Madame Web

I went in with very low expectations and I felt like I got better than I was expecting and had a nice time watching the film. Despite having a budget of 80 million dollars, the movie feels low budget. Was not to the level of a modern marvel film but more like a marvel tv show.

The characters were not as well established or as likable as they could of been. It was cluttered and cliche and suffers form a lack of originality. The cast deserved better, wasted talents of Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. The villain was generic and uninspiring. Constantly complaining about "everything he as built' being destroyed, while not showing anything that he has built.

Im not fully up on the real origin story but after looking into it more it seems Sony fully molested the comic book version for their own that barely resembles anything of the original. I see why that would make many purist upset. That would help explain a current rating of 3.7, which is crazy considering all the far worse films with higher ratings. I was entertained watching this film but that is with the caveat that this was not a good or very well made movie. The film fell flat on the execution of creating a compelling narrative.

The pepsi product placement rivaled the pepsi placement in the "I will not bow to any sponsor" scene in Wayne's World. "Its like people only do things because they get paid, and its really sad" -Garth.

Look at the profiles for the writers that wrote Madame Web. You'll see virtually every movie they've written has a bad rating and bad reviews. Why then does Hollywood continually hire these same writers for these big budget films? I could understand if they wrote movies for Asylum Films because all their movies are terrible.

Madame Web is god awful! Very difficult to sit through. None of the main characters are likeable. Even the villain is lame. It seems like the entire movie was written to set up a sequel. But why would people spend money to see the sequel of a movie that is one of the worst movies ever written? I'm shocked at how bad this movie is and if there is a sequel I certainly wont bother watching it.

Stop hiring bad writers, Hollywood!

Based on Madame Web's woeful reviews I was expecting this film to be an utter car crash. To its credit I will say it isn't entirely without merit, but it is incredibly boring and bland.

Mostly this is because nothing particularly happens. It's a superhero movie with little to no superhero action and a painfully long set up for an underwhelming final act. The characters are so underdeveloped that there is no emotional connection or investment in any of them. Everything about the story and writing just feels lazy, vacuous and corny.

Then there's the villain who is utterly uninspiring. He is constantly complaining about 'everything he has built' being destroyed. What has he built you might ask? The film has no interest in exploring this question. He's easily one of the more two dimensional and weak superhero villains I've ever seen committed to screen.

Perhaps the most heinous crime this movie commits is to waste the talents of Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Adam Scott, Emma Roberts, Zosia Mamet and more. Such a good cast was assembled and they were given absolutely nothing to work with, so I don't blame the performers. It's just such a shame to see such great talent put to the sword like this.

As if all of this wasn't enough, the movie also feels remarkably low budget and feels excruciatingly long despite its relatively short runtime.

Ultimately I think this film suffered because it was clearly intended as a set up for a wider Spider-Woman franchise which is unlikely to come to fruition. There seemed to be no interest in making a good stand alone movie, and no respect for the audience. A massive waste of time.

I understand what the plan was here. They wanted a trippy film, focusing on a strong future for the Sony verse. The problem is the delivery. The camera work in this movie made it quite irritating to follow, as there was constant quick close up shots of the action. The dialogue was awful, and there was quite a lot of blatant voice over during the villain scenes.

So much wasted time was given to boring scenes in the movie, which led me to believe the screen writers finished the script and realised that it was under the word count.

Honestly the acting quality was quite poor across the board, especially the villain, who honestly seems as if they didn't cast for his role at all, just picked up someone off the side of the road.

For someone who's guilty pleasure is watching bad movies, I it was a painful time. Don't recommend.

First Impression:

The opening of the Madame Web was immersed in a mystique and ambition, enhanced by great musical score; yet, as the movie progresses, it becomes a mixed bag and a rollercoaster of emotions.

The Positive:

Musical Score and Sound Design: The standout feature of "Madame Web" is its musical score. The soundtrack not only enhances the emotional depth of the film but also succeeds in creating in some moments genuine goosebumps. The sound design really enhances this impact by carefully using sound pans, bass, and reverse effects. It creates a sense of tension and immersion which is one of the film's strongest features.

The Mixed:

Visual Effects and Costume Design: Some of the visual effects in "Madame Web" were visually appealing. The costume design, like Casey's red jacket and the three spider girl villain outfits standing out as particularly stunning contributions to the film's aesthetic, but it was not often shown in the film since the films direction and focus was different. I was disappointed.

Acting and Direction: Although I thought Casey's character development - her ability to see the world from a different perspective - was great, I didn't like how it was visually presented. The way it was edited was poorly done. The editor could use 2 distinct color grading features where one sees the future and two, she sees the present moment.

However, The performances throughout the film feel lackluster, with the actors appearing confused and disengaged. This, combined with direction that fails to maintain interest or coherence in many scenes, significantly undermines the film's potential.

Negatives:

Cinematography: Cinematography is bad since some pictures don't show a clear image. The camera moves so fast that I cannot comprehend the picture. I kind of recognized that it tries to initiate the rapidness of the events from the spider's eye point of view but it was a tasteless decision. The Cinematography is not something like wow. The reason why Cinematography was lacking is because it was heavily based on medium closeups and dutch tilts which on one hand was a unique choice but on the other hand very hard to watch. I found the 180 degree round camera rotations super cool, but again, I expected varied distance shots, not just medium shots. The train scene Cinematography was the best in the film.

Editing and Pace: The editing is arguably the weakest element of "Madame Web," with its rapid cuts and disjointed flow detracting significantly from the storytelling. This lack of coherence makes it challenging for the audience to fully engage with the narrative.

Plot and Overall Execution: The storyline of "Madame Web" is cluttered and clichéd, suffering from a lack of originality and clear direction. The film's ambition is evident, but the execution falls short of creating a compelling narrative.

The Conclusion:

"Madame Web" presents a paradoxical experience, with exceptional music and sound design standing that sharply contrasts with its various flaws in editing, cinematography, and direction.

Although there are some visually and emotionally stunning moments, they are frequently overshadowed by a lack of coherence and clarity.

Also, I think this film would be reasonable and great to be incorporated in a TV series which would have allowed for a more in-depth exploration of characters and plot.

Nevertheless, Madame Web is a bit of a mixed bag, with moments of potential that ultimately leave the viewer something different visually.

Rating: 3/10.