Warning: spoilers ahead

Dakota Johnson stars in the new Marvel movie, “Madame Web” as Cassie Web, which was quite a disappointing movie.  

Web had the ability to see into the future and she was seeing images of violence in the future. She saw images of an evil villain killing three teens, so it became her mission to save three teenage girls from a supervillain. The villain also saw into the future and he was haunted by nightmares that these three teens would murder him in the future, so instead he wanted to beat them to the crime and kill them first. Web fights to understand her powers and deal with her past all while trying to protect the teens. 

Cassie Web

It was nice to see that Cassie Web was–for the most part–an average human with average abilities, which was a refreshing change from the extraordinary superheroes that traditionally play protagonists in Marvel movies. On the other hand, I think the fight scenes and the villain’s ultimate demise were quite anticlimactic for this reason.  

The villain, Ezekiel Sims, dies from being crushed by a Pepsi sign and then falling off of a building. It felt as though his demise wasn’t so much due to Cassie’s ability to predict the future as it was that he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were no lasers, super strength or speed, or anything very impressive at all that led to his death. 

A new take on flashbacks

I appreciated the newer, more creative take on flashbacks in the movie. For Cassie and Ezekiel, they were able to have flash-forwards, in which they were able to see the future instead of replaying the past over and over. As a result, these flashforwards feel less repetitive than the traditional flashback. Cassie only flashed to the future once per event instead of the same event or day playing over and over like many flashbacks in other movies. 

Lots of famous people to make up for the bad plot?

One second Cassie was in Peru trying to find answers for her flash-forwards and the next second she was back in New York City fighting Ezekiel. It felt as though Marvel was trying to force a long plot into a short span of time. Arguably, the plot could have been manipulated in a way that the three girls that Cassie was trying to protect from Ezekiel (Mattie, Julia, and Anya) could have been written out and had their own separate movie, especially because the movie plot strayed quite far from the original “Madame Web” Marvel comics already.  

The most confusing part of the plot was the ending. Viewers see Cassie get hit in the eye by the flying sparks of the dynamite. Cassie and the three teens used the dynamite to destroy the sign that fell on Ezekiel. Then the scene cuts to Cassie in a wheelchair and with sunglasses. From this, it becomes clear that Cassie was blinded and paralyzed by the fight, but I could not seem to understand why the fight paralyzed her. It is unlikely that the sparks that hit her would have paralyzed her because they only hit her face. I think that she was ultimately paralyzed because the Marvel producers felt that they had to maintain the “Madame Web” plot from the Marvel comics to some extent. 

To make up for the confusing plot, Marvel seemingly placed famous actors such as Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, and Isabela Merced into the movie to distract the viewers. 

Specifically, I think that Sydney Sweeney was cast so poorly. I found that the lines that she said were written so unsuccessfully and the outfits weren’t giving “nerdy school girl” in the way that the producers likely intended. Sweeney is such a talented actress and this is evident in her other movies, but this role made her look like an unskilled actress. 

Empowerment

I appreciate the inclusion of an all-female cast for protagonists. For many young girls, watching this movie and seeing the three teenage girls fight off a villain with Cassie can empower them to stand up for themselves and be strong. 

I also think that this movie could empower those with disabilities. Seeing those with physical and non-physical disabilities is becoming more and more common in movies, and this movie is no different. Cassie becomes a superhero who is paralyzed, so “Madame Web” could empower disabled people because it shows how they are powerful and strong too. 

In spite of this, I do think that the female superhero costumes were “less cool” than their male counterparts in other Marvel movies. Their outfits looked more like costumes you could pick up from Spirit Halloween than superhero outfits. 

Rating 

While this movie did get bad reviews from the masses, I don’t think it was quite as bad as many people said. Despite this, I don’t think I would pay to see it in theaters again. If you do want to watch it, I recommend waiting until it comes out on streaming services where viewers can stream it under their subscription for cheaper. 

Overall, I would give “Madame Web” 3 out of 5 stars due to the messy plot. The plot was quite confusing, but the flash-forwards were interesting and the empowerment aspect was an appreciated addition to the movie.