When all is said and done, humanity will be divided into two factions: those who believe in the power of Madame Web, and those who reject it. Like any masterpiece that takes time to grow into its status as a cult classic, this film has been severely misunderstood, and perhaps even abused, if we are to use strong but appropriate language for the treatment that this wonderful and complex film has been given. In an era where very few mainstream filmmakers are allowed to be original, we have S.J. Clarkson, making her feature directorial debut after nearly two decades directing for television, and proving that there is still room for bespoke, insightful dramas, even within a genre that is as notoriously stifling as the superhero film. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film tells the origin story of Cassandra Webb, who would go on to be known as Madame Web (as they say, be named after the job you want rather than the one you have), a web-slinging, apparently blind paraplegic with the power to see the future and split herself into several ghost versions that bend the space-time continuum with seemingly very little consequence on reality. One has to wonder whether or not it took so many years to actually bring this character to screen may have something to do with the fact that she’s perhaps not the easiest character to introduce, especially as we move away from the most excessive, intentionally over-the-top superhero films of days of yore, and instead focus on grittier, more complex character studies. None of this factors into this film, which is formed from the recent attempts to expand on popular franchises by exploring characters that exist on the periphery, and much like Venom and Morbius, which came before it in this loose cinematic series, Madame Web proves to be far more entertaining than many of the more mainstream projects that exceed it in popularity, which is one of the great ironies of a film that was almost immediately doomed from the moment it was announced.

The superhero genre is one in which logic doesn’t make sense – as much as those in charge of legitimising the genre may want you to believe, this is not a category of film in which rational thought should ever be a factor, at least not if you want to garner as much potential entertainment as possible. Madame Web is the rare film that realizes its inherent wackiness, and rather than layering on grit and realism, it embraces the outright lunacy and makes it a point to emphasize the ridiculous nature of the narrative. However, it makes us wonder whether this was an active choice – Clarkson has not directed a film previously, and her work on television positions her as more of a director-for-hire rather than someone with a clear authorial voice (although we can only hope that Madame Web changes this, as it is a very promising sign of what is to come if this is the level of skill she brings to a production such as this), and even putting aside the inherent risk of giving such a big production to someone who has not previously directed a feature before, there is clearly some degree of intentionality in how the film presents its story. It puts on a stoic appearance, and it tries excruciatingly hard to come across as extremely serious – and in the process, it becomes more unintentionally comedic than we could have ever imagined. The writing is questionable, to say the least, which makes the fact that the film was written by no less than four screenwriters, with Clarkson being joined by Claire Parker and the writing duo of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, whose previous work includes such timeless masterpieces as Dracula Untold, the gritty Power Rangers reboot and Morbius, a film that’s cultural cache will always be intrinsically tied to how impoverished nearly every aspect of the film was, and how it was appropriated as a cultural phenomenon for many reasons, with absolutely none of them having to do with the merits of the film itself. There is so much inherent silliness scattered throughout this film, it’s staggering that it managed to get through without major edits being made. Yet, this is all part of the appeal – there’s something so endearing about a film that is extremely committed to the art of being mediocre, it becomes exceptional in the process.

In fact, we can even extend this conversation to the fact that Madame Web is indeed not like your typical superhero film, because it surprisingly doesn’t have a single superhero anywhere to be seen – their alter-egos are certainly present, and there’s a villain who dons the costume of what looks to be a superhero, but the titular character is not once ever referred to as Madame Web, and the characters that would go on to play various versions of Spider-Girl are only seen in costume right at the very end in a dream sequence that is setting up for a film that I highly doubt will ever get made. Clarkson is conveying a very clear message with this decision: the best way to avoid being needlessly compared to decades of great superhero films is quite simply to not make one. Instead, she chooses to make something that resembles a psychological horror combined with an off-the-wall action comedy, with a few satirical and romantic elements thrown in for good measure (although the romance is not even part of the main plot, and doesn’t involve any character of consequence), but only in the sense that she cobbles together a series of scenes that feel like the first act of every conceivable genre, throwing them together in such a way that it is both wickedly entertaining and extremely frustrating. Madame Web is proof that you can get a film that consists entirely of exposition – there is not a single moment in this film where a character is not engaging in the most heavy-handed, over-the-top explanation of events, and the result is a film that is just two hours of setting up for a climax that doesn’t quite arrive in the way we imagine it would. Everything that we have come to expect from the superhero genre is entirely inverted in this film, which turns absolutely every technique and trick on its head in fascinating ways. This may seem like harsh criticism, but it’s the aspect that makes Madame Web so captivating – everything that could go wrong with this film does, and yet it still emerges as being far more entertaining, both as an action film and a comedy (whether it intended to be one is another matter entirely), than just about any other mainstream superhero film we have seen in years. In a cinematic landscape where this genre is over-produced to the point of exhaustion, finding a film that opts for a more laissez-faire style of storytelling is nothing if not a breath of fresh air in every way.

Part of making a good superhero film is choosing a star who can genuinely commit to the role – and as someone who has been singing her praises since the beginning, Dakota Johnson seemed like a genuinely peculiar choice to lead this film, since her style of acting does not necessarily lend itself to the requirements of such a role. There was the worry that she would suddenly be forced to abandon all the qualities that make her such an interesting actor in favour of this role, such as her more introverted, subtle style of acting that is more about getting to the root of what makes her character complex rather than acting on a surface level. The great relief when we realize this is not the case cannot ever be understated – Madame Web features the same style we have come to expect from Johnson. The awkwardness, slightly cynical and uncomfortable persona she has brilliantly cultivated, combined with a sardonic sense of humour and the feeling that she doesn’t quite want to be in whatever room she is currently in – these are all factored into the performance, and without even an ounce of sarcasm, it improves the film considerably. Having a star who not only refuses to change her style to fit the character but who actively doesn’t want to be present is fascinating. She’s genuinely doing the bare minimum with the character, but considering how so many of these films tend to expect their actors to over-exert themselves to the point of exhaustion, Johnson’s chose to do very little is an inspired choice. The same cannot be said for Tahar Rahim, whose entire performance is condensed into the single sentence of he’s a villain because he’s evil, and he’s evil because he’s a villain. His questionable accent choice (of which most of his dialogue was dubbed during post-production), combined with his gleeful desire to go over the top in every scene, makes his version of this forgettable villain extremely compelling in a peculiar way. For once, we have a superhero film where the performances don’t matter, and we still get the same experience out of it, which is part of what makes Madame Web so revealing as an entry into an overwrought and frankly quite tacky genre.

Madame Web is a film that is simultaneously outrageously bad and brilliant – this kind of wall-to-wall absurdity is rarely glimpsed nowadays, and it is such a joyful moment to sit in that theatre and realize that we have been given a film that is so tremendously bad in how it is written and cobbled together, we can’t help but feel anything but absolute glee, since it signals that the era of jumbled, convoluted and incredibly confusing superhero films is not entirely gone and that the polish and micro-managed cinematic universes so carefully curated by over-protective studio moguls don’t yet have the monopoly on the genre. The best description we can give this film is that it is a superhero film for people who don’t particularly care for the genre as a whole (or don’t appreciate having to watch dozens of films and television series to understand every new addition to this cinematic universe), but also who have a fiery passion to see the genre go for the low-hanging fruit. Make no mistake, I am entirely earnest in my belief that this is a cult classic in the making – the genuinely shoddy filmmaking, the poor writing that feels generated by artificial intelligence, the questionable acting decision by actors who are genuinely very good at their craft, and the overall misuse of tone and register all collide to create this absolutely beautiful disaster of a film, one that we cannot resist immersing ourselves in. A film that embodies the spirit of being so bad it becomes wildly entertaining, Madame Web is best enjoyed by those who have the kind of twisted, sardonic sense of humour necessary to appreciate the more camp qualities of this film – ludicrously tragic and tragically ludicrous, this film is quite an accomplishment, a bold and unflinching jumble of ideas, anchored by a bizarre leading performance and featuring some of the most laughably bad writing we have seen in years. Destined to become a cult classic, Madame Web is truly something to behold, and for that, we are truly appreciative since every genre needs the occasional gonzo work of art from time to time.