Back Widow
Year: 2021
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: David Harbour, Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Ray Winstone & Rachel Weisz
Runtime: 134 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 10/07/21
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: David Harbour, Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Ray Winstone & Rachel Weisz
Runtime: 134 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 10/07/21
Natasha Romanoff has been a part of the MCU since 2010’s Iron Man 2 and is one of the most important characters in the series, right alongside the likes of Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man. But it’s taken eleven years for her to get her own solo film. Regardless, I had high hopes for Black Widow, mostly because it’s been two years since an MCU film has hit the big screen because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because Black Widow is such a great character and to make a good film about her should be very easy for Marvel to pull off. Which then makes me question even more why Black Widow is one of the most lifeless and underwhelming entries ever released in the MCU.
In 1995 a young Natasha and her family are chased out of the United States by S.H.I.E.L.D. following her father’s (David Harbour) theft of some classified intel. When they land in Cuba, she and her younger sister Yelena are taken to be initiated into the Black Widow program, which their mother (Rachel Weisz) was also a part of.
Twenty years later and Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is on the run, following the events of Captain America: Civil War, when she is contacted by Yelena (Florence Pugh) so that she may help her investigate the Black Widow program and kill its creator, Dreykov (Ray Winstone). In order to do this, they must confront their family issues head on and reunite with their mother and father.
In 1995 a young Natasha and her family are chased out of the United States by S.H.I.E.L.D. following her father’s (David Harbour) theft of some classified intel. When they land in Cuba, she and her younger sister Yelena are taken to be initiated into the Black Widow program, which their mother (Rachel Weisz) was also a part of.
Twenty years later and Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is on the run, following the events of Captain America: Civil War, when she is contacted by Yelena (Florence Pugh) so that she may help her investigate the Black Widow program and kill its creator, Dreykov (Ray Winstone). In order to do this, they must confront their family issues head on and reunite with their mother and father.
Black Widow feels like it was never intended to be a film. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was meant to be the first Disney+ MCU series, but to please fans and offer a softer introduction to Phase Four it was compressed into a two hour and twenty-minute film.
There’s just so much that doesn’t work with Black Widow, and primarily it comes down to how the film is put together. The pacing is horribly slow with an overly long first act, a second act that doesn’t have an awful lot happening in it, this is capped off in a by-the-numbers third act to put a bow on the whole underwhelming experience. On top of this the film is so choppily edited that it can be difficult to keep track of what’s happening, this isn’t exclusive to the action scenes either and frequently happens during conversations (which makes me think that these sequences were longer and trimmed down so they would fit into a film).
Then there’s the issue that Natasha doesn’t play a particularly active role in the story. For most of the film things are happening to her, and only once or twice does she take the initiative to be the instigator. Whilst that isn’t a dealbreaker, especially in terms of how the story is constructed, it’s just the cherry on top of the poor story delivery.
A typical complaint for MCU films at this point, though something that had been getting better for a little while, the villain(s) are forgettable. Due to how the story is constructed, Dreykov is kept off-screen for the majority of the film, and the short time he does have on screen fails to make his presence truly threatening (and the conversation between he and Natasha is probably one of the weakest parts of the entire film because the dialogue is awful). To make up for the lack of a villainous presence in fight sequences, Taskmaster is brought in for their MCU debut. Unfortunately, this is also underwhelming as the character serves no real purpose in the story, they’re simply there to give Natasha and Yelena someone super-powered to fight against. I would probably have been happier just seeing them fight various Black Widow agents because I feel like that would have made more narrative sense.
There’s just so much that doesn’t work with Black Widow, and primarily it comes down to how the film is put together. The pacing is horribly slow with an overly long first act, a second act that doesn’t have an awful lot happening in it, this is capped off in a by-the-numbers third act to put a bow on the whole underwhelming experience. On top of this the film is so choppily edited that it can be difficult to keep track of what’s happening, this isn’t exclusive to the action scenes either and frequently happens during conversations (which makes me think that these sequences were longer and trimmed down so they would fit into a film).
Then there’s the issue that Natasha doesn’t play a particularly active role in the story. For most of the film things are happening to her, and only once or twice does she take the initiative to be the instigator. Whilst that isn’t a dealbreaker, especially in terms of how the story is constructed, it’s just the cherry on top of the poor story delivery.
A typical complaint for MCU films at this point, though something that had been getting better for a little while, the villain(s) are forgettable. Due to how the story is constructed, Dreykov is kept off-screen for the majority of the film, and the short time he does have on screen fails to make his presence truly threatening (and the conversation between he and Natasha is probably one of the weakest parts of the entire film because the dialogue is awful). To make up for the lack of a villainous presence in fight sequences, Taskmaster is brought in for their MCU debut. Unfortunately, this is also underwhelming as the character serves no real purpose in the story, they’re simply there to give Natasha and Yelena someone super-powered to fight against. I would probably have been happier just seeing them fight various Black Widow agents because I feel like that would have made more narrative sense.
The performances were fantastic across the board though. Johansson delivers perhaps the best performance as Natasha she’s ever done as the film allows Natasha to let her barriers down a bit more and show us what she is like as a person. Florence Pugh is arguably the best actress in the film however, and for me stole the show whenever she was on screen. She’s got excellent comedic timing and her role in films like Midsommar already prove that she’s more than capable of the more serious moments. Her character is undoubtedly going to be re-appearing in future MCU projects judging by the post-credits sequence, and that’s probably the best thing about Black Widow.
Harbour and Weisz are also excellent. It’s great to see Weisz in an action role again as I feel like I haven’t seen her in something like this since The Mummy Returns in 2001; and Harbour adds some very funny moments to the film.
There were some fun moments with Black Widow, but I honestly feel like had the whole thing been longer and then shown as a Disney+ series it would have made more sense and had more emotional impact where the story clearly is trying to tug at some heartstrings. It’s disappointing to see Disney fumble this much with their first Phase Four film, and even more so with this character because it should have been so easy for them to get right.
I’m looking forward to seeing what more Florence Pugh has to offer to the character of Yelena, but outside of that I feel no reason to ever return to Black Widow on repeat viewings of the MCU saga.
Harbour and Weisz are also excellent. It’s great to see Weisz in an action role again as I feel like I haven’t seen her in something like this since The Mummy Returns in 2001; and Harbour adds some very funny moments to the film.
There were some fun moments with Black Widow, but I honestly feel like had the whole thing been longer and then shown as a Disney+ series it would have made more sense and had more emotional impact where the story clearly is trying to tug at some heartstrings. It’s disappointing to see Disney fumble this much with their first Phase Four film, and even more so with this character because it should have been so easy for them to get right.
I’m looking forward to seeing what more Florence Pugh has to offer to the character of Yelena, but outside of that I feel no reason to ever return to Black Widow on repeat viewings of the MCU saga.