Black Widow
Director: Cate Shortland
Writer: Stan Lee (creator), Ned Benson, Jac Schaeffer, Eric Pearson
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone
Reason for watching: new release and MCU entry
Number of times I’ve watched it: first time viewing
***
Sometimes, you are just too late to the party. That doesn’t mean you can’t make an entrance. Lord knows the MCU has to have Black Widow do one of her hair flips every time she’s in a movie. But the proper timing can make or break a movie.
Plot summary, and I’ll be as brief as possible because I don’t want Disney coming down on my blog. Natasha (Scarlett Johansson…duh) has gone on the run since she switched sides during the events of Captain America: Civil War. But her past has come back to haunt her as it appears that someone from her old agency is tracking her down. She ends up running into her kid sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) who is trying to free other widows from the mind control of the villainous Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Natasha and Yelena track down their parents for help as well (David Harbour and Rachel Weiz). Together they team up to face whoever is coming after them.
First of all, this is not the worst MCU entry. Not by a Russian mile (The Incredible Hulk is really hard to beat). The cast of characters blends well together. The energy that Johansson, Pugh, Harbour, and Weisz feels like a genuine family and some cookie-cutter image of one. Particularly Pugh plays with sarcastic humor very well. And some of the cinematography takes a more experimental feel which is a welcome change for a franchise that used to have more jumpcuts than minutes in The Snyder Cut. Unfortunately, that is right about where the good things stop in this movie.
I have to take this movie down a few pegs. For a movie meant to give Scarlett Johansson room to operate and be center stage she is outshined majorly by Pugh and minorly by Harbour. Both characters have better opportunities for comedy than Natasha. Granted Widow was never the comedic relief, but you would think she would at least be given an action scene or two to enthrall us or maybe even an emotional scene like this one from Avengers: Endgame (but not this one). But the action scenes just don’t deliver like previous entries in the franchise. The villain is incredibly subpar as well. I know attaching Ray Winstone is supposed to make a villain formidable, but even his presence can’t upgrade a poorly written character. His plan of using and abusing other young women like Natasha has no motivation and is the least original thing they could have done.
On top of all this. It’s just too late. Black Widow is still very dead in the current events of the MCU. She’s still gone in one of the most telegraphed movie sacrifices of all time. And yet, they had to kill the character off before they gave her a solo movie. Maybe they thought the character couldn’t lead a movie. Anyone could’ve told you she was capable of after The Avengers. That’s my biggest complaint here. We are just far too late for this movie to be relevant or inventive. If it had beaten Wonder Woman to the theater it could’ve been pretty impactful. But the timing here just does not bode well for the movie in general. After a pandemic. After the character’s death. After a solo movie about Captain Marvel. It’s just too late.
4/10
Until I see another one
PS - Robert Downey Jr. is not in this movie. And he could probably use your thoughts and prayers right now with the passing of his father.