Black Widow Review

Black Widow

Director: Cate Shortland
Cast Headliners: Scarlet Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz,  O-T Fagbenle, Ray Winstone
Original Release Date : July 9th, 2021 (Theatrical and Paid Disney + 29.99 USD or Free October 6th)   

  This review is a bit late to the party, and unusual on this blog in these modern times... apologies. Yet too however the same can be said for the next Marvel MCU movie finally able to watch after so many delays in Black Widow. Scarlet Johansson's original founding Avenger has been in perhaps the most amount of MCU movies aside from Iron Man himself and yet she's never gotten a starring role unlike her male brethren.  It should have been far sooner but at least we now have something mostly worth the time if one knows what it is. 

There's not too much wrong with the film but one of the odd feelings (aside months / the past year of COVID-related date changes with actually this review possibly being done right on time with the Disney / ScarJo legal case going on) is in its setting. With mind of what occurred in 2019's Avengers: Endgame to Natasha Romanoff / “Black Widow' (Scarlet Johansson) there was no choice but to do a prequel / flashback however the specific setting is of some question. Maybe it's because of the age of everyone involved but rather than give us the much more interesting origin story of how she joined SHIELD in the first place (or a potential post-apocalyptic take between Thano's snap dustings(we could use some content there!) the movie takes place on the MCU timeline sometime between 2016's Captain America 3: Civil War  and 2018's Avengers 3: Infinity War.    This gives us a bit of an exciting little sequence with Natasha on the run from General Ross(William Hurt) and his soldiers but aside some small parts / jokes about the other Avengers or past adventures and poses this is a (mostly) grounded, standalone spy movie unrelated to the larger superhero world. There may be some other intriguing flashbacks mixed into the film as well giving further light to that origin story but it's best seen firsthand (and past the movie's terribly cheesy , early 00's Mission Impossible esque- title credits montage). 

Soon we find that Natasha isn't alone from this Russian spy world. Due to mysterious events happening with Russia's Black Widows (still existing out there as an antagonistic force) Black Widow soon finds herself re-united with long lost allies in fellow widows Yelena (Florence Pugh)  / Melina (Rachel Weisz) as well as the washed-up former Soviet Captain America parody Alexei / “Red Guardian” (David Harbour ironically named after Stranger Things S3 although some of that kind charm comes with him here).  Herein lies one of the best things about the film as any good MCU film; it's humor and heart. While ScarJo gives some pretty good leading charisma / badassery as ever one gets a bit of sense she's been there and done that or tired in the role. Luckily the supporting cast is pretty fantastic.  Pugh's Yelena has that same mix of charm and action aptitude whether friend or foe with an extra dosing of sassiness especially with her “ older sister”.  The “Dad” of the family in Red Guardian has some of the movie's funniest lines as well with Harbour Soviet-tastically cheesing it up when he isn't bashing skulls or being held as a greasy loser prisoner.   Weisz's Melina is a bit more subtle but gives a sense of some hidden motives and dangerous intellect.   Together, once it gets there (a bit generically or slow at times) the family is one for the ages with stellar rapport in dialogue or combat. There's even a bit of emotional feels and dark themes as well but exactly how such should be seen too but one can imagine its a film of “reunions” as described.  Small scene count having Bond Q-esque tech ally Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle) is not as memorable but sure at time  adds some quips to the quip overload. 

Unfortunately, the generic sense is amplified within the primary antagonistic forces. This is for the most part in the Russian elite forces forces of General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and Taskmaster(Actor or Actress Not To Be Spoiled). While one often hates Winston's stereotypically evilll Russian take (With ham to perhaps rival Red Guardian) it can feel a bit token although his plan is grossly fearsome in concept. The heavy-armor suit using, fighting-style copying Taskmaster pursues our heroes with a relentless almost Terminator-like force leading to some scary moments or intense action scenes but when and if the mask comes off it can feel a bit half-baked and some comic fans may not like the faceless take compared to the source. 

             I read a great Stan Lee (RIP no cameo yet again same as other material lately post-Endgame) approach / quote he said that in the original comics because Captain America had less-impressive powers than some of his fantastic superhero peers they made sure to up the amount of action that occurred showing how cool he could be with more human abilities. This same logic lies within Black Widow's other greatest strength (not surprisingly as such with mostly all Marvel blockbusters): the action scenes.  Bullets, guns, punches fly across many non-stop chases. The choreography for the many soldiers and widows in the film is impressive and frenetically gritty. Director Cate Shortland (fittingly the first solo female director too) does a mostly good job with the visuals and scenery whether icy Norway / Siberia, urban cities, or less realistic flying military craft. However the Earth setting can feel a bit more mundane than other MCU content of late and some questionable CGI antics occur but this just helps it catch up to that more fantastical fair out there. Sometimes the action veers a bit too much into shaky-cam when that effect isn't adding to its grit. However otherwise the film feels beautifully crisp budgeted especially on the big screen. Some alright music from composer Lorne Balfie adds to things when it's not itself rote too. 

As a whole the goods are good even if some of it has been done before. One wishes the setting and amount of revelations revealed were just a bit more to fan expectations but at least it tries. We really deserved this film years earlier (say soon before or after Avengers 1 or 2?) but at least it's happened at all. Spy / Russian-tastic, strong woman characters, action and heart-packed with just a bit of “MCU-ness” that would be wanted...it's a decent summer blockbuster that ends one era and may even start another for some of its characters bring it on. 7.7 out of 10