Black Widow: Review by @Kush_Hayes
When it was just NEWZ on the web that Marvel was finally going to give Scarlett Johanssons Black Widow her own character, I was pretty stoked about it. Black Widows story over the MCU has always been distributed in tiny crumbs that suggest Child Trauma, murder, espianoge, brain washing, and various other methods that lead one into a life of terrorism. If they even scan over a fraction of that, this has the potential to be a dope back story despite not being a fan of going backwards, not being a fan of prequels. Id be very open to this.
And then they killed the character.
Goddamnit, how does that work?
Spoiler alert for a movie that broke all the box office records and was seen by everyone.
For the sake of this story, we have to go back 4 years, 5 because of the COVID, to the aftermath of 2016s Captain America: Civil War where The Avengers have all broken up and those not in prison are either working under the stipulations of the Sokovia Accords, or are fugitives from the law. Black Widow is the latter. And we get some insight on what she went through to evade capture.
Meanwhile as this is all going on, Black Widows little sister, Yelena, is still on family payroll, and is currently in pursuit of a rogue agent in her circle. Theres a scuffle, some hand to hand combat and then as a knife is plunged into her target, Florence Pugh is exposed to a biological agent that actually cures her of her brainwashing. Thats actually rather convenient.
Both sisters reunite in Budapest which could be a great location on its own but is only shoehorned in because of a throwaway line from 2012s The Avengers. Its after a small family fistacuffs the sisters decided they are going to shut down The Program that created them and turned them into lethal efficient killers. Thankfully just in time before local police and military invade the safehouse and we get into one of many chases in this Marvel Spy Thriller.
We get a prison break and a full on reunion as seen in promos and ads. While all this is going on, feelings are shared, merely extending the films runtime. Meanwhile the Bad Guys activate their safety protocol with a character named TaskMaster who comes off as a bulky and outdated Terminator clone. We will discover there is more than meets the eye to this character. Its ultimately underwhelming.
Ray Winston plays the diabolical Draykov who has tens of thousands of black widows at his disposal and nothings really done with that aside from what feels like a Marlon Brando impression during his role. This character has tons of potential to be the monster they try to portray him and ultimately falls flat but I dont believe its on Winstons performance,
We get a more serious Scarlett Johansson in this 23rd installment of the MCU, as opposed to her fun tension releasing quips. Its Florence Pugh who steals the movie and despite many Little Sister Tropes in her character, youre drawn to learn more about her and her relationship with Johansson as well as the rest of The Program. Those who enjoyed her character probably already know she will be a recurring character in the upcoming Disney+ series Hawkeye with MCU Vet Jeremy Renner.
Im sorry to say I know nothing of the films director Cate Shortland. She put together a competent film. But nothing about it really stood out to me. To be fair I was distracted by my first 4DX experience and was being jostled and shook for the majority of our 2+hr runtime.
As I continue to mention, I hate prequels, I dont appreciate going backwards, but I just treated this film as that one movie I somehow managed to miss 5 years ago, and found that even as a prequel fit into the storyline nice and tight. It has a strong message in it, and despite dealing with such a dark subject such as Child Trafficking, this had plenty of opportunity to go darker.
And while this isnt the best entry into the MCU its as entertaining as any of them. And I think for the many fans who are now returning to the theaters for the first time in over 18 months, this will be a great time across the board.
Three out of Four Blueberries
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material
© 2021 TheBosNet Family All Rights Reserved
