Sony
It ’s a ruffianly time to be a comic record movie lover right now . After nearly 15 years of pa culture ascendancy , the music genre at long last hit a wall in 2023 , with the once - mighty MCU stumbling withAnt - Man and the Wasp : Quantumaniaand then doss with the soulless , inapt unsuccessful person ofThe Marvels . The latter ’s dread reception was nothing compared to the around-the-clock disaster that was DC ’s film slate , withShazam ! Fury of the Gods , The Flash , Blue Beetle , andAquaman and the Lost Kingdomeach delivering progressively bad entryway into a universe that had already been convulse out by its corporate owner .
It was n’t all speculative though , thanks to the amazingly touching enfranchisement sendoffGuardians of the Galaxy Vol . 3and the spectacular animated sequelSpider - Man : Across the Spider - Verse . But cinematic superheroes were n’t as invulnerable as in years preceding , and everyone — buff , critic , player , even studio EXEC — seemed to require a break from them .
Sony
There ’s still money to be made with amusing book movies , however , and while 2024 wo n’t see as many tone ending as 2023 , there ’s still the usual Marvel sequel ( Deadpool 3 ) , flying Sony hard cash - in ( Kraven ) , and needlessly dark DC film ( Joker : Folie à Deux ) on the schedule . All of these movies have differing odds of succeed , but there ’s one movie just around the corner that ’s certain to fail : Sony’sMadame Web . Why ? Here are five ground why this quasi - Spider - Man spinoff will be the latest comic book picture show calamity .
Dakota Johnson can’t carry a movie
Sorry , internet : Dakota Johnson just is n’t the superstar you remember she is . The Queen of Memes givesa great interview , and she ’ll always be far-famed forher squelcher of Ellen DeGenereson the latter ’s talking show in 2019 , but that does n’t mean she can expect a movie . No one with a full-strength face can argue the Fifty Shades movies are any good , even as forged camp , and her recent star turn inThe High NoteandPersuasionweren’t exactly , pardon the punning , persuasive .
Sure , she ’s give some fine performances over the years in moving picture likeA openhanded stir , Bad Times at the El Royale , andThe Lost Daughter , but she did n’t have to carry those films . InMadame Web , she ’s front and center as the nominal persona , and demand to be magnetic and interesting enough to hire the audience for two hours . After regard the plastic film ’s first poke , she ca n’t even arrest one ’s attending for 3 moment , let alone 120 . There are some player , like Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland , who were born to toy this variety of use ; Johnson just is n’t , and while that ’s fine for the actress , it spell out trouble forMadame Web .
It’s already being mocked for its awful dialogue
countenance ’s babble out more about that poke , shall we ? release on November 15 , 2023 , it gave a first coup d’oeil of what the movie is about : spider ( obviously ) , come across into the future tense ( okayyyy ) , and ambulance drive ( wait , what ? ) . The laggard was a bit underwhelming , but it did show some promise in team up up four wanderer - heroine to combat a sort of - jazz Spider - Man villain , Ezekiel .
That hope , however , was undermined by the moving picture ’s godawful dialogue , which was promptly picked apart and mocked on Twitter . In exceptional , Johnson ’s delivery of this chestnut was widely tantalize : “ [ Ezekiel ] was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died . ” Oof . There’sa lotof clunky exposition packed in that line of reasoning , and combined with Johnson ’s unconditional rescue ( can she sound more bored ? ) , it advise the movie is going to be lessSpider - Man : No Way Homeand moreMorbius . It ’s usually a good thing when a movie goes viral months before its release , but inMadame Web‘s case , it ’s not .
There shouldn’t be a Madame Web movie in the first place
Of all the Marvel heroes Sony has the right to take , why on Earth did they resolve Madame Web was suitable of her own motion picture ? The quality initially invoke in Marvel Comics in the 1980s as a supporting character who bear witness up from time to sentence without much consequence . The thing that made her unique — she was one of the rarefied elderly , paralyzed , and unreasoning superheroes — were bit by bit foray away in the last two decade as she was made younger , more capable - corporate , and more like every other Spider Italian sandwich .
From the tone of it , Madame Webisn’t even a Madame Web movie at all ; it ’s really a Spider - Women picture , with characters such as Julia Carpenter and Mattie Franklin demand more of a key theatrical role . I do n’t have a job with that , but why shoehorn it into a Madame Web movie , and discase by all of the character ’s distinctive qualities ? The end result feels bland , and in an more and more ruffianly moviegoing environs for superheroes , that ’s as venomous as the Scorpion ’s sting .
Comic book movie fatigue is real and here to stay
the great unwashed have been complain about comic book moving-picture show fatigue since … well , sinceIron Man 2came out . Yet those complaints develop louder , and profit more believability , last twelvemonth , as one movie after another , not to name one mediocreMCU Disney+ showafter another , was meet with negative reviews and audience impassiveness . It was n’t enough to belong to a multiverse anymore , or even to be tangentially link to a more democratic fictitious character — comic script movies had to bid something unexampled or exiting , or risk modest boxful office 144 .
This was probably long overdue , and when looking back , you marvel just how the heck didCaptain Marvelmake over $ 1 billion in 2019 , but the level is , moving picture that are justOK , like that one , or straight-out spoilt likeMorbius , wo n’t cut it anymore . And there ’s no misunderstanding thatMadame Webwas developed and made in a now - bygone era when second-rater could still be sell to the masses ; all you needed was a vivid Marvel logo and a post - credits aspect that would loosen a sliver of a connective to a better , more popular flick or character . Madame Web , like every other comic book movie in 2024 and beyond , involve to stand on its own merits , but it does n’t seem to have much to entice anyone into its middling web .
Sony seems embarrassed that Madame Web is about superheroes
It ’s never a good sign when the selling for a film attempt to shroud what it ’s actually about . In the other stages of its ad political campaign , Sony appeared to hide the fact thatMadame Webwas about malign webslingers , heroic Spider - Women , or superheroes at all . Just look at the two posters above , which prioritize Dakota Johnson and the “ unconstipated ” part of the heroes and baddie in the movie .
This bizarre approach would be understanding if Johnson was a more recognizable name ( she is n’t ) or if the characters involved were more popular with the world-wide hearing ( they are n’t ) , but to launch a major movie campaign with your lead actress star blankly into the horizon is n’t a great mark of confidence that this motion picture is actually secure . Recent bill poster and commercials have done a good job of showcasing the motion-picture show ’s fantastical component , but there ’s a sense that Sony is a bit too little , too later in makingMadame Weba must - see event .
Madame Webhits theatre on February 16 .
