Summary

• Madame Web tries to be a Spider-Man film but fails to capture the essence of the character despite its cast and visual cues.
• The chemistry among the cast in Madame Web is lacking, leaving the dynamic between the heroes and villains unconvincing.
• Madame Web fails to inject life into Sony's Spider-Man Universe and may negatively impact the future of the franchise.

The reviews for cast of Madame Web.

Madame Web's characters include Dakota Johnson's Cassandra Webb, who has the power to see the future, as well as three heroines who don Spider-Man-like costumes — as does the movie's villain, Ezekiel Sims. Despite having an interesting setup that could have made Madame Web the most explosive movie of the SSU so far, it seems like the ball was dropped in multiple departments, according to Madame Web's first reactions and reviews. Based on Madame Web's negative reviews, the movie could have handled many aspects better.

Madame Web's Rotten Tomatoes score has been released.

10 Madame Web Tries To Be A Spider-Man Film But Fails

"Madame Web clearly wants to be a Spider-Man movie [...] but it's still not actually a Spider-Man movie." - Molly Freeman, Screen Rant

The latest entry in Sony's Spider-Man Universe clearly tried to be as close to a Spider-Man movie as possible, but reviewers agree that it never managed to reach that goal. Despite Madame Web having four Spider-Man-like heroines and a villain who looks like he stepped out of a Spider-Man set, the SSU film never does much with the concept besides visual notes. While Madame Web features characters related to Spider-Man — including Adam Scott as a young Uncle Ben, and his pregnant sister, Mary Parker — Madame Web's dull presentation pales in comparison to that of the Spider-Man movies.

9 Madame Web's Cast Has Little Chemistry

"This is supposed to be a gathering between friends, but none of the heroes and villains in Madame Web seem cozy with one another..." - Lisa Laman, Collider

The most exciting element in the build-up to Madame Web's release has been the small teases of the dynamic the movie's heroines will have. Sadly, the movie's reviews say all that will lead to not much, as Madame Web's cast of heroes seemingly has poor chemistry. Contrary to other SSU movies, which have focused on a single character, Madame Web's marketing has been banking on the film having multiple stars, and with the movie seemingly dropping the ball on its most anticipated aspect, there does not seem to be much to look forward to in Madame Web.

8 Madame Web Kills Any Excitement For Sony's Spider-Man Universe

"Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is now completely lifeless — and in no need of resuscitation." - Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

The SSU will release three movies in 2024: Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter, and Venom 3. While Tom Hardy's first Venom movie was a major success, the SSU has slowly fallen from its debut, with Venom: Let There Be Carnage not matching its predecessor and Morbius becoming the laughingstock of the superhero movie bubble. According to reviews, Madame Web not only fails to inject life into the SSU, but also makes the whole universe feel like an experiment gone wrong, which could impact Sony's other 2024 releases.

7 Madame Web Might Be Worse Than Morbius

"It’s astonishing to think that Sony could put out a worse product than 2022’s Morbius [...] but boy, Madame Web manages it." - Clint Worthington, The Spool

It is hard not to compare movies in the same cinematic universe, and when a film comes after a clear misfire — as is Madame Web's situation after Morbius' box office disaster — the only way possible is up. Well, that might not apply to the SSU's latest release, as some Madame Web reviews deem the film to be worse than Jared Leto's Morbius. Interestingly, both movies share writers, which might have played a role in making that comparison possible.

6 Madame Web's Dialogue Has Clear Problems

"The film operates on a need-to-know basis, forcing people to explain themselves through inelegantly breathless exposition." - Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter

One of the most frequent complaints among the Madame Web reviews is the movie's script. Described as choppy and convoluted by many who had the chance to experience the SSU's latest release, Madame Web's script also does little to help the movie's cast. The SSU film is another in the long list of superhero entries to burden its stars with a huge amount of exposition instead of natural dialogue, which affects characters' development and the proper flow of the film, breaking audience immersion constantly.

5 There Is Little To Save In Madame Web

"Burdened by bad dialogue, negligible character development, a lackluster bad guy and assorted B-movie silliness..." - Brian Truitt, USA Today

Madame Web's reviews, even the positive ones, agree that the movie had some big flaws. The long list of issues found within Madame Web includes the movie's villain being disappointing, the core heroes' dynamic not working as well as expected, how little actual superhero action the movie has, its messy dialogue, and much more. Based on all the negative aspects of the movie that have come up across Madame Web's reviews, it seems like the SSU film might be finding itself among poorly-received superhero films like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Halle Berry's Catwoman, with few elements to save it.

4 Madame Web's Villain Is Repetitive

"Because if there’s one thing Ezekiel Sims is going to do, it’s remind you that he came from nothing." - sca Rivera, IGN

Tahar Rahim has received critical acclaim for some of his previous roles; however, the actor does not appear to have turned in an effective performance as Madame Web's villain. Rahim's Eleziel Sims was described in Madame Web's reviews as a generic bad guy with weak dialogue, as well as the actor's delivery of the character's lines being said to sound incredibly unnatural. Sims' storyline and dialogue have also received criticism for being repetitive, with the villain being a disappointment.

3 Madame Web's Powers Are Barely Used

"And Clarkson never makes good use of Cassie’s supernatural gifts." - Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

The jury is still out on Dakota Johnson's performance as Madame Web's lead character. Cassandra Webb has been described by reviewers as both a lackluster character and a high point of the film due to Johnson's dry wit, failing to reach a consensus regarding the actress' performance. What has been made clear by Madame Web's negative reviews, however, is that Cassandra's powers are not properly explored. The character is said to never really use her powers of seeing the future to anticipate the villain's strikes in a fight or other engaging uses.

2 Madame Web Seems Like Setup For A Better Film

"The whole movie is just a backdoor pilot." - Austen Goslin, Polygon

Besides Johnson's Cassandra, Madame Web also focuses on Sydney Sweeney's Julia Cornwall, Isabela Merced's Anya Corazón, and Celeste O'Connor's Mattie Franklin. Madame Web's reviews agree that the young heroines are not done right by the movie, with the stars barely seeing any action in their Spider-Man-like suits. The consensus is that Madame Web only shows glimpses of how exciting it could truly be, with the SSU entry feeling like a long post-credits scene that teases a better movie — which is unlikely to come, as Madame Web's projected box office is not looking good.

1 Madame Web Can't Touch The Avengers Movies

"Madame Web was never going to touch the relatively high-concept, Disney-made Avengers movies." - Peter Debruge, Variety

Finally, Madame Web's reviews make it clear that it is no match for Marvel Studios' Avengers films. From the film's writing to its special effects to its characters, Madame Web seems to fall short of matching the high bar Marvel has set at every turn. Truth be told, Madame Web was never expected to be as great as an Avengers film; however, with the movie seemingly failing at bringing a superhero ensemble to life, Marvel Studios' successful attempts at doing the same emerge as proof that the Madame Web team might simply not have known how to properly do so.