"Madame Web"

(Spoilers) I often like to watch films otherwise trashed by critics.  Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't.  In the case of "Madam Web" the critics are not wrong.  This film fails on pretty much every level.  Casting, concept, direction, script, you name it.  There is Dakota Johnson in the lead role as Cassandra Webb (could you hit us over the head more??)  Her character, with a typical difficult backstory, is emotionally supressed.  Which translates to emotionally flat.  Her whispery voice makes her seem like a drifting waif, not a superhero.  Her flashforwards are "Inception" level confusing and gave me a bit of a headache.  And she drowns.  A lot.  Then there is Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor who play the rambunctious teens Ms. Webb is supposed to save.  Let's start with the fact that these women are more parodies of teens than actual teens.  They each try to overcome the stereotypes they are given (good girl, bad girl, nerd) but have little success.  There is Jose Maria Yazpik, a Mexican national, who plays a Peruvian with real heart.  But looks nothing like a Peruvian native.  Which is typical for Hollywood, which clearly thinks all Hispanics are alike.  The greatest offense here, however, is Tahar Rahim, a villian who is just ... "huh"?  He starts out evil, he ends evil, and his entire motivation is to stop a future event which is continually built up throughout the film ... but NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENS.  It's just kind of a hot mess.  As an origin story, there is, of course, a lot of exposition.  The typical path of the character having a normal life, then getting the "gift", rejecting the gift, accepting the gift, then beating the crap out of the bad guy.  Squeeze in three more characters and keeping the film under two hours makes it feel choppy.  Events seem disconnected, characters can't develop.  Again, you have to love Hollywood, which clearly feels that a single female character can't carry a film on her own ("The Marvels").  It was also the first Marvel film in a long while without a cute cut-in during the credits.  Which sends the ultimate message:  The studio knew this was a bomb and didn't even bother to try.