Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow takes place after the events of Captain America Civil War and follows Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), who finds herself alone and forced to confront a dangerous conspiracy that ties to her past. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Romanoff must face her history as an assassin and mend the broken relationships she left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
(Heads up: minor spoilers for Black Widow, but major spoilers below for Avengers: Endgame.)
Ever since her first appearance in Iron Man 2, fans have campaigned for Black Widow to get her own solo film for many years. The character has come a long way in all her MCU appearances and was always played perfectly by Scarlett Johansson, who truly made the role iconic and made a lot of people feel very emotionally invested in her character all the way to her journey’s end in Avengers Endgame where she sacrificed herself to save half the universe. But of course, Marvel knew there was one missing chapter of the character’s life that needed to be explored and so we get to see Scarlett Johansson take on the role one last time in her own solo adventure. After a long wait that was extended due to obvious reasons, the film has finally arrived.
Was it worth the wait? Absolutely!
Not only did it give us a fantastic look at Natasha’s long overdue backstory but it is a glorious film that has a great cast, incredibly thrilling and intense action, a strong narrative with heart that is interlaced with darker elements, and more. This film was better late than never and I was absolutely in love with it from beginning to end. It does have weaknesses but this felt like a great return for the MCU in cinemas.
Scarlett Johansson absolutely delivers her best performance as Natasha out of all her appearances in the MCU and this is definitely the best characterization of the character we have had. We get to see Natasha’s story finally get explored in better lengths and really get to see the more human side of her come out in big and emotional ways as she tries to confront her past rather than continue to run from it. For what is most likely Scarlett’s final time as this character she truly gave it her all and I couldn’t be happier that her character finally got to have her own story after so long. Also, it goes without saying that she once again kicks serious ass in this film in terms of the action but it was really interesting to see her going up against foes that equal her in terms of deadly skill and killer instinct.
As much as I loved Natasha though the true star of this film hands down is Yelena Belova played by Florence Pugh. Holy Fucking Shit. She was absolutely outstanding in this film, way more than I could have even imagined. Florence Pugh has continued to be such a rising star in the last few years but this has to be my favorite performance of hers by far. I really loved Yelena as a character and she felt so investing among all the characters, especially on a very emotional level.
She interacts amazingly with everyone and of course shares amazing chemistry with Scarlett’s Natasha. They have a fantastic sister-like dynamic that feels very real and makes for some of the best scenes in the film, especially in the quieter moments. By the end of this film you will desperately want to see more of Yelena in the MCU and see her grow to become a new fan favorite. Also, she absolutely kicks serious ass and definitely shows that she is worthy of the title of Black Widow.
She isn’t the only one you will want more of because there is also Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian, played by David Harbour. Red Guardian is basically Russia’s very own Captain America and he ends up being such a gem of a character in this film thanks to great writing and a fantastic performance from David Harbour, who I swear can do no wrong no matter what he is in. He is a simple but absolutely lovable character with lots of bravado and a humorous personality that really shines in every scene he is in. But there is a rather broken soul hiding behind that bravado and there also seems to be an interesting history with his government that is hinted at through this film that I would honestly like to see more of, especially since he is also a super soldier and a pretty strong one too. If we could get a Red Guardian solo series on Disney + I would be 100% on board with it. Also, it goes without saying that I absolutely love his outfit and he does get some moments in this film that are going to make a lot of people happy.
One particular character I was very interested in seeing was Melina Vostokoff, mainly because she is played by Rachel Weisz, an actress I have not seen on the big screen for a really long time. And I’m happy to say that she and her character did not disappoint me in the slightest. I can’t go into too much detail regarding her character due to spoilers but she was totally awesome and delivered such big emotion.
The family dynamic between these four is fantastic as they share excellent chemistry despite their different personalities. There is some great natural humor between them all but it does transition into impactful drama, making this family kind of dysfunctional.
And the best part of all of it is that everyone is completely committed to their performances. You have insane talent on screen that you may think didn’t need to be in a comic book film and didn’t need to give too much effort in their performances, but they do. I am so happy that they all bring their full A-game to the table and treat this film and its story as more than just a comic book film. Even though you can praise the writing and direction for being the reason these characters feel so investing I feel it is the chosen cast that really made the characters that way by giving their full commitment.
As for the villains, they were unfortunately underwhelming. They are far from being the worst villains from the MCU because there are things that save them from being that, but this felt like a case of lost potential.
The first villain of the film is the deadly Taskmaster, played by CLASSIFIED. In comics, Taskmaster is considered a popular Marvel villain who was mainly known for possessing photographic reflexes that allow him to mimic any fighting style and technology of various superheroes, making him one of the deadliest fighters in the entire Marvel Universe. Although I will be honest, as a character in the comics he wasn’t that layered compared to other villains and just served primarily as a dangerous mercenary that would give a great challenge to various heroes in different adventures, as well as train various terrorist organizations. So my hope was that with his debut to live-action they could be able to change him up a bit while also keeping him as a great threat due to his unique and deadly abilities.
In the film, Taskmaster as a physical threat is awesome but he is incredibly underutilized and I was hoping to see a lot more done with this character. Non-comic book fans I could see liking Taskmaster, especially for a very interesting twist that I did not expect, but die-hard comic book fans are going to be disappointed by the choices made with this character. There was a lot of big potential with a character like this and while I don’t consider the direction they go with to be a bad one I just feel like this could have been done with another comic character and not Taskmaster. I will say though that the action involving Taskmaster and the suit is great.
Dreykov, the founder of the Red Room and played by Ray Winstone, on the other hand, is probably one of the most sadistic villains the mainstream MCU has ever introduced and sadly gets underutilized too. He really got under my skin, thanks to Ray’s awesome performance, and he felt like someone that could have been on par with Killgrave from Jessica Jones due to how disturbing he was, but we unfortunately don’t get much of him and it hurts.
Everything else in the film felt like it was crafted wonderfully but for some reason when it came to villains the ball was dropped, but this did not by any means ruin the film for me. They still managed to be an imposing threat even if they weren’t utilized to their full potential.
The story is an action-packed spy thriller that has great heart and some great humor but it is also incredibly dark and compelling, which is what I believe most people were wanting from this film and I can happily say they will not be disappointed. This film really pushes the boundaries of its PG-13 rating with how dark and mature it is and how that acts as the main driving force of the narrative. And it does not hold back, especially with certain sequences and themes that I feel are really going to hit people harder than expected. It has a very modern James Bond-style feel to all of it that in a way that sets it apart from previous MCU entries and feels much more grounded and personal.
The stakes aren’t as large as previous MCU films and are much more personal to Natasha and the other characters, which I definitely felt was the right route to go with this film. It makes you feel very invested in the story and what consequences they face as they take on the main threat. The narrative has so much raw and impactful emotion that really hits you, especially with the characters and all they go through and have gone through. And given the fact that one of the primary creators of Wandavision was involved in this film, I was definitely expecting some hard-hitting emotions and we definitely get that, though in a much more adult and darker way than we have had in previous MCU installments.
The dark elements do get balanced out with some lighter tone elements and it’s done really well and it doesn’t take away from any of the serious moments but instead enhances them, giving us very compelling scenes. The action is an absolute blast that is viciously intense, full of great tension and executed flawlessly. For those who were expecting similar or better action to The Winter Soldier, you will be very pleased with the action here as it delivers badass spy thriller action that dials up in intensity as the film progresses.
There’s a lot of great chase sequences and fantastic yet brutal hand-to-hand combat sequences that action junkies are definitely going to be addicted to, and people who love good crafted action are going to massively enjoy it. And it goes without saying that it’s much better to see all the action on a big theater screen than on a small one especially since you will feel so sucked into it because of how they filmed it. And it gets fucking brutal in certain sequences so just know that no punches are being pulled here.
Effects wise there’s actually a higher use of practical effects for most of the film like The Winter Soldier and they only use CGI when needed. The CGI for the most part I think was great and does make for some pretty epic moments especially around the final act. The cinematography was absolutely fantastic, featuring gorgeous shots and sneaking in some great parallels that really enhance the emotional impact. The music was absolutely top-notch as you’d expect by Marvel especially with the score, but I especially love the use of one of my favorite songs that ends up being part of a really touching scene that hit my heartstrings.
And then there is the post-credit scene. The FUCKING post-credit scene! Throughout the film the story was completely self-contained, leaving only the post-credit scene to set up something huge to happen next in the MCU that people are going to freak out over and get excited for what comes next.
Black Widow was such a great return for the MCU and a solid solo outing that I feel was worth the wait, even though it does get dragged down by the villains. It managed to deliver on other expectations I had while also surprising me with its darker story, strongly written characters, and such hard-hitting emotions. I am thankful to Cate Shortland for making this film a reality. I’m going to give Black Widow an A-.
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