Review of 'Madame Web'

In 1973 Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) and pregnant colleague Constance Webb (Kerry Bishe) are searching for a spider in the jungles of Peru that can potentially cure hundreds of diseases. When Constance eventually finds the spider, Ezekiel kills everyone on their team to take the spider for his own, leaving Constance for dead. She is found by an indigenous tribe who fail to save her but are able to save the child. 30 years later the socially distant Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson) works as a New York city paramedic who experiences visions after a near-death experience - She sees what appears to be glimpses of the future but she eventually learns that she can act to change what she has seen. As Cassandra looks through her box of mementos we learn that she is the daughter of Constance. Ezekiel, meanwhile, lives in fear of three teenage girls he sees in nightmares of the future killing him. He uses his considerable wealth to use the latest technology to track them down: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney) (living with her father and stepmother following her mother's departure), reclusive Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) (living alone after her father's deportation), and the rebellious Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor) (from a wealthy but uncaring family). Ezekiel tracks the three down to Grand Central Station where Cassandra boards their train and immediately starts having visions of a future where Ezekiel attacks and kills the girls. Eventually she convinces the three to leave the train where they are pursued by a mysterious character dressed in a spider-costume crawling on the ceiling. Stealing a taxi they eventually escape where Cassandra leaves the three teenagers in the woods while she investigates…but can she stop Ezekiel before he kills them all?

This is an interesting and quite different film featuring a minor Marvel superhero with unusual powers (the first Marvel film featuring a character without their own comic). Watching the film we experience the same confusion as Cassandra as she struggles to get to grip with what is going on and what the visions mean though we figure it out a lot quicker than she does. There are some great, mind-bending, action sequences here set in a bustling Manhattan such as early ambulance chases through the traffic – The finale is particularly interesting though quite predictable and a bit of an anti-climax with only a hint of superpowers being used imaginatively.

Other than Cassandra, the rest of the characters are a bit one-dimensional though it is great to see the three teenagers being, well, teenagers. Incidentally, there is more than a hint here of a sequel featuring the four of them on a more equal footing, as seen in Cassandra's visions though with a lacklustre box office it is unclear whether this will ever happen. The four have a lot in common as they are all, basically, on their own causing them to generally think only of themselves. Here they all manage to push aside their own self-interest to work together as a team, a theme that also applies to Cassandra herself as she comes to understand where she came from and that her mother really did love her.

Though often a bit tricky to follow, “Madame Web” looks quite good with imaginative action sequences but ultimately a bit disappointing.

Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2026-01-31

Directed by: S.J. Clarkson

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Year: 2024

Length: 116 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11057302/