Film: Madame Web
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O`Connor, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott
Rating: 2/5
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Runtime: 116 min

This feature debut from longtime television director S.J. Clarkson is yet another sub-standard arachnid-related origin story based on Marvel comics. Given the recent spate of Marvel duds, this one coming from the Sony stable, there wasn’t much expectation going in. The film may not be as bad as expected but it certainly doesn’t have what it takes to enthuse the audience (in large numbers) into the theatre. The spider-man premise feels like deja vu.

‘Madame Web’ has Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a clairvoyant paramedic linked to a secret history that involves a rare spider and the Amazon forest, forging a relationship with three young women - shy Julia (Sydney Sweeney), bookish Anya (Isabela Merced) and rebellious Mattie (Celeste O’Connor), destined for powerful futures. How the three young women find their superpower is left for another movie. Here they are the random target of wealthy and obsessed Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) who can also see the future and knows these three will end up killing him when they get older.