Yes, Ant-Man got two standalone films before Black Widow, but Marvel Studios finally gives Scarlett Johansson’s character the spotlight she deserves. Was it worth the wait? POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP!
Mostly yes. If anything, Black Widow’s biggest drawback is the sense that Marvel Studios really should have prioritized Natasha Romanov’s solo adventures much earlier. Or at least before she died (spoiler if you managed to miss the biggest comic book movie ever) in Avengers: Endgame.
It’s harder to get invested in a character’s path during a solo movie when it feels like this is an adventure that’s a little too late while simultaneously handing the mantle to a new character.
Black Widow is set immediately in the wake of Captain America: Civil War as Natasha finds herself on the run from the government for aiding Captain America. This time period is one of the more fascinating to me in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Avengers seem down a three-man squad of Iron Man, War Machine and Vision while Cap, Falcon and Black Widow operated as a superhero spy unit.
Maybe Marvel could take a page from Star Wars and make a Clone Wars style cartoon focusing on the fractured Avengers’ adventures before Thanos arrives.
Natasha is content to law low … and possibly retire? SHIELD crumbled due to Hydra’s infiltration and the Avengers fractured from within. But Natasha finds another group that needs her help —her family. This was hardly the conventional family unit yet Natasha can’t resist the call from her sister Yelena (Florence Pugh in seemingly yet another star making performance).
Yelena reveals Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the man responsible for making both of them into Black Widows is still alive. Now Yelena has a means of breaking Dreykov’s control over all the Widows and offering Natasha another means to clean her ledger.
This won’t come easy and Natasha needs to call on her parents, Alexei aka The Red Guardian (David Harbour, Stranger Things) and Melina (Rachel Weisz) to stop Dreykov. Besides the army of widows, Dreykov also has an unstoppable assassin, The Taskmaster, who’s able to mimic the abilities of any skilled fighter. The film has an interesting take on the fan favorite villain that’s closer to the MCU version of The Winter Soldier than the comic book inspiration.
Regardless, the Black Widow vs. Taskmaster scenes has the same energy as the Captain America/WS battles. Director Cate Shortland crafts a Roger Moore era James Bond film for the MCU. That’s hardly a knock on Moore, who did have some quality Bond films in his catalogue. The action scenes are explosive with a pair of very impressive set pieces. Black Widow features one of the top final acts of all the Marvel standalone films.
Screenwriter Eric Pearson provides the now standard Marvel Studios touch with charismatic characters, fun dialogue and some unexpected twists. The script avoids feeling formulaic yet with this family dynamic, it really felt like this corner of Black Widow’s world could have been explored earlier specifically before Infinity War. Now I’m going to retroactively wonder why Wong didn’t port in Yelena, Red Guardian and Melina for the final battle against Thanos.
Also, an earlier Black Widow film would have allowed a post-Endgame sequel to touch on the loss of Natasha on a deeper level. For so much emphasis on family, it would have been nice to have seen the family unit feel Natasha’s loss from those who knew her the longest.
Johansson has played Black Widow on six occasions now so she’s immensely comfortable in the role. This film offered Johansson an opportunity to play Natasha on another level. And as meaningful as her sacrifice was, it stings to know this is likely the last time we’ll see Natasha outside of random flashbacks in the MCU.
You don’t need to pay full attention to get that Marvel has every intention of filling the Natasha role with Yelena. Pugh makes more of an effort to keep Yelena’s accent, which was appreciated.
She’s capable of handling the physical requirements of the role and proves to be an immediately welcome presence in the MCU. Pugh has felt like a performer constantly on the verge of breaking out and this feels like the role she’s going to be known for over the next decade.
Black Widow is in the top half of Marvel standalones, but it could have been in the upper echelon if it didn’t simultaneously provide a look back at Natasha while moving the potential franchise ahead without her.
As always, make sure to stick around for the post credit scene. This one should be of significant interest to Marvel fans who have been keeping up with the latest Marvel offerings.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Marvel Studios
