The newest addition to Sony and Marvel's cinematic 'spider-verse' comes through the form of S.J. Clarkson's 'Madame Web', the movie that would introduce Dakota Johnson to the world of comic book movies, whether it's in audience's best interests or not.
For those unfamiliar with the story of 'Madame Web', it follows the life of a woman in her early-thirties who goes by the name Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson). Cassie spends her time in New York City, serving as a paramedic and living a very secluded life.
When an unexpected and near-tragic event occurs in Cassie's life, she is forced to face her past and reflect on a unique gift that was bestowed upin her as a baby, ultimately providing her with the tools to become Madame Web.
One thing that most people aren't likely to disagree with is that if all of the movie-lovers around the world were to compile a list of actors they would want to appear in a comic book movie the most, Dakota Johnson would be at the very bottom of this list.
Johnson does an excellent job of showing no personality or real characters into this role, almost to the point where audiences may even assume that she is playing a robot. The actress has spoken out in the recent press tour for this film that she did no prior research into the role and has no familiarity with recent films within the 'spider-verse', and this does her no favours on screen.
And although Johnson fails to get out of second gear for her performance as Cassie Webb, it would be unfair for her to take all of the heat as the actress' supporting cast fail to deliver any convincing performances. In this film we see Sydney Sweeney portray an anxious and insecure 15-year-old girl wearing tights and a short skirt - which is just wrong on all fronts.
But to be fair to the cast of 'Madame Web', asking an actor to make something of this story is like asking a labourer to build a home out of nothing but nails and wood - it can't be done.
There are countless aspects to this film that are just stupid and poor attempts at filmmaking, but the most questionable of them all is the added audio in post-production. Throughout the movie, there are various occasions where we see Tahar Rahim's character (Ezekiel) speak dialogue that fails to match up with the way his lips are moving.
Johnson spoke out throughout the press tour and stated that there were various script changes before, after and during production for 'Madame Web', and this is never an easy task for a post-production editing team. But the lack of effort and skill that seems to have gone into it on this occasion is the purest example of how little this film has been cared about.
If you are a potential audience member that loves a good comic book movie, and have every intention and hope of seeing a group of bad-ass spider-women fight alongside eachother, then prepare to have your heart broken. It seems that the writers of this film had no intention of including any 'spider-women' content right from the off, and only intend on using their 30-second screentime entirely within the trailer in order to mislead their target audience.
The only reviving factor of this movie that offers some hope of redemption is the whole easter egg dynamic between Ben and Mary Parker. Adam Scott as Ben Parker is the only admirable performance in this entire cast, and potentially sets up a new avenue of story for Marvel and Sony to go down in the future.
We also see Emma Roberts as Ben's pregnant sister, Mary, who we can only assume is on the brink of giving birth to a character we all know as Peter Parker. So although the overall storyline for this movie was spineless and fails to intrigue audiences, there are a small handful of easter eggs scattered throughout of the detectives amongst us to spot.
Overall Rating: 3/10