{"id":27976,"date":"2024-02-13T21:43:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T05:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27976"},"modified":"2024-02-13T21:43:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T05:43:25","slug":"madame-web-doesnt-ensnare-viewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27976","title":{"rendered":"MADAME WEB Doesn\u2019t Ensnare Viewers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 116 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film from Sony Pictures Releasing is currently\nplaying in cinemas.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may be due to oversaturation and a string of\nless-than-thrilling adventures, but superhero tales have been struggling\nrecently. There has been an exception or two, but for the most part critics and\naudiences have begun turning up their noses at some of these titles. Madame\nWeb<\/em> introduces a new character existing in the city home to Spider-Man.\nDespite the concept\u2019s potential, the film doesn\u2019t land successfully and sadly\nmarks a new low in the Marvel Universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins in 1975 with a very pregnant explorer named\nConstance (Kerry Bish\u00e9), who issearching for a mythic spider in South\nAmerica that is believed to grant incredible abilities to those whom it\nbites.  After discovering the arachnid, her guide Ezekiel Sims (Tahar\nRahim) mortally wounds her and takes the creature while Constance goes into\nlabor. Many years later we are introduced to Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a\nlonely paramedic who grew up without a mother, lacks social graces and can\u2019t\nrelate to anyone she helps on the job. After a near tragic accident, she begins\nhaving clairvoyant visions of upcoming events. When she has a vision of Ezekiel\nSims (Tahar Rahim) pursuing and murdering three teenage girls in a subway car,\nthe protagonist can\u2019t help but step in and try to alter the future. She helps\nteens Sulia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) and Mattie\nFranklin (Celeste O\u2019Connor) escape his clutches and the three go on the run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are immediate issues with the movie that are the\nresult of the screenplay. There are plenty of attempts to build a relationship\nbetween the paramedic and best friend\/coworker Ben Parker (Adam Scott) early\non. While the two do add a moment of levity here and there, the verbal\ninterplay between them isn\u2019t as sharp as hoped for and Parker largely\ndisappears from the story until the climax. And when Cassandra and the teens\nbegin being hunted down by the relentless villain with spider-like abilities who\ncan climb walls, they react in a surprisingly understated manner. In general,\nthe dialogue is clunky and there are plenty of groan-worthy comments as the\ngroup attempt to stand tall and face off against the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One bit that struck this reviewer as odd is the means of escape used by the protagonists. They steal a taxi and get chased out of New York city with the news reporting that Cassandra has actually kidnapped the three youths. Despite having a bashed-up hood and having a less-than-stealthy appearance, the supposedly terrified lead (who is wanted for kidnapping three minors) and cohorts continue to use this vehicle as their primary mode of transport. The car goes in and out of New York, gets parked in plain sight at a local inn, presumably gets taken to the airport for some days, yet draws the attention of literally no one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another unintentionally humorous moment involves Cassandra repeatedly telling the teens that she will always be there for them, only to leave for hours, or days, at various intervals while searching for clues about her own past. And the action set pieces don\u2019t feel particularly exciting. While the idea of a character having terrifying visions is initially intriguing, it ultimately starts to become routine, with the lead seeing a potential issue and then choosing an appropriate action to avoid it from occurring.\u00a0 There also seems to be a lot of automatic dialogue replacement and strange sound quality in regards to a character or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A couple of these issues on their own could be overlooked, but after several of these events occur, it all feels more and more preposterous. Perhaps all of this just goes to show that the script itself isn\u2019t engaging and that the movie\u2019s many oddities ultimately become distracting. In the end, Madame Web<\/em> fails to ensnare viewers and doesn\u2019t add much to the Marvel Universe (for those hoping the tale might promise a reveal for the future, there are no credit or post-credit scenes). Even superhero movie enthusiasts shouldn\u2019t feel compelled to rush out and see this effort on the big screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 116 minutes This film from Sony Pictures Releasing is currently playing in cinemas. It may be due to oversaturation and a string of less-than-thrilling adventures, but superhero tales have been struggling recently. There has been an exception or two, but for the most part critics and audiences have begun turning up their noses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,697,736,4668,4669,5065,12873,12874,12875,12876,13333,13341,18704,18839,19362,19512],"class_list":["post-27976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-action","tag-adam-scott","tag-comic-book","tag-comic-book-adaptation","tag-dakota-johnson","tag-madame-web","tag-madame-web-film-review","tag-madame-web-movie-review","tag-madame-web-review","tag-marvel","tag-marvel-universe","tag-sony","tag-spider-man","tag-superhero","tag-tahar-rahim"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}