Via 2024’s Madame Web, we get an extension of the Spider-Man universe. Set in 2003, the film introduces us to Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson), a paramedic in New York.

After a near-death experience, Cassie starts to experience visions. Initially she dismisses these as weird anomalies, but it soon becomes clear she can see the future.

Cassie’s mother Constance (Kerry Bishé) died during childbirth in 1973, and Cassie eventually learns that powers from a healing Amazonian spider got passed onto her. As Cassie grapples with her new abilities, she battles with Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), a colleague of Constance’s with some of his own super-abilities who seeks to kill three mysterious women (Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and Sydney Sweeney) before they get to him.

Over the last few years, comic book movies have experienced a predictable backlash. As such a dominant branch of films for about 20 years, this became inevitable.

Really, the genre hit its commercial peak with 2019’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) capping epic Avengers: Endgame. After that, superhero flicks had nowhere to go but down.

Plenty of these post-Endgame movies have gotten ample criticism and weak box office, but the knives really came out for Web. It generated poor ticket sales and some of the genre’s worst reviews.

Does Web deserve all the venom – pun intended – sent its way? Nope – while a flawed film, it never turns into the cinematic disaster so many claim it to be.

Granted, it seems possible that I reacted semi-positively to Web due to all the brutal reviews. Though I saw the movie relatively early in its theatrical run, I nonetheless already knew audiences and critics regarded it as a terrible flick.

When I anticipate a historically awful film, it seems tough for the actual product to live down to that level. However, it does happen, as I’ve seen more than a few movies just as atrocious as their reputations indicate.

I simply don’t regard Web in this category. People compared it to the truly horrific Cats and wanted to dub it as one of the worst movies ever made.

Neither feels accurate. Cats was a genuinely terrible film that deserved all its criticism – and more – whereas Web just seems… meh.

Don’t interpret that to mean I find Web to offer a good movie, as I don’t. It comes with bunches of flaws and never quite gets into a groove.

Much of Web feels like exposition, exposition and more exposition. The script never breathes, so it can come across as stiff and lifeless.

The performances don’t help. Never the most natural actor, Johnson tends to seem wooden and awkward, and no one in the supporting cast does much to compensate.

Toss in perfunctory action scenes, iffy pacing and less than convincing visual effects and what do you get? A problematic comic book flick, that’s what.

But again: none of this makes Web a genuinely bad comic book flick. Even with its issues, the basic themes and narrative conjure just enough intrigue to make the film moderately watchable.

Admittedly, “moderately watchable” sounds like a tepid endorsement. However, when you hear so many people view a film as a campy, historically inept piece of trash, “moderately watchable” turns into high praise.

It’s that accusation of “so bad it’s good” that really doesn’t make sense to me. Web never stands out from the crowd enough to achieve the status of “laughably awful”.

As noted, I don’t find it to become a bad movie period, but even in its flaws, it doesn’t provide moments that prompt me to guffaw at its silliness. While Web can seem bland and inert, it never delivers the goofy unintentional comedy that would make it noteworthy ala Cats or other “classics” such as 2004’s Catwoman..

All of this leaves Web as a perfectly passable superhero movie. Despite its issues, it still tells a reasonably interesting story that works better than the brutal reviews indicate.

Footnote: unlike almost all its genre peers, no added footage shows up during or after the end credits.

Madame Web appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a very strong presentation.

In terms of sharpness, the image seemed solid. It displayed tight, accurate images from start to finish.

I witnessed no signs of jaggies or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. No source flaws marred the image either.

The film’s palette favored Hollywood standard teal and orange. Within those constraints, the hues seemed full and well-rendered.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, and shadows offered nice clarity. This became a consistently fine image.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Web, it satisfied just as much as the picture. As anticipated, the many action sequences offered the most engaging moments.

These used the various channels to create a good sense of place and action, with battle elements that zipped around the room. We found an engrossing soundscape from start to finish.

Audio quality was positive. Music showed good boldness and clarity, while speech appeared distinctive and concise.

Effects came across as accurate and dynamic, with nice low-end response. The soundtrack fit the material and added zing to the proceedings.

When we head to extras, we find five featurettes, and Future Vision goes for six minutes, 51 seconds. It offers info from executive producer Adam Merims, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, co-writer/director SJ Clarkson, and actors Sydney Sweeney, Isabel Merced, Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, Celeste O’Connor and Tahar Rahim.

The program examines story and characters. It feels largely superficial.

Casting the Web lasts nine minutes, nine seconds. It brings remarks from Johnson, di Bonaventura, O’Connor, Scott, Sweeney, Clarkson, Merced, Merims, Rahim, and actor Emma Roberts.

As implied, the featurette looks at the actors and their performances, though we hear a little about Clarkson’s work as well. Expect a fair amount of praise and not much more.

Next comes Oracle of the Page. It runs four minutes, 54 seconds and involves O’Connor, Merced, Sweeney, Clarkson, di Bonaventura, Merims, and Johnson.

“Page” discusses the source comics and their adaptation as well as the characters’ powers. This turns into another mediocre reel.

Fight Like a Spider occupies five minutes, 31 seconds. It gives us notes from Sweeney, Rahim, O’Connor, Johnson, Merced, di Bonaventura, director of photography Mauro Fiore, stunt coordinator Brycen Counts, production designer Ethan Tobman and VFX supervisor Michael Brazelton.

We find notes about actor training, stunts and some effects. Though still somewhat fluffy, “Fight” gives us a decent array of notes.

After this we go to Easter Eggs – The Many Threads of Madame Web, a three-minute, 55-second reel. Narrate by Clarkson, it highlights easy-to-miss links to other Spider-projects and becomes a short but fun overview.

Called “You Died”, a Deleted Scene takes up 41 seconds. It offers a minor follow-up between Ben and Cassie after her accident. The clip delivers minor exposition but nothing significant.

A Gag Reel fills four minutes, 31 seconds with the standard goofs and giggles. A few improv lines add spice, though.

The disc opens with ads for Gran Turismo, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. No trailer for Web appears here.

A box office dud, Madame Web quickly attained a reputation as a cinematic atrocity. This seems unwarranted, for while it offers a wholly mediocre superhero experience, it never degenerates to the point where it becomes a terrible flick. The Blu-ray offers terrific picture and audio along with a minor set of supplements. Nothing about Web really clicks, but it becomes a generally watchable affair.