Directed by:
Cate ShortlandScreenplay:
Eric PearsonCinematography:
Gabriel BeristainComposer:
Lorne BalfeCast:
Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O.T. Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ольга Куриленко (more)VOD (4)
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In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. (Walt Disney US)
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Reviews (14)
I'm sorry to say it, but this is the most useless Marvel movie for me so far. I don't feel like it contributed at all to the MCU - it was created simply because the fans wanted a Black Widow solo film (and to find out what was in Budapest so that there would be peace) and Scarlett Johansson after Endgame probably didn't mind either. It's such a wasted chance, the film stays in its lane from start to finish, and although the action scenes are pleasantly and deliberately exaggerated (it's no coincidence that Natasha is watching Moonraker) and the main characters and heroes seem even more indestructible than Jason Bourne or any Terminator, which makes sense when I couldn't form any relationship with most of the characters during that fast ride, and in the end I didn't care what happened to anyone. Unfortunately, this also applies to Taskmaster, who is suddenly just there, and according to the creators we should be afraid of him, but we can't be, because it is clear to us that this is not the type of film in which the villain could win or at least come to a draw. There are jokes in Whedon’s style, and you can forget about any tension. If Black Widow can bring anything to the MCU in the future, then perhaps only the return of Florence Pugh and David Harbour. They would both make me happy. But there was no need to tell this Black Widow story.
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Black Widow isn't the weakest Marvel movie, but it definitely falls on the lower end of the spectrum. Still, when Marvel’s throwing around hundreds of millions on new projects, why not give a character who’s always been in the shadows her own film? Even if the story felt a bit lackluster and didn’t really grip me, I can’t deny that the action scenes were a highlight — especially the intense sequences in Budapest. The opening credits were a standout too, probably one of the best intros in the Marvel universe. The cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Malia J was an absolute blast. While the overall plot might be average, the ending managed to hit me harder than I expected.
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I was thrilled, about halfway through. Black Widow starts as an unexpectedly dark and adult comic book movie, presenting broken and hesitant heroes and heroines instead of jokes, and surprisingly gritty action that doesn't deny that the creators took inspiration from Jason Bourne and Mission: Impossible. It's also humorless, and for a while it felt like the most mature Marvel movie ever, unafraid of themes you wouldn't quite expect to find there. But then, somehow, it breaks. Halfway through, it's as if the makers decided that their audience probably doesn't actually crave something like this and went back to their old ways of playing it safe, give or take. Black Widow does even that well, and when you take away the not-so-good contact action scenes and the weaker Taskmaster, it's at least a solid job and an inoffensive Marvel average. It just felt a little too little when they went with a more mature yet fully functioning style in the first part. I don't want to make it sound like Black Widow is a bad movie. It's a well-done comic-book routine, but as a viewer, I'm not completely satisfied with that anymore. Especially when Scarlet Johansson and her crew managed to show me that they can do better.
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I was quite surprised by how messy the script was — it felt like some characters' motivations got lost just to fit the plot's convenience. The action scenes didn't really grab me either; they were often dull or unnecessarily shaky, even when the scenes didn’t call for it. Oddly enough, I found everything else around the action more interesting, which isn’t what you typically expect from a Marvel movie. It’s not a disaster, still a quality product, but it bothers me that it doesn’t really stand out. It seems like Marvel is settling into a standard that’s neither offensive nor exciting. In the earlier phases of the MCU, each film had its own unique flair, but this has been fading since Ant-Man and the Wasp. A solo Black Widow movie should have come out years ago. On a positive note, David Harbour absolutely stole the show.
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The first half is great, it has a dark intro, raw, tight fights and great eye candy FX moments (the chimney scene, WOW!). I almost wouldn't be afraid to say that the first ten minutes not only form a decent backdrop for the origin of a character we don't really know much about, but it also has the emotional edge and directness that was so very good in Winter Soldier, for example. But once it swings into the second part, it becomes more of a comedy, because as it’s usual with comic-book films, few and far between don't go "check all the boxes" style – or rather, they have to please everyone. And so suddenly, the deadly serious-looking film becomes almost a merry-go-round, and it's completely buried from the higher rungs by the insanely over-the-top finale. Florence Pugh is the best, the characters are OK overall, just a bit messily put together. It still has the hallmarks of a bombastic high budget film, but in this version it could have come before the battle and not after.
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