Based on the Marvel Comics stories and characters, Madame Web is the origin story of Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Dakota Johnson), a Manhattan/Queens paramedic who goes through life changes in this story. She is single and cordial with her colleagues, and she has a cat she tends to. She avoids most social gatherings, and her behavior is very awkward at a baby shower for Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) – sister-in-law to her work partner and friend, Ben Parker (Adam Scott).
She can care for people as her job but is not capable otherwise. Audiences will learn why in this film directed by SJ Clarkson (“Jessica Jones,” “Anatomy of a Scandal” TV series) based on the screenplay she co-wrote with Claire Parker, and Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless (Morbius writers, who created this story along with Kerem Sanga).
As seen in the trailer, Ben and Cassie are on the job saving a man from a vehicle dangling on the edge of a bridge. She rescues the car’s driver and releases him to Ben, but the unbalanced vehicle falls into the water, taking Cassie with it. It is then that while in grave danger, she has her first experience of an unexplained “vision”, and the medical professionals don’t seem to take it seriously (this is not surprising, and I’m glad the filmmakers included this).
Cassie decides to look more deeply into her background through the archives she inherited when her mother, Constance (Kerry Bishé, “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels”), died at childbirth in the early 70s. She was conducting research for a potential medical cure in the Peruvian Amazon. A security guard hired for her mama, Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim, Napolean, The Mauritanian), is seen in a photo with her in Peru. As her research and visions increase, she learns more about him and discovers why the guard makes it back to the US without her mama.
As Cassie begins to embrace her abilities, she realizes she can use her powers for good actions, including saving three unknown teenage girls from an attack while onboard a train. This rescue is a terrific action sequence and suspenseful as she must create an escape plan while on the run. While Sims is chasing the trio of girls because of his recurrent visions, his highly paid tech employee, Amaria (Zosia Mamet, “Girls” TV series), reports who the woman helping the teens is. This reveal heightens the search, and the intense and loud action scenes expected of a Marvel film come blasting through. Don’t listen to the naysayers – the girls are in charge here.
She reluctantly forges a non-maternal relationship with the three young women: Julia (Sydney Sweeney, “Euphoria”), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced, Instant Family, Sicario: Day of the Soldado), and Mattie (Celeste O’Connor, Ghostbusters: Afterlife). They each have family issues, and Cassie has little patience with them at times. They fully portray teenage life and attitude – which pushes Cassie to find a way to reach them to become a team for all of them to survive.
Cast: Mike Epps, Jose Maria Yazpik, and Naheem Garcia, among others. This film deserves high praise for the diversity of the cast that reflects the population. Dakota Johnson is great in this film.
Madame Web releases in theaters on February 14th
Source: Columbia Pictures