forest, looking for a rare species of spider that could cure many diseases. However, Ezekiel betrays Constance, leaving her harmed in the jungle. The members of Las Arañas help Constance give birth to Cassandra/Cassie (Dakota Johnson) while she dies during childbirth. The story then shifts to 2003, where Cassie works as a Paramedic.

Cassie is alone and living carelessly, until her psychic abilities as a clairvoyant bother her. It becomes her mission to save Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) from Ezekiel. In those 2 hours, we see how Cassie understands her powers and how she saves the three girls from the big threat.

Madame Web Movie Review: Script Analysis

Madame Web has a decent start as it builds up the curiosity about Cassie’s world. You enjoy seeing her in work mode and feeling confused with the visions she keeps getting. However, when the villain Ezekiel is reintroduced, and the three girls come into the picture, it felt like screenwriters Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, and S.J. Clarkson needed help figuring out how to move ahead with the story

The superhero saga lacks seriousness and dedication. The villain has no motive. You just have to believe Cassie will save those three girls, and Ezekiel will do anything to stop them. But why? We are never told what Ezekiel was doing all these years. Why is he the “big threat” that needs to be killed? Why are those specific 3 girls chosen? All we know is everything that happened in the last hour is frustrating—the narrative moves with a lot of convenience. The bad guy gets whatever he wants easily. Cassie, who becomes a wanted person, can drive from one place to another or fly from one country to another without getting caught even once.

We have seen the issue happen with a lot of MCU movies. However, even Sony Pictures resorted to this level of simplicity to turn everything in the favour of their superheroes. The entire fight sequence in the end is a big mess and comical. The absence of determination is seen in the execution and the actors’ performances.

Madame Web Movie Review: Star Performance

Every actor in the movie lacked conviction in their performances. Dakota Johnson as Cassie is her weakest performance. Dakota’s expressionless face and lack of depth and emotions in “revelation” scenes make you wonder if the actor herself takes the movie seriously or not. Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor play girls because of whom the entire film runs for another hour. But none are striking on screen or delivered a “wow” moment. Tahar Rahim, as Ezekiel had all the potential to be a threatening villain. The actor is decent in whatever average writing his character had. Still, he deserved better.