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Dumb Things You Can't Ignore In Madame Web

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

Bad voice dubs, a woeful third act, and the weirdest villain motivation of all time — this movie must have been in the Amazon with Cassie's mom when she was researching spiders right before she died, because it's got some problems. Perhaps the most glaring issue even casual audiences will notice in Madame Web is the poor ADR throughout most of the movie. ADR, or automated dialogue replacement, is a routine procedure during the post-production of films in which actors are brought in to overdub lines of dialogue recorded on set in a professional studio. This is often done to correct mistakes, service script changes, or help sound mixing on a loud location. In the case of films like Madame Web, poor ADR can be very noticeable, as actors' mouth movements will not match the words they're speaking. This is especially the case with Tahar Rahim's performance as the film's antagonist, Ezekiel Sims, who, when not shrouded in conveniently placed shadows, clearly did a below-average job in properly overdubbing his lines. Or perhaps the blame should be placed on the editors who haphazardly allowed those sloppy dialogue scenes to flood the finished film. In the wake of the film's release, publications such as. The Daily Beast tried to find an explanation for the poor voice dubbing. Critic Nick Schager claims: "Rahim is a native French speaker but that's no excuse for the awfulness of his largely ADR'd line readings, which sound as if they've been filtered through an AI voice program." However, the likeliest scenario is that the character's lines were completely rewritten in post-production, and, rather than reshoot the scenes, the filmmakers opted to take the cheap way out. Peruvian Spider-People The very first Marvel comic featuring Spider-Man was published in 1962, and, since then, the character has become one of the most popular superheroes of all time. "Hey everyone." Countless comic book characters have taken on the mantle of Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, or some other variation on the name. With volumes and volumes of Spider-Man comic history to draw from, you'd think Sony wouldn't have to bother making up lore that is not only unnecessary, but also completely undermines the franchise they've built up. That's basically what happens early on in Madame Web, however. When Cassandra's pregnant mother, Constance, is attacked in the Amazon while researching spiders, she's rescued by a tribe of Peruvian Spider-People, who were said to have gained superpowers from spiders, allowing them to crawl on walls and see into the future. These Spider-People are essentially responsible for helping a dying Constance give birth to Cassie. There are a million things wrong with this plot point, the least of which being that it completely throws away Peter Parker's own origin story and instead makes him technically guilty of cultural appropriation. The closest comic book precedent to this was the South American Spider-Clan, who appear in a 2001 comic and kidnap Peter, though the obvious allusions to the Spider-Man costume in this tribe from Madame Web are far from the same thing. Stealing spiders Antagonists are often the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to making comic book movies. Sadly, the villain of Madame Web is perhaps one of its weakest qualities. Sims bears few resemblances to his comic book counterpart, and here he's portrayed as a successful businessman who has gained similar powers to Spider-Man. Audiences are introduced to Ezekiel early on, though his motivations are pretty vague. He inadvertently kills Cassie's mother while trying to steal a mutated Peruvian spider, and when he's seen later on in the future, he possesses a venomous touch and can crawl on walls. Ezekiel can also see the future, having constant night terrors of his own death at the hands of Spider-Women, spurring him to hunt the trio of teenage girls down to kill them before they get their powers. However, audiences may struggle to understand Ezekiel. He claims to have come from nothing but never elaborates. He's a rich businessman, but his actual profession is unexplained. Furthermore, in his visions of his death, he appears as an old man — so why is he in such a rush to kill off this trio of Spider-Women? Early on in Madame Web, a title card reads "2003," indicating that the film takes place in that year. It's Britney Spears! However, the film is apparently not entirely confident in the impact of that title card, because the rest of the movie is filled with overbearing pop culture references that allude to its setting. The first of these comes during Cassandra's high-speed ambulance drive through Queens at the start of the movie, where one shot lingers on a passing Blockbuster video store. "Wow!" "Wow!" "Wow!" Another reference to the film's 2003 setting occurs during one action scene set to Britney Spears' "Toxic," from her 2003 album, In the Zone. Mid-fight, Cassie's car radio is interrupted by a DJ who actually straight-up explains that Britney Spears is "going to be huge." Besides the fact that Britney Spears had already put out two of the best-selling albums of all time by 2003, this actually complicates the Madame Web timeline even more. Although in the Zone was released in November 2003, "Toxic" wasn't sent to radio until January 2004, meaning that this DJ was playing a deep-cut album track that hadn't been made an official single yet. Now that's clairvoyance. It's not every day that a child is born after her pregnant mother is shot in the Amazon and rescued by Peruvian Spider-People. Murky origins The more interesting story in Cassie's life, however, might be how she went from a mystical cave in Peru to becoming a paramedic in Queens. Sadly, that's never examined in Madame Web; the film immediately jump-cuts from her birth to an adult Cassandra driving an ambulance with Ben Parker, of all people. Cassie later clarifies via exposition-heavy dialogue that she grew up in the foster home system, raising further questions as to how these Peruvian Spider-People got her there. On the bright side, Cassie has an affection for her experience as a foster child, which serves no purpose but to bond her with the other future Spider-Women. And if you thought it couldn't get more confusing, you'd be wrong. Cassie later learns that, prior to her birth, Constance learned that Cassie would be born with myasthenia gravis, the condition that paralyzed the comic book version of Madame Web. Constance nevertheless resumed her research in the Amazon despite her unborn child's illness, but it was Cassie's birth by Spider-People that apparently cured her of the disorder anyway. The Sony Spider-Man Universe is a confusing cinematic endeavor to say the least, as the company has lent the rights to the character, played by Tom Holland, to Marvel Studios and the MCU. Near the Spider-Verse As a result, Sony's own productions don't include Peter Parker at all, instead pulling supporting characters and villains from the comics as their central focus. However, Madame Web is the exception, as compared to Morbius or Venom, it holds a more direct connection to the story of Peter Parker. In fact, Madame Web goes to drastic lengths to clue the audience in on the impending fate of Peter Parker. Adam Scott appears as Cassie's paramedic partner, Ben Parker, whose death will later motivate his nephew Peter's superhero adventures. Ben's heavily pregnant sister Mary, Peter's mother, also appears. When Mary is first introduced, she apologizes to Cassie after her baby kicks, not-so-subtly claiming "he keeps leaping around in there." Get it? "I understood that reference." And then, of course, the film's entire final act also revolves around Mary going into labor and needing to get to the hospital. It's quite a mind-bending experience when Ezekiel, wearing a Spider-Man costume, nearly kills them. Had either Mary or Ben survived to see Peter's Spider-Man suit in the future, they'd likely have all sorts of questions for him. If Madame Web isn't going to flex a strong villain, the least it could do is give its protagonist an interesting character arc. Sadly, that's not really present in Sony's film, either, as Cassandra suffers some weirdly contradictory characterization. Reluctant hero When she's introduced in the present day, Cassandra is a paramedic in Queens, and, despite some awkward interactions with patients, she seems genuinely good at her job. However, her desire to save others apparently only goes so far. Once Cassandra coincidentally ends up on the same train as Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon and experiences a vision of the three being killed by Ezekiel Sims, she immediately leaps to action. However, once they all escape, Cassandra acts persistently annoyed by the girls' bickering and expresses a desire to drop them off at their parents' homes. Most likely, Cassandra's ambivalence towards the safety of these girls speaks to the filmmakers' desire to recreate a moral revolving around responsibility. It still feels unlikely for a professional paramedic to be so careless and cavalier when it comes to three teenage girls in danger, however. Spider-Women, no more Madame Web should be a triumphant moment in the history of Spider-Man movies, as it features the live-action debut of not one but three Spider-Women. The first trailers showed glimpses of the actresses in Spider-suits, giving some fans the hope of at least some connection to the comics. Those fans' hopes were likely dashed upon seeing Madame Web, in which these costumes only appear for a few minutes of screen time at most — first at the very start of the movie and again at the very end. Furthermore, by the end of the film, the trio of future Spider-Women hasn't even gotten their powers, though it's implied that Cassandra can see into the future far enough to know that they will still become superheroes. Even Cassandra's own red superhero jumpsuit, shown in promotional images for Madame Web, doesn't make an appearance until the final moments. At least comic book fans get to see Cassandra in a wheelchair with glasses at some point, as a small nod to Madame Web's appearance in the comics. With great power… The phrase "With great power comes great responsibility" is the flagship motto of the Spider-Man character, dating back to the very first appearance of the character in 1962. It has since become a thematic through line of most Spider-Man stories, whether it be comics, video games, or movies. "With great power comes great responsibility." "With great power there must also come great responsibility." "With great power comes—" "Don't you dare finish that sentence. Don't do it. I'm sick of it.". The line's emotional resonance with fans cannot be understated, so it makes sense that Madame Web would try to re-interpret it. However, like many things in this film, it doesn't do a great job. During Cassandra's meeting with Santiago, the Peruvian Spider-Person, she is told that when she takes on responsibility, "great power will come." This is not the same thing as "With great power comes great responsibility," of course. As Madame Web seems to imply, it's only after Cassandra accepts responsibility that she's granted power. That's the exact opposite of the original message, which is that those who are lucky enough to have power should know how to use it for good. For a line that's been so cleverly interpreted in the various Spider-Man films made by Sony, it's weird that this reversal completely ignores the pathos behind the original proverb. The final mess After her brief excursion to Peru, Cassie has no trouble getting back to New York City in time to stop Ezekiel's plan to kill Julia, Mattie, and Anya. The girls end up stuck in traffic with Ben Parker and Mary on the way to the hospital to give birth to Peter Parker, as Cassie steals an ambulance to catch up with them. Desperate to stop Ezekiel, Cassie ends up driving the ambulance through a well-placed piece of Calvin Klein product placement and hitting Ezekiel in mid-air, knocking him out of the way of Ben's car. As Ben and Mary escape to the hospital, Cassie takes the three girls to a fireworks warehouse, where they hold off Ezekiel by blowing up fireworks and escape to the rooftop to meet with a rescue helicopter.
Date: 2024-02-22

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Comments and reviews: 17

walkingcubkid
Not to mention we never find out why the spider women wanted to kill him. Was he going to release a plague because of the spider Was going to reveal their secret identities Did he find out who they were and now proceeds to kill their loved ones Is there anything that would link to the reason why they had to kill him in the future Like, all he says is that they killed him, just because they’re going to kill him. So why should we care And why should we care that these three teenagers are going to die when they’re shown to kill him without reason We know he killed Cassie’s mom, but they don’t know that!
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rabbigrape
She's a paramedic who twice has to do actual CPR within minutes on two patients. She does no pre-assessement before dropping down and doing chest compressions AND she gives no mouth to mouth breath. Later, shr teaches the girls to do CPR and again leaves out the part of blowing air into the lungs. At the end, one of the girls has to perform CPR on her (which we all KNEW was coming) and AGAIN, no blowing of air. Nothing but chest compressions.
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Zombiesnyder13
VENOM had the writer from 50 SHADES OF GREY (who is also directing VENOM 3)
MORBIUS had the writers from GODS OF EGYPT (Who are also behind MADAME WEB)
And KRAVEN THE HUNTER has the writers from TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT
AVI ARAD ruined everything again, just like he ruined TASM series
And he isn't even involved in MADAME WEB
But he is behind BORDERLANDS though
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bobfallen
The most frustrating thing about Webb is that it feels like there could have been a good movie in there. Like it needs a ton of work but the premise might work. Also, I saw that a writer decided it was 2003 just for the toxic soundtrack. That person should have been fired immediately.
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jessetorres8738
While I didn't love Madame Web, I didn't hate the movie, & while it wasn't as good as Venom, it was better than Morbius. The problem is Sony is trying to do a Spider-Verse but without Spider-Man & instead making movies about his villains.
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stoneyvision4135
Seems a little rough critisim. It's a comic book movie. They don't all need to be Endgame or The Dark Knight. They can just be quirky and entertaining. Like the Marvels. Was it the best MCU movie No. Was it fun to watch Yes.
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KevinJack311
one of my nitpicks was the fact that while the film takes place in 2003, during some driving scenes, I was noticing so many modern day cars in the background. My car nerd brain -- but yeah, this movie was abysmal overall.
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dragonqueen7328
I mean, I will say that there was an element of Spider-Man's lore in the comics that there was indeed an arachnid spirit behind his powers, but it was hated by fans then anyway. Dunno why they kept it
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looper
Whatever Sony thinks they are doing with these comicbook movies, THEIR NOT THEIR failing terrible, so either they're really trying and failing or trying to water down the comicbook audience with shit movies
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screenwriterjohn
It was clever for the supervillain to try to try to prevent his death by killing the future heroes, only to. cause his own death.
Web isn't so bad it's good. Just bad. Bad bad.
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ryanlucas3907
Nearly all these girl boss movies make the main character a smug woman. That's a negative trait, and very hard to pull off and be likeable. Being Humble is the hero trait.
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newageBoundhippie
I'm sorry, Julia. Cornwall Did they seriously changer her last name from Carpenter for this train wreck This movie just sounds worse with everything I hear about it.
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looper
The great power great responsibility in tom holland spider man is so dumb. Like uncle ben is already dead so why is he learning that lesson so late into his journey.
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alycutiepie
Why does everyone hate this movie It only has 13% on rotten tomatoes i was so shocked when i saw that cuz i thought it's gonna be a good movie, is it not good
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reh3884
Oh, look, Looper is jumping on the trash Madame Web bandwagon. That's original. Anytime all the critics and uber nerds hate a movie, I know it's going to be good.
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r-alphaz3192
stop re-inventing, focus on being fan-based characters, they keep trying too hard, they end up changing what the character is for. lols
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mco4089
i have many many responsibilities in life but no power at all, if i have the power will just make my responsibilities go away
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