Another day, another reminder that we’re living through one of the darkest times in the history of superhero cinema—one where the final cut of Madame Web was deemed appropriate to put into theaters.
It didn’t have to be this way, of course; a newbie clairvoyant who finds herself way out of her depth when she becomes the only thing standing in the way of three teenage girls and the murderous hands of Ezekiel Sims? There’s no reason one couldn’t turn that premise into a solid or even great story, which makes the severity of Madame Web‘s failures sting even more.
On top of that, the film didn’t even have the cinematic universe burden weighing it down, and that was even decided right from the get-go. Speaking recently to Collider, Madame Web producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained how freeing Madame Web from the responsibility of textually acknowledging other Sony Spider-Man Universe films helped keep the spotlight on protagonist Cassie Webb.
Before I was involved there was a script, and before S.J. was involved as well. Both of us really saw the advantage in not having the burden of the attachment of all this other stuff that has gone on. You’d be silly to think you don’t pay some homage to it and some acknowledgment, which we do, but it really freed us in a way to tell a pure story, I think. And so, for both of us, that allowed us to get into what I love about Dakota’s journey… So, for me, freeing ourselves from that obligation, in a sense, was very freeing and allowed us to do a more complex ride with the hero.
Now, it’s always a good idea to make sure you’re making a movie for itself rather than in service of a brand, but let’s be honest; it was no difficult task for Madame Web to avoid connecting to the SSU given that the franchise is so grossly incoherent on all levels that there’s barely anything to substantially reference anyway.
Secondly, if it was so important to tell a “pure story,” they certainly could have fooled just about everyone who saw the movie as it is. The skeleton may have been there once before, but there’s no overcoming a last-minute script overhaul and subsequent performances that take you right out of the movie, assuming one could ever get into the film in the first place.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
