madame

Venom only shared the universe with Spider-Man for a few months, between the premieres of Venom: There will be carnage in October 2021 and Spider-Man: No Way Home in December of the same year. Towards the end of the sequel starring Tom Hardy, the character of Eddie Brock was introduced along with his symbiote into a world where Spider-Man had the face of Tom Holland, which meant stepping on the same ground as the Avengers along with the rest of the Kevin Feige’s pantheon. But in the post-credits scene No Way Home, once the multiverse crisis was resolved, Venom was returned to its place. That easy.

Throughout the phenomenon Venom, Hardy has been very explicit with his wishes that Eddie Brock one day face his historic cartoon enemy. With what happened between There will be slaughter y No Way Home It was not so much, perhaps because it had only been a transgression quickly stopped. The rights to Spider-Man have always belonged to Sony. If Spidey has become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (UCM) it has been thanks to an agreement between Sony and Disney that is unrelated to what the first major want to build on the licenses you have. This is the so-called SSU (Sony’s Spider-Man Universe), populated by secondary characters of Spider-Man but without Spider-Man as such.

The SSU, where after all Feige has no influence, tried in There will be slaughter to take Venom to another cinematic universe. No Way Homein the hands of Feige, was quick to slam the door in their face, so the SSU was left alone with its setbacks: they were going to continue making films about characters linked to Spider-Man – months later it would arrive Morbius– and taking advantage of the spoils left by Marvel Studios, until at some point that would be possible. crossover. It’s not something that depends entirely on Sony, which brings us to a very curious juncture in a genre whose flow depends so much on post-credits scenes and the promise of future adventures. Since the protagonist of Madame Web has the power to see the future and the new SSU movie lacks a post-credits scene, it is easy to sense the nonsense that is coming our way.

We are all Dakota Johnson

The alternatively called Spider-Man Universe of Supporting Characters – the acronym “UPSS” seems more appropriate – is not fooling anyone. It is possible that the two films Venom They stimulate the complicity of certain viewers because of how light and intentionally stupid they are, but beyond their hypothetical grace they still represent the most insane part of superhero inflation in Hollywood. One that may evaporate this year, since Feige’s machinery hit rock bottom with The Marvels –Deadpool and Wolverine It is the only UCM premiere scheduled for 2024 – and DC did the same with Aquaman and the lost kingdom awaiting the subsequent reboot by James Gunn in 2025.

Madame Webhowever, precedes two more UPSS films: Kraven the Hunter in August and Venom 3 in November. One might think that it is Sony’s opportunity to regain credibility once the Disney and Warner Bros. brands have fallen in combat, but the problem persists: it is impossible to believe these films. The only healthy way to relate to them is through mockery and memes: that is why the relevance of Morbius was encrypted in the Twitter jokes of It’s Morbin’ Time –capable of moving Sony to re-release Jared Leto’s film only to fail again, and thus reinforce the noise–, and that is why the trailer for Madame Web the public rescued an absurd phrase to repeat over and over again: “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.” .

But there was someone who apparently didn’t realize that the UPSS is the worst place in Hollywood to go to right now: Dakota Johnson herself, who plays Cassandra Webb here. Johnson changed representatives shortly after the first trailer for Madame Web. It was inevitable to deduce then that Johnson was not aware of the dilapidated state of the brand when he signed the contract, and the world confirmed it during the memorable promotion of the film directed by SJ Clarkson (in his feature film debut after working for years in series of television). The actress of Fifty Shades of Grey He has barely been able to hide his displeasure, speaking with disdain of the film or holding very tense interviews while helping to reinforce the hilarious side of the whole thing.

While Madame Web approached the billboard to end the embarrassment, Sony’s burning offices issued news about other secondary Spider-Man characters. Bad Bunny was about to play El Muerto, Donald Glover has committed to being someone called Hypno-Hustler. They are unknown names, which require much more mastery of comic history than Madame Web may need. Although this one doesn’t make it easy either: as happened before with Morbius, she had never dealt with Spider-Man in the movies before, and also the version of the character that we meet in the film is somewhat peculiar.

Originally Madame Web was an old, blind and paralyzed lady, who from her elaborate wheelchair saw the future and helped the wall-crawler. She doesn’t look much like Dakota Johnson, and the reason is because Madame Web It aims to act as a prequel to that Spider-Man story that we all know… but we also don’t fully understand what it is specifically in the Sony franchise. The film is set in 2003, after a few reshoots who tried to rectify the fact that in their first versions the story took place in the 90s. It’s all really complicated, and from this monumental mess emerges an unexpected virtue for the film: Johnson’s performance.

Casandra Webb is a surly woman with poor social skills, who, as she acquires precognitive powers, must save three women who in the future could be variants of Spider-Woman (or something like that). Her visible confusion at this position, her discomfort at calico size, is Johnson’s confusion and discomfort. And so is ours.

The slow cancellation of the future

The idea of ​​setting Madame Web in the past it would justify an older Cassandra Webb guiding Peter Parker once he was bitten by the radioactive spider years later: that is why his famous Uncle Ben appears in Clarkson’s film, with the features of Adam Scott. Likewise, they are details that it is better not to think too much about, because nothing makes much sense or justifies the limp entertainment that Sony has perpetrated. By nature Madame Web It has to plant seeds for future films and its characters are supposed to do much more than what we see them do here, but it is unlikely that the story will give rise to future sequels or spin-offs.

Which increases the paradoxical mood of the film. Johnson brings some harsh and occasionally unintentional humor to his demeanor throughout the film, once he has to protect three young girls destined for superheroism. They are played by Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and the now very popular Sydney Sweeney, who curiously, under the Sony umbrella, has starred in one of the first hits from 2024 with romantic comedy Anyone but you. None of these three young women, however, have yet achieved powers, so added to the fact that Madame Web has no combat skills, we come across another most curious circumstance, which is that the film can barely have action scenes like such. Its protagonists are superheroines, but they cannot fight.

Under these absolutely crazy wickers, Madame Web comes very close to inspiring sympathy. Johnson’s withdrawal, eager to collect the check as soon as possible, is aligned with the need for his predictions to modulate sequences of trial and error, where Tahar Rahim’s inane villain cannot be defeated with blows, but rather through tricks. style Home alone. This leads, why should we deceive ourselves, to novel moments in the bloated iconography of superheroic cinema, where something as unprecedented as calculating the minutes of Toxic by Britney Spears is essential to save one’s life and be able to continue waiting for these characters to do what superheroes usually do.

But they are still eccentric sparks. In the end Madame Web succumbs to each and every one of the vices of a genre in a deep coma, ominously enlarged through a horrible production, an abysmal characterization of characters – thank goodness that Sweeney is already a star who has mastered juggling with ridicule in Euphoria, because otherwise this would sink his career – and the predictably horrendous digital effects. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, in the Morbius or in the latest installments of DC and Marvel Studios, but in Madame Web Everything shines brighter because of Johnson’s attitude and the script’s insistence on promising a heroic and spectacular future.

A future that, of course, is already canceled. It only seems that it is not because of the movie simulations that the industrial apparatus persists in continuing to generate today, but there are signs in Madame Web that someone is slowly realizing it. Loading the post-credits scenes is defining, because without post-credits scenes these movies are nothing. They never have been, really, so let’s give thanks to Madame Web for having taken that step.

2024-02-14 05:07:48
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