Madame Web is the dazzling story that follows a spider woman character, Cassandra “Cassie” Webb, played by Dakota Johnson. Webb is a New York City paramedic who has to navigate her newest mid-life crisis: being able to see into the future, and sometimes, being able to change it. 

Cassie is met with pushback by another Spider-Man, Ezekiel Sims, played by Tahar Rahim, who has similar visions. He foresees that three teenage girls (who are unaware of his existence) are destined to kill him and tries to prevent that by harming them first. Cassie now finds herself running around NYC to keep the girls safe while also coming to terms with the passing of her mother, from whom she inherited the power.

Overall, the movie was disappointing and there are areas where it could have been better. The film had such a promising cast yet fell short in terms of the dialogue, and with a budget of $80 million dollars it is honestly surprising how bad the editing is. At times during the movie, the voice-dubbing did not match up with the character’s lips. As good as the story sounds on paper, the interpretation did not match with this movie. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room, the movie was absolutely torn to pieces by critics. The movie served its intended purpose: the story of Madame Web’s origin. If you follow the MCU movies a bit closer than the average viewer then you would see that it’s not the most action-packed Marvel movie which was mostly the complaint. This is somehow a superhero movie without superheroes because Webb and the girls were in their suits for less than five minutes so it was a bit lackluster as the only action were the brief moments that Cassie and the girls were being pursued by Eziekiel. 

Toward the end, a big fight occurs between Ezekiel and Cassie as his aim is to kill the girls while Cassie attempts to protect them. This makes for the most dynamic moment in the entire film as Cassie has to defeat Ezekiel, who can scale walls and has superhuman strength, using just fireworks (because her only power thus far is being able to see into the future.) After Sims is defeated, Cassie is struck in the face with an ignited firework and [wakes up to find that] she is now blind and wheelchair-bound. Beyond this point, her powers are heightened, marking the beginning of Madame Web. 

It is at this point where the film begins to hint at the girls getting their powers without much of an explanation and it makes the movie feel incomplete, though it leaves room for a sequel which could be exciting.