Madame Web

It’s 1973 and somewhere deep in a Peruvian jungle, a young, pregnant arachnologist Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé) and her partner Ezekiel Stiles (Tahar Rahim) are on the lookout for a rare Peruvian spider that is said to have incredible healing powers.

While Constance’s motives may be pure, Ezekiel’s are not. Upon Constance’s discovery of the rare spider, Ezekiel betrays her, accidentally discharging his firearm and wounding Constance in the process.

As Ezekiel is fleeing the scene, the native Spider People attempt to save Constance by bringing her to a healing pool and having one of the red spiders bite her. Unfortunately Constance dies from her gunshot wound, but not before giving birth to a beautiful baby girl named Cassandra.

Flashforward to 2003. The young Cassandra (Dakota Johnson) has made a life for herself in New York City as an EMT. While on a bridge trying to save people from a car that is about to go into the river, the car and her fall into the water.

She is revived by her EMT coworker and at first thinks nothing of it. But then she begins to notice things about herself that don’t quite make sense. For example, she can see conversations or events that are going to occur before they actually happen, such as a few that occur with her EMT colleagues or at her friend Mary Parker’s (Emma Roberts) baby shower.

At first Cassie thinks nothing of it, but then when she fails to save someone from an accident she realizes she can actually see into the future.

Did you think we forgot about Ezekiel? Of course not! He’s been on the hunt for three girls that he keeps seeing in his dreams. Three teenage girls in superhero suits, who he believes are going to be the cause of his death. He is eventually able to identify them as Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor).

Cassie herself ends up running into these three teens on a subway and, after learning Ezekiel is after the girls, she vows to protect them. It’s up to her to find a way to stop him once and for all and keep the girls safe in the process.

I like to think of myself as a superhero-fan of sorts. I’ve seen all the films in Phase II and Phase III of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, twice. I’ve even seen many of the superhero movies in the DC Universe as well. When my students come up and ask, “Who are your favorite superheroes?” I tell them. “That depends. If it’s Marvel, my favorite superheroes are Spider-Man, Captain America and Black Widow. If it’s DC, it’s Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.”

So, I opened myself to the possibility of perhaps, just perhaps, maybe I’d be intrigued by “Madame Web.” Also, I always give films the benefit of the doubt, despite whatever other critics have said about a film (yes I’m aware of its shocking 13% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is lower than “Morbius”).

On one hand, “Madame Web” isn’t perfect. For example (this doesn’t spoil anything I promise) there are “surveillance techniques” that Ezekiel uses in the film that would not have been possible in 2003 (such as facial recognition of individuals in mass crowds, or at least not the way we can use facial recognition now). There are also times where the dialog between characters feels rather forced, particularly between Cassie and the girls.

Speaking of performances, and maybe to the film’s credit, I believe Dakota Johnson does give the best performance she can provide, but her three teenage co-stars don’t give her much to work with, and neither does Tahir Rahim.

Speaking of character-development, as other critics have pointed out, “Madame Web” provides very little of it and while you don’t expect too much of it in a superhero film, a little is needed to actually get the audience invested. Why should I care about Cassie? She’s just another person with supernatural powers.

As for the action in this superhero flick, the action is very problematic and I mean VERY. It puts adults, yes, but also teenage girls in some serious danger, and there are even some sequences, even as premonitions that don’t come to light (thankfully), that show serious harm coming to the teenage girls (this spoils nothing, I promise).

Content of Concern

VIOLENCE: Note: Not everything is listed here. Three people are shot and killed. A pregnant woman is shot and mortally wounded (she gives birth before she dies). A car flips over a bridge with someone inside of it who begin to drown in the river. A character is pushed out a window and falls to their death. A NSA agent is slowly poisoned and killed. An ambulance is side hit and the EMT driving the ambulance dies as a result. A woman is held in the air by the throat. A train passenger is killed. Police are killed.

A teen’s neck is snapped and another teen is choked to death. Cassie is stabbed. Someone is hit by a car twice. Car explodes. A character falls off a sign on a tall building and falls to the pavement (the sign then comes down on him). There is a scene where fireworks are exploding around people, particularly teens. A character is punched. A helicopter spirals to the ground after an explosive round hits it. Cars crash into one another. A speeding dump truck plows into an ambulance.

Cassie pulls an injured driver out of an emergency vehicle and tries to staunch his gushing wounds. She steps away covered in the man’s blood. A character drowns twice. Sims is hit by the shock of a defibrillator. People are bitten by spiders. A bird smashes into a closed window, breaking its neck.

VULGARITY: Obscene gesture (1), What the… (f-word implied) (1), a**-hole (2), a*ss, b*tch (1), sh*t (3)

PROFANITY: H*ly sh*t (2), J*sus (5), G*d (6), Oh my G*d (1)

SEXUAl: A character has sexual intercourse with another character (offscreen, and implied as they wake up in bed together in the next scene). A mother gives birth to a baby. Someone mentions “peeing” outside in the woods.

NUDITY: Girls are shown wearing midriff-baring tops. A male is shirtless in bed and his female partner is seen wearing panties. There are a couple cleavage-baring outfits. A naked child is shown during childbirth.

ALCOHOL: Some people are seen drinking beer at a party.

DRUGS: Poison is used to kill individuals. The Peruvian spider’s venom has healing powers.

OCCULT: The Spider-People use some kind of ritual in an attempt to heal Cassandra. There are themes involving precognition (seeing into the future) and astral projection.

WOKEISM: A teen mentions that her father was deported because he was in the United State illegally, and that she lives on her own and takes care of herself.

OTHER: We see someone with blood on their hands a few times. We witness a dead pigeon. Someone takes someone’s skateboard. A character goes blind and paralyzed from an accident. We hear from the teens about how very neglectful and often dismissive their parents are.

Spiritual Issues

Madame Web’s powers consist of precognition and astral projection. These are considered psychic abilities, and the Bible is clear, anything that entertains mediums, psychics, or the occult are in direct defiance and opposition of God.

“When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? —Isaiah 8:19

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” —Ezekiel 13:3

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.” —Deuteronomy 18:10-15

For more information on what the Bible says about the occult I strongly recommend you consult Christian Answer’s article on the Occult and its practices below.

Closing Thoughts

“Madame Web” is, what I would call, a much more dangerous part of the Spider-verse than the regular Spider-Man series. For one thing, there is much violence, and this isn’t the “rock-em, sock-em” superhero action we’re used to seeing. It teeters on the uncomfortable to the point, as a teacher, that even I was squirming in my seat, as I watched teenage girls killed on screen in the most grotesque manner of ways, no matter how brief.

However, what makes “Madame Web” really dangerous for viewing is accepting and opening occultic practices like clairvoyance and astral projection as part of the superhero reality (like they did with Charles Xavier and the X-Men). Even if these practices weren’t a part of this film, it just wasn’t well made to begin with: clunky dialog, a very thin plot (I mean paper thin) and bland performances just make this film a pass for Christian audiences, both children, teens, and adults. Skip this one.

• Violence: Heavy
• Occult: Moderately Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Vulgar/Crude language: Moderate
• Nudity: Mild
• Sex: Mild
• Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
• Wokeism: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

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