When Mom and I went to see The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in theatres, one of the trailers before it was Madame Web. We were both immediately interested. Seriously, we were like, what is this? We wanna see it. It was such a good trailer. And that's …
When Mom and I went to seeThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in theatres, one of the trailers before it was Madame Web. We were both immediately interested. Seriously, we were like, what is this?We wanna see it. It was such a good trailer. And that's saying something. A trailer is supposed to make you want to see the movie. Neither one of us had ever heard of Madame Web. We were self-aware enough to know she had something to do with Spiderman. But that's all we knew.
Check out the trailer below. Also, Billie Eilish? Perfect song. Ever. Seriously. It fits so damn well. Love it.
We went into the movie, and for once, I did no research on who the heck Madame Web was. At all. Normally, I do some research. It's a problem. Why is it a problem? Because then you go in, pre-knowing, and honestly, it can sometimes take away from the movie itself. You go in, and you already have a preconceived notion of who this character is supposed to be.
(Trust me, if I had done research before I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier (my favorite MCU movie ever), it would've ruined the entire movie.)
So I didn't do research.
This time, I didn't.
Sure, Paul told me about her and how she basically holds the multiverse together (which is an incredibly simplistic explanation) and is like a mentor to Spiderman, but that's it. Oh, and that she was an old lady who was blind and in a wheelchair. I think she's a mutant in the comics? (Check me; I could be wrong.) I did not know what to expect from this new character.
Dakota Johnson plays Cassandra Web. You probably know her from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie trilogy. I've never seen any of those movies, and I don't believe I've seen anything else she's been in, so I don't know what her acting chops are. I will say that I liked her in this—a lot.
Cassandra "Cassie" Web is an EMT. It's 2003. Her partner? Benjamin Parker. Yeah, you know who that is.
Cassandra is awkward—sassy but awkward. She doesn't know how to interact with families. She grew up in foster care. Her mother, Constance, died when she was born in the forest of Peru, searching for a special spider. She's betrayed by Ezekiel Sims and dies after giving birth to Cassandra. Cassie has some family issues, wondering why her mother would risk her life—both their lives, really.
More on that in a bit, though.
During a dangerous call, Cassie ends up drowning. Her partner, Ben, saves her. But after that, she starts getting these visions.
What I liked about this movie was that she didn't immediately say, "Oh my god, I have powers!"
It always annoys me in movies where the person gets powers and automatically says, "YES. I HAVE POWERS." No. That's not reality.
I don't know about you,but if I started having visions and then shit came true, I wouldn't assume I was Phoebe from Charmed. I'd be like, "Oh, fuck, I've finally cracked."
Cassie didn't just assume. She thought deja vu, then she started going to doctors, thinking it was something neurological or she was going crazy. It took her a bit to realize, okay, she really can see the future. I can appreciate that.
There's this scene with a bird where she finally starts to understand that she is having visions.
What I like about this movie is how Cassie had already met the three girls (whose names I don't remember, sorry!) before she ever had powers. They were already connected. I liked that tidbit because it adds something special. They weren't just connected because Cassie got powers and they're supposed to get Spider powers. They were always connected. Kind of makes you wonder about destiny and fate a bit.
Back on track.
So, Ezekiel wants to kill these girls because he saw his death, and it's connected to them.
This dude.
It's a bit of a weak plot point, but I can get with it. He doesn't want to die. This is the same old, tired story, a tale as old as time when it comes to villains fearing death (looking at you, Voldemort).
So he uses some shady tech (that, honestly, I'm not even sure they had in 2003, but okay, Sony Pictures) to find these teenage girls, so, you know, he can kill them.
Don't forget the teenage part of that sentence.
Cassie decides to protect them. All three girls have their own backstory. Even if it's short and not really elaborated on, you get them. They all have their own demons. I love Cassie's interactions with these girls. She doesn't really want to protect them, heck, she doesn't even like them (teenagers), yet she grows to care for them. And them for her. I also like that she's an EMT. She was already a hero before she ever got powers.
I really liked this movie. It was edgy and trippy, and it introduced us to a completely different character we'd never seen before. To different characters, we'd never seen before. Also, I liked that none of them were in superhero costumes. The girls didn't have their powers. Cassie has visions, but it's not like super strength or anything like that. Ezekiel wasn't always in his villain costume, either.
One of my favorite scenes is when Cassie goes to Peru to get answers about her visions. She finds out the truth about her mother. How her mother was told that she (Cassie) wouldn't survive due to a disease. Her mother was told her baby would die. That there was no hope. So Constance went to Peru for a chance. A chance that her baby would live a full life. All these years, Cassie questioned her mother's motives and thought that she didn't love her, and that's why she risked her life. Turns out that everything was for Cassie. Her mother loved her so much that she risked everything for a chance to save her daughter.
And she did.
I may have teared up some, ngl.
All in all, I really liked this movie. . .until the end.
The end. . it was bad. Cassie losing her sight, right? Also is in a wheelchair. The girls come to visit her. They ask her how her sight is, which is like a double entendre with her visions and her being blind. She says something like I'm seeing better than I ever was. . .and then does this really cheesy thing of what she sees.
It totally took away from the rest of the movie. By having that flash of them in their costumes and Cassie's speech, which was so not her. She wouldn't give that speech.
That ending completely ruined that movie, which really sucks. If they had ended it with Cassie just smirking? That would've been perfect.
But they didn't. They made it cheesy, and yeah. No.
This sucks because I just know that we're not gonna see any of these characters again. Madame Web bombed at the box office. And again, like with The Marvels, I do think it's because it's a mostly female-led movie. AND, I don't know who controlled marketing, but them showing the future scenes of the girls in costume? MISTAKE. Then everyone expected them all to be suited up. . and they weren't. Those scenes were all future. The girls hadn't received their powers yet.
So yeah, Madame Web? Good movie up until the last 5 minutes. I doubt we'll see Cassie and her girls again. I don't even know how this movie fits into the Spiderverse. Or if it even does.
If you need something to watch, definitely give it a watch. Just be prepared for a terrible ending.
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