A woman who has the ability to see the future must protect three teenage girls from a man who is stalking them, because he himself has seen in his future that they will kill him.
Dakota Johnson, who plays the lead role of Madame Webwas recently the host of Saturday Night Live. During her opening monologue, she joked that the feature film “is set in the Marvel universe and also stars Sydney Sweeney, so it’s like artificial intelligence designed the perfect movie for your boyfriend.” .
This is almost a perfect example of “it’s funny because it’s true.”
Director SJ Clarkson’s work – she deserves only part of the blame – is so devoid of soul and joy that it could indeed be the creation of a machine.
Madame Web is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but rather part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), which also includes the deplorables Morbius, Venom and its sequel Let There Be Carnage. A third Venom And Kraven the Hunter will also be added this year.
For what ?
The commercial success of the first Venom – 856 million at the worldwide box office – will probably never be replicated, but the antihero was already very popular before Tom Hardy played him in the cinema. In the comics, Madame Web is an obscure character, allied with Spider-Man. She is old, blind and paralyzed. Without saying that there is no material to write a decent screenplay, no fan of comics did not want to see the adventures of the super medium transposed to the big screen.
Still, Sony Pictures hired five people – including the director – to adapt her story into a boring feature film. Unsurprisingly, played by Dakota Johnson, Cassandra Web has become younger. We grafted to its origins three young Spider-Women: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) and Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced). The dynamic between the three actresses is one of the rare successes.
The threat comes from Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim, excruciating), a man who has found a way to inherit the powers of the Peruvian “spider men” – the SSU way of ruining the myth, like the midi-chlorians of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Haunted by visions of his death at the hands of three Spider-Women, Sims seeks to eliminate them in order to escape his fate.
However, Cassandra Web also has the gift of clairvoyance. As luck would have it, she, the three young women and the villain are in the same train car in New York. The paramedic will save their lives and become their adoptive mother by proxy. Dakota Johnson has a natural talent for playing selfless and aloof women. The role of Cassandra Web initially fits her like a glove, then no longer fits her as we should feel that she is getting closer to the trio of young women.
Let’s move on to our other reviews.
The antagonist has no presence and no interest. It doesn’t help that he’s wearing a poor Spider-Man costume. The production, which borrows from the horror genre, manages at times to make it disturbing. The final confrontation is quite impressive, but in no way because of him. Besides, the action is very weak.
The excellent Adam Scott plays Ben Parker, aka Uncle Ben. Emma Roberts plays her sister. This is the closest Sony has come to including Peter Parker in its Spider-Man universe… Madame Web does not forge any link with the other SSU films.
superhero movie
Madame Web
SJ Clarkson
Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor
1:57 a.m.
In theaters February 14