The new Sony “Spider-Man” spinoff, inspired by “Madame Web,” has a lot of specialized comic book mythology. The 1980 character's clairvoyance assisted Peter Parker. A web throne sustains the elderly, blind woman. However, knowing about her didn't add any urgency or purpose to the Dakota Johnson film opening Wednesday. Warning given.
The film aims to be a conventional superhero premise about how Madame Web, now single gal paramedic Cassie Webb, adjusts to her newfound capacity to see the future. Sometimes, when it involves death or serious violence.
Other Spider-Women, played by 20-somethings Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Celeste O'Connor (Mattie Franklin), also had youthful origins. Flash-forwards to these three in Spidey costumes make you think you missed a Marvel TV show that might make you care more.
A scene in which they try to sell the idea that all four women are connected in some cosmic way is so strained (“you live in my building,” “you ran in front of my truck”) and inconsequential that you wonder if the screenwriter who wrote their run-ins was even talking to the one who had to sell these coincidences. It's unclear what the four credited screenwriters (and three “story by” credits) did, but “Madame Web” feels like a collage of unrelated persons.
Just under two hours of repetition is disturbing. Cassie is learning about her talents and seeing the same events again and over, which gets boring by the fourth set piece. You excuse that since Johnson is always fascinating to watch and it serves a plot purpose in principle.
Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), the bad guy, either sees his death at the hands of the Spider-Girls (or whatever they are) or barks at his associate (Zosia Mamet) to find them with her “Dark Knight”-era surveillance setup in his blandly cold penthouse.
Ezekiel is one of the dullest, most poorly drawn superhero villains in recent memory, despite Rahim's talent and charisma. The film opens with him killing Cassie's pregnant mother (Kerry Bishé) on an Amazon spider research trip. However, venom and Amazonian spider-people save the baby.
Johnson makes practically anything watchable with his unique performance technique. Her cool-girl deadpan is always entertaining, and filmmaker S.J. Clarkson wisely keeps the camera on her. She creates pearls from nothing and finds laughter as the screenplay and story crumble.
Although Clarkson gives it a feminine, youthful vitality that makes effective use of its soundtrack, the film could have been more entertaining. However, it gets tangled attempting to rationalize a ludicrous scenario.
This appears like a long-term strategy by the studio. Cassie works with Ben Parker (Adam Scott), whose sister-in-law Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) is pregnant. After viewing “Madame Web,” one must imagine that, strangely, the payout may never happen.
The Motion Picture Association rates Sony Pictures' “Madame Web,” in cinemas Feb. 14, PG-13 for “violence/action and language.” Runtime: 117 minutes. 1 1/2 stars out of 4.
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