“Madame Web” directed by S. J. Clarkson is a disappointment and a poor forgery of previous superhero films. While the marketing of the film didn’t create high expectations for anyone, this Sony-produced suspense-thriller shows that the era of classic “superhero films” is coming to an end.

The film follows a “quirky” paramedic, Cassandra “Cassie” Webb (Dakota Johnson), as she gains the mysterious ability to see glimpses of the future. Cassie has a vision in which three teenagers are about to be killed by a powerful villain and she decides to save them by effectively kidnapping them. She becomes responsible for taking care of the girls and protecting them against their mysterious killer.

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If the movie’s synopsis sounds boring and overdone, that’s because it is. The storytelling of this film is lazy and full of cliches. Johnson’s utterly deadpan voice is enough to make anyone roll their eyes.

Yes, this film was two hours long, but it said nothing meaningful or important. One would think that a movie that largely centers on female characters would be a step in the right direction regarding blockbuster movies in Hollywood, but “Madame Web” fell painfully short of this goal.

Instead of trying to tell a story, “Madame Web” tried to check boxes off of a to-do list on how to make a film. It has most of the conventional elements — a narrative, a great cast, a villain and a protagonist — yet it felt hollow and incomplete.

The narrative was extremely rushed, and the use of amateurish transitions certainly didn’t help to bolster the film’s already low sophistication. Despite being categorized as a suspense or thriller, the movie was incapable of keeping any mystery alive. Cassie was able to overcome any obstacle with ease, making the film very predictable.

The main thing that was missing was the emotional connection between the characters and the audience. In the end, it was of little importance if the teenagers that Cassie was supposed to protect died or not, because it was extremely hard to care for them. While each of them had their own sob story, they were once again cliches and borderline offensive.

Each character was extremely one-note and flat. The Black character was angry, the Latine teenager’s father was deported and the white girl was the perfect dumb blonde for this narrative. This character-building is pathetic and entirely undermines the idea of having a women-centered superhero film. Instead of fleshing out these characters to portray real struggles for different communities, “Madame Web” relies on overused stereotypes and pretends that this is true inclusion. These characters barely change by the end of the film and ignore their previous lives and families, leaving many loose ends that the film fails to address.

The acting and dialogue also made the movie unbearable. Despite an amazing cast with stars such as Johnson, Sydney Sweeney and Isabela Merced, the acting of most of these characters felt very forced and hard to believe, especially with the stilted and fake dialogue. There are countless laughable moments when the dialogue is clearly not meant to be a joke.

Johnson’s performance in particular was disappointing. Her lack of expression and emotion, even as she fights a spider-person for the first time while taking care of three teenagers, is exceedingly dull and monotonous. The film tries to include some funny moments such as when Cassie talks to a cat or when she tries to climb a wall, but it falls short and only adds to the secondhand embarrassment throughout the movie.

The visuals only serve to make the audience dizzy and nauseous. Almost every shot in the movie is a tilted angle or slanted framing, creating a very disorienting image. The Dutch angles were effective the first few times, but after that, they were headache-inducing. The constant flipping and turning of the camera as the characters jumped from ceiling to floor and wall to wall made it harder to understand the story. If every two seconds the villain is jumping around the screen, it becomes comical rather than scary or suspenseful.

Instead of the storyline, more time and effort was put into focusing on Johnson’s cheekbones and perfect bangs, increasing the nonsensical tone of this whole film. This film is superficial and boring. It imitates all the markings of a good film but fails to follow through in any capacity and demonstrates the lack of creativity in superhero films.

“Madame Web” can simply be put as a one-time watch. It perfectly encapsulates the reason why most people are bored of the classic “superhero film” and why the trope needs to be put to rest for a long, long time.