By Mark Fields
Obscure Marvel Heroine Gets Tame Origin Story
Madame Web is a superhero curiosity, not just because it depicts the origin of an obscure Marvel Cinematic Universe heroine but also because it tells that origin before even introducing the character, Cassandra Webb AKA Madame Web, as a compelling protagonist. As such, it kind of has the narrative sequence out of order. It’s difficult to have much interest in the backstory of a character whom you have never seen before, especially when that story takes place largely before that character becomes a superhero. It is even more challenging when said character is portrayed by the personality-less Dakota Johnson.
The movie follows Cassandra, working as a NYC paramedic, as she is drawn into protecting the lives of three teenage women being pursued by a mysterious stranger with unusual spider-like skills. Cassandra inexplicably is able to see the future (or at least a possible future), and she uses this nascent and uncontrolled ability to keep the three young women from harm and also determine the stranger’s motivation.
The film is a transparent effort to set up a new Marvel franchise (big surprise: these are not three ordinary teenagers), and its forced mysteries are more tiresome than intriguing. The three teenagers – portrayed by Sydney Sweeney, Isabel Merced, and Celeste O’Connor – never rise above clichéd characters. The only real frisson of the movie is the manic behavior of the villain, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), but he is still little more than an archetype.
It’s possible that Madame Web would have been better with a better actress as the central character, but even still, it is more Marvel marketing than movie. I can see the future of this franchise, and it’s not promising.
