PG-13 2024 ‧ Action/Sci-fi ‧ 1h 54m
I didn’t have high expectations for Madame Web Brought To You By Pepsi. Although it’s a “Marvel” movie, it’s a “Sony Marvel” movie (Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man and his supporting characters) and Sony’s track record is not great. Not having high expectations isn’t accurate; in fact, I had meager expectations. Congrats to Madame Web for exceeding my very low expectations. If you recognize this as a B movie with some spotty acting, dialogue, and plausibility, you might have fun at the movie. If you are expecting any type of excellence, look elsewhere.
Madame Web Brought To You By Pepsi is the origin story of Cassandra “Cassie” Webb, aka Madame Web, set in 2003. If you are familiar with the character in the comics, Madame Web is a blind, wheelchair-bound, elderly woman who can see the future. So if you were casting the movie, you would immediately think, “We need Dakota Johnson!” Well, they got her! Because of blah, blah, blah, Cassie needs to protect three teen girls from an assassin named Ezekiel Sims who received powers from a spider he stole from a Peruvian spider cult. If you are a Spider-Man comic aficionado, you’ll recognize Ezekiel’s name and the Peruvian spider cult. The movie combines traits of comic book characters Ezekiel Sims and Morlun. As is frequently the case, the book was better even if it was a comic book.
The three teens Cassie needs to protect don’t have powers but we are made aware that in the future, all three will be variations of Spider-Woman. These three characters are a weak point in the movie. They are poorly-written teens who don’t act like real people. They are a little whiny. Despite being on the run from a killer, they decide to flirt and table dance with some teen boys. They don’t have any depth. I would describe one of them as “has a skateboard.”
The theater marquee will call the movie “Madame Web,” so why am I adding “brought to you by Pepsi”? Because this movie has some of the most in-your-face product placement I’ve seen in quite some time. There are at least 4 occasions where I saw the characters with Pepsi or the Pepsi name. This includes the movie’s finale which takes place in front of a giant neon Pepsi sign.
Commentaires