‘Madame Web’ Suffers Lackluster Initial Critic Reviews, Signaling An Inevitable Bomb
Slade Hale
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As expected, critical acclaim for the upcoming not-so-Spider-Man spinoff film Madame Web is proving more difficult to find than a smartphone accidentally dropped off the side of a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Hardly surprising, given a head-scratching debut trailer released back in November of ’23, which was light – to put it mildly – on cohesion, plot, consistency, or basic sense.
Now, the reviews are starting to trickle in, and things are looking dire. While certain access media platforms are doing their best to happy talk the film, or simply play down its overall quality, it won’t be enough to stave off what should be a monumental box office disaster for a film that nobody wanted in the first place.
“Sony’s animated Spider-Verse films have been amazing, which is more than can be said about the studio’s stabs at creating their own MCU-adjacent live-action movie series centered around Spider-Man. That process got off to a goofy start with Venom and its sequel before running aground with 2022’s Morbius, and it now fully crashes and burns with Madame Web.” said Nick Schager of The Daily Beast.
Hollywood Reporter reviewer Lovia Gyarke said, “There’s something so demoralizing about lambasting another underwhelming Marvel offering. What is there left to really say about the disappointments and ocean-floor-level expectations created by the mining of this intellectual property?”
@3CFilmss pundit Cris Parker tweeted out, “#MadameWeb is an embarrassing mess. Talented stars wasted on probably the worst comic book movie I have ever seen. Filled with atrocious dialogue, awkward editing, & all around laughable structure. I sat there baffled scene by scene someone approved this. The memes will redeem it.”
Perhaps the most callously brutal take on the film came courtesy of Rolling Stone writer David Fear, who offered up a scathing take, calling it, “A genuine Chernobyl-level disaster that seems to get exponentially more radioactive as it goes along… It is the Cats: The Movie of superhero movies. Not a single decision seems of sound mind. Not a single performance feels in sync with the material. Not a single line reading feels as if it hasn’t somehow been magically auto-tuned to subtract emotion and/or inflection.”
The movie did manage to scrape together some staunch defenders in the form of the usual suspects. The Mary Sue’s Rachel Leishman soft-balled her review, stating, “Sure, it is far from a perfect movie, but there is joy to be found in Cassie’s dynamic with people in her life, the situations that these girls find themselves in, and the Spidey-ness of it all… Madame Web is fun to watch.”
CBR writer Hannah Rose ran active defense for the film, claiming, “Madame Web is a strong, cohesive narrative. Themes, symbols, motifs and plot threads are examined, picked up, and consistently woven throughout the film, creating a completed web rather than a tangled kudzu with hanging loose threads.”
And finally, in an act of unmitigated projection mixed with denial, Black Girl Nerds writer Jamie Broadnax wrote, “Go in with an open mind and see for yourself how you feel about the film, just don’t let the negative press sway your opinion.” in true gaslighting fashion.
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Director S.J. Clarkson, who previously worked on shows like Dexter, Ugly Betty and Heroes, not to mention the Marvel Netflix shows Jessica Jones and The Defenders, is no stranger to personal setbacks. The director was tapped to helm the fourth Star Trek reboot film, only for plans to fall through. Next, Clarkson’s Game of Thrones prequel series – which was reported to focus heavily on radical Left-wing DEI tropes – was torpedoed before it exited the pilot stage.
Meanwhile, Sony’s semi-connected Spider-Man Universe (SSU) has seen its fair share of ups and downs, beginning with the original Venom film in 2018, which grossed $856M versus a $115M+ budget. The follow-up film Venom: Let There Be Carnage could not match momentum, earning just $506M against a near-identical budget. Next came 2022’s Morbius, which earned a measly $167.5M against a budget somewhere between $75M and $83M.
Madame Web’s budget is estimated at around $80M, which begs the question of whether it will earn enough to at least make its money back, or suffer a total collapse thanks to its uncertain premise and lack of critical appeal. One thing is becoming increasingly clear – relying on Spider-Man references alone will build neither hype, nor ticket sales as time goes on.
NEXT: Opinion: Marvel’s Casting Of Pedro Pascal In ‘Fantastic Four’ Is As Lazy As It Is Desperate
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