Once upon a time, comic book movies used to be camp, riding the line of silliness and sincerity that would suit the cinematic adaptation of a slim illustrated volume about superheroes and their exploits. But over 20 years ago, the superhero industrial complex rejected camp, becoming dark and gritty, then sarcastic and flip, then cycling back to wholesomely earnest again for a time.
However, in these days of waning superhero enthusiasm, fatigue setting in, it seems there’s an opening for comic book movies to be stupid – stupidly fun – again, especially if Madame Web can tell their fortunes.To get a little pretentious about the latest ultra silly Sony Marvel movie, Susan Sontag, you would have loved Madame Web. Or maybe she would have found it offensive. Either way, it perfectly fits the rubric she lays out in her famed essay Notes on 'Camp', because, to borrow the phrase, Madame Web is a comic book movie “in quotation marks.”
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Summary:
Is this a good movie? No. Is it hilariously delightful? Often yes.
