Early reviews and reactions to Madame Web have begun trickling in. For those who had high hopes for the movie, though, seeing Madame Web trending alongside Morbius on X likely instantly shattered that hope.
Morbius was the third entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) and quickly became one of the most infamous films of 2022 due to its terrible quality. Although it did gain traction online due to meme culture, it flopped at the box office twice and earned a meager 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s safe to assume no studio in Hollywood, not even Sony, wants their movies to stir comparisons to Morbius, but here we are.
Given the SSU’s struggles, expectations for Madame Web were not very high. However, it still boasted potential as the SSU’s first female-led film and the first to bring in the whole Spider-Man family. The movie follows Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic who begins developing clairvoyant traits. Her ability to see into the future leads her to three young women who must work out how they are all connected and what their common enemy, spider-powered Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), wants from them.
Early reactions to Madame Web are not very good
Unfortunately, early reviews suggest that Madame Web will be the SSU’s latest misfire. The film has, indeed, drawn comparisons to Morbius. Some reviewers have gone as far as to call it even worse than Morbius, though that could be an exaggeration. Still, on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie’s film score stands at a low 22% based on 41 reviews, which isn’t far off from Morbius’ score. Since reviews are still coming in, the final score could change. For now, the consensus is that Madame Web is a Morbius-level movie.
Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz wrote, “Today, I owe Morbius an apology because it turned out that Sony Pictures just needed a little more time and a whole lot of misplaced confidence to make an even worse Spidey spinoff, the astoundingly abysmal Madame Web.” Similarly, Variety described it as “a hollow Sony-made Spider-Man spinoff with none of the charm you expect from even the most basic superhero movie.”
Critics mainly complained about the campy dialogue, poor character development, and subdued performance from Johnson. Many also described it as yet another example of Sony’s lack of direction when it comes to the SSU. Some of the unique criticism might actually pique viewers’ interest to see just how absurd it can get, as Rolling Stone described Madame Web as “the Cats: The Movie of superhero movies.” However, a few critics also gave the film positive reviews, arguing that the “cheesy dialogue” and “corny villain” were true to the comic books and praising the movie for being action-packed, hilarious, and “celebrating female leadership.”
On social media, Madame Web is having a difficult time avoiding the numerous Morbius comparisons.
Is Madame Web really worse than Morbius? It’s hard to tell by just the early reviews. After all, female-led films do sometimes draw unnecessarily harsh reviews, as seen with The Marvels. In this case, though, Madame Web has far less reviewers in its corner than The Marvels did, raising further concern for its quality. Still, it could prove to be the next Venom rather than the next Morbius. Both Venom films have received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics but received overwhelmingly positive reviews from audiences, who made the film series such a commercial success that Venom 3 is on the way.
Ultimately, the Morbius comparisons are concerning. However, its status as a female-led film and Sony’s ability to appeal to audiences more than critics with the Venom films suggest that viewers should see Madame Web for themselves before reaching conclusions. There’s still a bit of hope alive that the movie won’t entirely be the second coming of Morbius.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
