Madame Web, directed by S.J. (The Defenders) Clarkson, who cowrote with Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker and Kerem Sanga, is based on the Marvel Comics character and related mythology, which fall into a non-Avengers/Disney track. That means it's a Sony/Columbia companion to Morbius and the Venom set: sidebar Spidey variants.
Dakota (Fifty Shades of Grey) Johnson plays Cassandra "Cassie" Webb, aka Madame Web, a paramedic who's a casual clairvoyant, with her powers magnified after a bridge-rescue incident. From that point, she enters the Spider-verse (this version somewhere between One Step Beyond and The Twilight Zone) and encounters a trio of oblivious, destined-to-be Spider-Women, Sydney Sweeney's Julia Cornwell, Celeste O'Connor's Mattie Franklin and Isabela Merced's Anya Corazon. Pressure soon falls on Webb to ensure the ladies' ideal fates, which proves hard, considering that a black-suited Spider-man, Tahir Rahim's sinister Ezekiel Sims, wishes to kill the girls, due to a recurring vision that they'll someday kill him.
Beyond its heavy, prophetic ramifications, the story's execution smacks of Netflix's Jessica Jones, with the protagonist being more of a multitasking, working girl than all-out superhero. In fact, Webb is not only a paramedic, but an amateur, arachnid researcher, who only after some passive twists becomes the story's predominate protector, content to do her essential thing within the furtive margins. (Along the humble way, to connect to higher-ground, Spider-man lore, her paramedic partner is Adam Scott's Ben Parker [a younger imprint of Peter's uncle], who tends to his pregnant sister, Emma Roberts' Mary Roberts [Peter's mom]).
The pedestrian fringes are relatable (and, in this respect, go straight against the ad-nauseum, Mary Sue grain that has cursed several recent Marvel movies), but all the same, I craved for a full-blown, costumed serving of Madame Web by the final act, whereas I only got a nibble.
Despite this arguable pitfall, Johnson is easy on the eyes, and it should be noted that Jose Maria Yazpike brings a nice touch as a Castaneda-esque Peruvian, Spider-man guru, as does Zosia Mamet as Sims' "oracle" webmaster. But does any of the story's positive traits, whether prime or supporting, make this effort a landmark among Marvel's cinematic franchises?
Sony/Columbia hasn't done much to promote it, which seems a terrible misstep, for proper publicity could have established this chapter as a fan-friendly spinoff. In the interim, the lack of studio support has given rise to pompous podcasters declaring "I told ya so," degrading Madame Web even before its premiere; and believe me, those doomsayers are an annoying dime a dozen. Why give them cause to stoke the flames?
Alas, as acceptable as Madame Web is, it's doomed to be a one-shot. A pity, since I do believe that it (like the ill-fated Morbius) could have spawned subsequent adventures, if only it had been marketed with the required devotion.
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