Fans drew a comparison between the terribly-made Dakota Johnson film, Madame Web, and the critically acclaimed Michael B. Jordan film series, Creed. The idea for a comparison between the two films arises from the fact that both explore the origin story of a supporting character from a massively successful IP. While Creed came from the Rocky universe, Madame Web was Sony’s standalone origin story from its Spider-Man Universe.
While Creed received a highly favorable review from critics scoring 95% on Rotten Tomatoes from 315 reviews, Madame Web only managed to receive a 13% score from its current 149 reviews. It appears that Sony failed the Spider-Man fandom by making a film that no one asked or cared about.
Why Did Creed Succeed And Madame Web Fail As Unpopular Entries From Popular IPs?
Madame Web featured an ensemble cast including Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, and Tahar Rahim. However, none of this talented cast could save the movie from being a disaster. While the film still awaits a final verdict at the box office, the critical reviews suggest that the film will struggle to surpass its gross budget.
Many fans questioned Sony’s intentions behind this poorly-made Spider-Man spinoff. The doom of the film began when the trailer was brutally trolled for the wooden dialogues in the film. Any fans who thought the theatrical version may subvert their expectations were left completely disappointed. The characters were written too thin, the plot was underwhelming, and the dialogues proved to be even worse.
While the fans continue to recover from the poor performances of their favorite actors and the distasteful one-liners in the movie, some did a deep dive into what went wrong with the movie. One fan suggested that even though Madame Web was an unpopular character in the Spider-Man universe, the film’s failure cannot be attributed to that factor alone.
The fan drew comparisons between Madame Web and the Creed film series from the Rocky franchise, which focused on the son of a supporting character in the original films. They insisted that what Creed excelled at and what Madame Web failed to achieve was execution. The announcement of Creed at the time was received with skepticism from Rocky fans. However, the film delivered strong performances, impactful emotional moments, and the return of Sylvester Stallone himself.
Execution really is everything. You might say a prequel about a minor Spider-Man supporting character might've been doomed from the jump, but remember that time they made a sequel about the son of a supporting character from ROCKY and it was like the best movie you've ever seen pic.twitter.com/f2MdYTJDiz
— Dan Schkade (@DanSchkade) February 15, 2024
But trying to base a solo-film on a paralyzed, blind, octogenarian oracle that almost no one has ever heard of, with no fan-base to tap into, surrounded by characters no one has heard of, without the main character of the franchise (Spider-Man) was just a HORRIBLE business… pic.twitter.com/w3QwR06xZF
— WannabeSpiderMan (@WannabeSpidey) February 15, 2024
and the storyline was related to the silliest, most jingoistic Rocky film too.
— edmundhee (@edmundhee1) February 15, 2024
I think Cracked even included Creed on a “Upcoming movie reboots that are doomed” list when it was first announced.
— dochess (@dochess6) February 15, 2024
Agreed. It’s all about the writing and effort that’s put into a story. Doesn’t if it’s a new character or obscure one, the writing has to be strong to begin with. Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t have a great track record and the trailers for madam web and kraven are awful
— Esco (@lesc0) February 15, 2024
Yes, because Rocky was IN it.
Sony somehow thinks that is a good idea making Spiderman spin offs without Spiderman.— Agustin Ezequiel (@Crazy97Ezequiel) February 16, 2024
Creed went on to spawn two more sequel films, that expanded upon the story of Michael B. Jordan‘s character. However, Madame Web kept little to no connection to the main character, i.e., Spider-Man. The entire plot did nothing to establish the blind psychic that fans know from the comics, except for a final scene that largely felt out of place.
Critics Bashed Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web
Madame Web received an abysmally low 13% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Several critics went on to bash the film, even calling it the “worst comic book movie” yet (via Forbes) and an “embarrassing mess” (via The Independent). Sony did not lift the review embargo on the film until the day of release and the film was not widely screened for critics, hinting at the low confidence of the studio on the film.
Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter shared that Madame Web “doesn’t meet even the lowest expectations” and called it “an airless and stilted endeavor.” Gyarkye criticized the “mechanical screenplay” of the film and the “inelegantly breathless exposition”. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian did not hold back his words as he criticized the film’s “lousy network TV effects, uninvolving action and unfunny and inelegant dialogue.”
Unfortunately, the film is the debut directorial venture for S.J. Clarkson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Claire Parker and the writing team of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.
