Over the past weekend, I went and saw the masterpiece of a film that is Madame Web. Upon seeing the trailer for this movie, I had such high hopes. With Dakota Johnson joining the MCU as such an important character, I was really excited for what this character’s introduction could mean for future stories and movies, but alas, this movie was another disappointment that needs to be added to the list of flopping Marvel films. This consistent upset after upset has me wondering why Marvel keeps producing movies that lack a good script and story? I mean, haven’t they learned their lesson?

Rocking a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.8 on IMDB, Madame Web has officially become one of the lowest ranked Marvel movies, beating out even Morbius. While we’re on that topic, Morbius has a ranking of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.2 on IMDB. At the time of its release, this movie was panned and was considered to be one of the worst Marvel movies to date. Now, if this is the case, why would Marvel re-employ those same writers for a much more impactful character and movie? 

Spoilers Ahead…

The major flaw with this movie lies with the execution. I mean, it lacks virtually everything. Well developed and explained villain origin story? Absolutely nonexistent no matter how much you search and dig for it. Fun action sequences? Eh, could be better and less repetitive. A cool montage of the main character learning how to use her powers? Nope. Denied of that explanation. She just runs off to Peru for a week and suddenly comes back to NYC for the final battle with new knowledge about how to channel and control her powers. But hey, don’t worry, the audience is made fully aware that Pepsi sponsored this film. That is one of the only things that is made abundantly clear throughout the movie. Screw actually explaining certain aspects of the film, such as how the villain is invisible to everyone but the 4 main protagonists when they first run into him, and then suddenly, in the next scene, he’s visible for everyone to see. Another thing that I need to be cleared up is if Madame Web exists in yet another multiverse. Her origin story is set in 2003, something that I had to consistently remind myself of throughout the film, but a clarification on if the Avengers will exist in Madame Web’s New York City is not clear. 

Now, I want to circle back to our magnificent villain, Ezekiel. When watching the movie, I couldn’t help but fixate on the way he spoke. As Jasmine Zheng so eloquently put it, “He sounds like an old wizard narrating some hero’s adventure”. This got me thinking. Does the actor actually speak like this, or was it a voice that he used for his role as a villain? Upon researching, I discovered that the actor is actually French, so I’m assuming that he was doing an American accent for this movie, but boy does he need some help. 

I think my favorite thing about this movie has to be the inclusion of the Parker family. Ben Parker, is Madame Web’s best friend, and his sister-in-law, Mary Parker, is pregnant throughout the film, hopefully giving birth to little Peter Parker. Props to Madame Web for continuing on with the inclusion of the Parker family. 

I’ve also got to hand it to this movie for their comedy. The lines didn’t feel forced, mostly because it was Dakota Johnson delivering the comedic lines. For roughly the first half of the movie, I felt happy and didn’t find the movie to be as bad as people thought, mostly because Johnson was just playing herself. Alas, all good things must come to an end.

I don’t know if I would recommend this movie to anyone unless you really wanted a good laugh with some of your friends. Definitely do not go into this movie expecting to take it seriously, because it is almost impossible to do so.