This review might be a bit different than the ones I usually write. I saw the movie, and yeah, it’s bad. But then I read the IMDb trivia (some great gems there) and began to understand how this movie was doomed to fail from the beginning and in a much worse way than I would have anticipated. So, part of this will be talking about this movie, but the other will be me talking about the current studio system and, specifically, Sony.
One thing that Madame Web tried to be is an origin story of somebody who is quite popular and powerful in comic books (that was all I knew about her, as someone who has never read any comic book in his life). Unfortunately, every beat of this origin story is not only boring, it’s also shot poorly, edited horribly, and many things don’t align logically. I will give one example for many – Dakota Johnson is a suspect in kidnapping our main heroines (Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor) and drives off with them in the middle of nowhere. Then, she leaves them, so they wander off to get food at the nearby dinner, and there, a guy spots them and calls the police. And how did he know it was them? We see the guy reading newspapers with no single image. Not only did this “kidnapping” only happen a couple of hours ago (very late newspaper edition, I guess), but also, he just saw three random girls walk in and thought: “Yep, that must be them, better do my duty!” And this one scene is just one example out of many.
Regarding the technical side, this might be the first blockbuster film in ages where you can spot sound being properly off. Especially with Tahar Rahim‘s character, many of his lines are shot with his character either facing sideways or straight-up from the back, so we don’t see his mouth. And it’s very distracting, but knowing now about all the various re-shoots, it makes so much sense why this had to be shown like this.
That brings me to my last point about the actual movie – the performances. Everyone is weird and awkward and seems off in Madame Web. Now, I won’t blame any of the actors, as I know all of them are talented, given I have seen their previous work, so I know Dakota, Sydney, Isabela or Celeste are great actors. But they are misdirected and often seem confused as to what is happening. There was a portion of this film towards the end where we see them in the future with their powers. And for those scenes, I was kinda into it because they seemed like they could kick ass. However, we really get those scenes, maybe for two minutes tops. The rest is just an origin story that puts everything on the right track. Unfortunately, though, that track is dodgy, not well-oiled and also set on fire whilst constantly being changed.
And this is where I must address the IMDb trivia. Specifically, one struck a nerve with me:
According to Dakota Johnson in an interview with The Wrap, the screenplay underwent extensive rewrites to the point that it no longer resembled the film that she signed on for. The original screenplay, which was described as darker and “very ‘Terminator’ inspired,” would have seen Madame Web and the Spider-Women trying to protect a pregnant Mary Parker from Ezekiel Sims, who wants to kill her to prevent the birth of Peter Parker.
Source: IMDb.com
Imagine being an actor, signing on to do a film based on this intriguing screenplay. And as you shoot it, it changes on you to something incoherent, messy and not resembling anything that intrigued you about it in the first place. Especially when that premise sounds awesome, I would totally watch that movie! The studio system has always been like this, and Madame Web is hardly the first movie that had this done. However, when the story and script changes are so obvious that you can’t showcase your villain that much because his words don’t match his lips, and your main star literally changed her agency after the first trailer came out (yep, that’s real), you know you’ve done fucked up. In 2023, we had both writers’ and actors’ guilds striking for better conditions, better pay and all that any sensible movie-loving person supported. I hope part of those terms the actors and writers negotiated was for the screenplay not to change as drastically once everything gets green-lit. I understand changes will always happen, and that’s fine, but if you green-lit a movie, surely you should “leave it” and supervise it from a distance rather than actively mess around with the screenplay and the story… It just doesn’t make sense.
Sony seems to be the unfortunate “king” of these, especially since their comic book movies aren’t… Well, let’s just say they haven’t had the best response (looking your way, Morbius (2022, my review here). I know there must be some weird sense of: “Oh well, we will nail the next time!” and that’s why they haven’t sold everything to the MCU yet, but… Sony, guys, enough is enough. Yes, the MCU has their issues, and its track record isn’t flawless, especially in the last couple of years, but… I would still trust them more. I would still trust the MCU to do reshoots better (they have done them in the past) and to actually get a better grasp of these characters.
That is why I am torn on this movie, as yes, I didn’t enjoy it, but I didn’t hate it as much because, in some scenes, you can see the “what if” potential. Imagine if this movie was good; I feel like the sequel (given they all had their power by then) would have been great. And the more I think about it after reading more about this film and its behind-the-scenes, the more I refuse to talk shit about anyone involved here, especially the actors. Yes, nobody comes across as capable in this film, but I genuinely believe they are giving what they can and what they have been told to do. It’s hard to talk about movies sometimes, especially when you can tell there was so much behind-the-scenes stuff that set this movie on the wrong path from day one.
Overall, Madame Web is not a great movie. However, I didn’t think it was as bad (for me, it’s slightly better than Morbius, but that ain’t saying much), and what’s more, this one seems like it was set to fail the moment they started to move away from that intriguing, Terminator-like premise. Madame Web is like a ship without a captain that is sailing towards the harbour. The anchor still hasn’t dropped, the crash is imminent and on top of that, that ship is on fire, and its crew was powerless to do anything about it. I feel bad for all the actors and creative people involved and hope those who aren’t A-listers will recover from this. It’s rare for studio pictures to fuck that badly, and Sony, you managed again. Here’s your trophy. Now, go fuck yourself.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke