Alright, so is the title in reference to A) Black Widow was introduced in the MCU over 10 years ago we’re only now getting a solo film; B) The pandemic made this one of the constantly delayed films until theaters were viable again; C) I may or may not have had yet another 6-month-unintentional-hiatus and now I’m back (I hope?); or D) I wanted to make a reference to a certain blue hedgehog?! You decide…
Hey Everyone! So yeah, because I’m apparently not great at this whole “getting back to my blog when I want to” kind of shabang (is shabang a real world?! I dunno know), I’ve finally pushed past a crazy lil’ thing called anxiety for a new review–hazah!!! Now, we’re getting to one of several films in what I’m dubbing the “Help me Vaccine Kenobi, you’re my only hope” slate of delayed film in Marvel Studios’ first *film* of Phase 4, Black Widow. Well, I would do the usual sarcastic commenting on how I don’t do plot summaries and leave the IMDb link instead (I call it witty, others call it lazy–what’s the difference!?)… but um… you see… the first trailer for this came out in December of 2019… it’s July of 2021… oh ok fine, here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3480822/
So, it be quite some time… as I’ve said like a million times at this point… time… Anyway, I think it’s safe to say how something felt right in this movie finally being able to release in theaters… without having to have a heart attack being not close enough to vaccines and not knowing if people are gonna take their Smarties and wear a mask, even if there’s a massive push to see it in theaters (*cough* Tenet *cough*). I mean granted, there is that $30 Disney + Premiere Access thing for those who still don’t feel 1000% comfortable yet–and I love that this is an option at the moment (I’m also somehow not worried for theaters with how that streaming option made $60 million alone last weekend… :}).
Well, without further ado, how did Black Widow turn out now that we all finally have gotten the chance to see it?! *Dramatic Drum Roll* And survey says: not bad! …well I know that probably seems more depressing given how much build-up I gave it but I really do mean that. Black Widow certainly doesn’t break too many barriers when it comes to Marvel movies at this point, yet I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.
First things first, I’ma say all the words inside my he- wait a minute, that’s just the lyrics to Imagine Dragons’ Believer! (Can I get sued for that?! I hope not… I need something to keep my sanity… whats left of it anyway ;)) If there’s one person who I’m glad this movie came out for, it’s Scarlett Johannsson FINALLY getting to play Black Widow as the title character for once! And last time since spoily spoiler alert for Avengers: Endgame–which in case you haven’t heard, is one of the biggest movies of all time–she’s pretty dead in the current MCU timeline. Here though, Johansson gets to show off all of the skills she has learned in playing Natasha Romanov from knowing just when to hide the character’s trauma (with a one-liner or some badassery) and when to let it all out through what we call in the biz, acting!
Thankfully, Johansson definitely did not have to carry the movie too much as the chemistry with her *clearly, totally not future MCU replacement* in Florence Pugh was also great! Sure is convenient to not know of Natasha’s sister before this movie, but their banter alternating, between strained over the years and somehow still warm/loving, made you instantly fee that connection to their first and last moments onscreen together. On her own, Pugh unsurprisingly impresses with her performance as she is fantastic at making Yelena Belova (searches for others thing to say than “her own” since I literally just said that) worthy of all of the praise everyone has been giving her in this role! (Yeah, I know I’m not the first person reviewing this–I’m pretty late actually–so just shut up… ok, sowwy, that was mean). It’s definitely not easy to make an entire history of trauma wrapped into every ounce of her performance, yet she does it all without ever having to do too much or too little. At this point, I think it’s pretty safe to say I will be looking forward to every future appearance she makes as this character, as I have with Johansson prior.
Oh, there’s some other good acting too. What, too brief?! I mean, saying that there’s good acting in Marvel movies–specifically from the likes of David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, O-T Fagbenle (dang it I did elaborate on the acting–curse you Reader the Platypus!)–is like saying they have good action too… *realizes I just created the not so natural but good enough segue* YES!!! Again, there’s not too much in the action grounds of Black Widow that you haven’t seen done better in other spy and/or Marvel movies. Regardless, I still think the choreography was gripping, set pieces were well thought out, and the visuals behind them thanks to Cate Shortland’s solid directing choices (side note: this is still a very well shot film as well, so props to DP Gabriel Beristain as well), the action is entertaining enough to get the popcorn eaten–and consequently, the dentist not so happy… huh… guilty.
Although the action still works, it is the moments where Shortland and the script are putting a major asterisks on the drama that comes with this story where the film really soars! You got trauma in one hand, family in the other and whoda thunk, the filmmakers smushed those two themes together into one spicy meat-a-bal,l (*waves hands in Italian) with high marks on the report card. Every time these characters are talking about the past (or even future) having so much baggage weighing them down, it really works! Bravo on everyone involved putting in a ton of effort to making themes connected to larger-than-life heroes incredibly lived-in, to where so many people will inevitably find a strong connection to it!
…so are you ready to criticize?! *Hears imaginary crickets… or cheers depending on how you felt about the movie. Alright, let’s get one obvious thing: I wasn’t *as* disappointed in Taskmaster as I thought it would be.
I know right?! I lead up getting into the negatives and it’s slightly positive–weeeeiiiirrrddd. Well, this thankfully isn’t another case of “MCU villain so bad it make me wanna puke”-itus, but the script is clearly torn between whether they wanted to make Taskmaster or Ray Winstone’s character, Dreykov, the main villain. Both have some potential–Taskmaster in the combat and Dreykov with his creeepppy motivations–yet the split to make one the brute thug and the other a standard “man behind the curtain controlling everything” left neither of them able to reach the potential they could have.
Outside of that (wait, we were inside that whole time?!), Black Widow felt completely bogged down with a boatload of exposition. Was it all necessary? Yeah… I mean, that’s what exposition is for in terms of storytelling. It jus felt too glaring when after getting to a certain point in the plot, it becomes the “well let’s start explaining everything!” kind of deal in an unfortunately sloppy manner. Weirdly merged into that was, despite the aforementioned strengths of the drama, the rapid-fire pacing left it clear to the viewer how that action meant to overpower it in the grand scheme of things. Ten more minutes could have easily brought this from a film that felt too fast and odd when it slowed down, to a very fulfilling piece that knows exactly when to punch the baddies or have some family chats.
With all of that in mind, Black Widow definitely felt like one of the more easy, ‘follow the instructions’ style of Marvel movies; however, in case it wasn’t clear from someone who literally calls themselves a “Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd” (well, duh!), even their most standard still managed to be enjoyable enough for me!
Rating: 7/10, it’s a solid and enjoyable return for Marvel Studios, and I liked it!!!
Well ok… YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I actually was able to chug out a review like I’ve been meaning to do for oh I don’t know, months!!! Funny enough, I’ve literally been in the midst of doing a Marvel Cinematic Universe marathon of everything *up until Endgame* (I have been contractually obligated to not get too ahead of myself), and seeing this right in between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War actually felt pretty nice! Ayyy, boy it feels good to be back!
You know what else it felt to be good to be back in?! A movie theater. You know what else helped with that? (An obligatory PSA for) VACCINES BABY!!! WOOHOOO!!!
…anywayz (what, that wasn’t abrupt, who said that?!) I mean, if anyone is interested in me doing reviews for some of the movies that I had hoped to bring back my blog with (The Mitchells vs. The Machines, A Quiet Place Part II, Luca, etc.), let me know! Otherwise, to anyone who has seen Black Widow (and knowing me and the people who know me that would read this, you have ;)), what did you think about it?! Please feel free to let me know in the comments below and to smash that like button (hold up, I’m not doing YouTube reviews… or am I?!). And as always, I think you should all know who I am at this point…
I’m Alex, Your Friendly Neighborhood Film Nerd!!!!!!!!
Spinning the Cineweb 