Film Review: Black Widow
Action reigns in the kinetic - but ultimately disposable - Black Widow
Star power and the best street-level action this side of The Winter Soldier do a lot of the heavy lifting for the long-awaited, long-overdue Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh shine in Natasha Romanoff’s solo outing, but in the wake of Avengers: Endgame, it all feels a little inconsequential and oddly timed; what should be a moving swan song and a passing of the baton instead feels like a fleeting adventure straight out of the MCU’s early days. Nevertheless, Black Widow will delight fans of the character while simultaneously paving a bright future for the mantle. Minor spoilers ahead…
Like Captain Marvel before it, Black Widow has plenty riding upon its shoulders. Only the second female-led entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s entire 24-film history, the long-delayed and long-awaited solo outing for Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) finds the titular super spy in between a rock and a hard place. Filmmaker Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome, Lore) adds depth and texture to perhaps the most-tortured Avenger, coloring in Natasha’s backstory with a new coterie of colorful characters and an exploration of her harrowing past. Black Widow orchestrates some of the most kinetic and thrilling street-level action since Captain American: The Winter Soldier, buoyed by a scene-stealing Florence Pugh, but the specter of its awkward timing looms large: Taking place before her heroic sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, this is supposedly the final appearance of Johansson as the reformed Russian agent, but the film seems less like an essential text and more like a standalone adventure plucked straight from the MCU’s Phase Two.
Opening with a lengthy 1995 prelude, Black Widow establishes young Natasha’s (Ever Anderson) childhood as part of a Russian sleeper cell located in Ohio. Embedded with her adoptive sister Yelena Belova (Violet McGraw), Natasha is raised by her “parents,” Russian Steve Rogers analogue Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and behavioral scientist Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz). Completing their Stateside mission, the family flees the United States back to Mother Russia, where both girls are conscripted into the brutal Red Room training program. Flash forward two decades, taking place in between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Yelena (Florence Pugh) has broken free of her conditioning, and she reluctantly seeks the help of her estranged sister to take down the Red Room - and its sniveling architect, Dreykov (Ray Winstone) - once and for all.
“…[Black Widow] seems less like an essential text and more like a standalone adventure plucked straight from the MCU’s Phase Two.”
After the intergalactic threat of Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame, it’s refreshing to get a Black Widow film that focuses more on intimate stakes and grounded espionage. Shortland, together with fight choreographer Jonathan Eusebio and stunt coordinator R.A. Rondell, brings kinetic street-level action back to the MCU. With shades of The Winter Soldier, Black Widow hits extra hard with an action extravaganza that is as varied as it is entertaining: Car chases, helicopter rescues, and bone-snapping brawls only scratch the surface of the film’s adrenaline-fueled - and overlong - runtime.
Alongside its white-knuckle action, Black Widow is carried by the chemistry of its stars. Scarlett Johansson slips on the comfortable boots of Natasha Romanoff with ease, even if - at times - she feels like a supporting character in her own film. This is less of a knock against Johansson and more a testament to her co-stars’ magnetic star power: David Harbour brings humor and pathos to the role of the washed up Red Guardian, while Florence Pugh foreshadows a charismatic and bright future as the MCU’s new Black Widow. A running gag involving Yelena’s barely-contained disdain for Natasha and her theatricality would have only been amusing in a lesser actress’ hands, but with Pugh’s delivery and pantomime, it had my entire theater in stitches. And it’s all dynamic enough to distract from the film’s weakest element: its thin and forgettable villains. Neither the mustache-twirling Dreykov nor his helmeted heavy - the menacing Taskmaster - make much of an impression. Taskmaster, in particular, is a disappointing shell of his comic book counterpart, rarely utilizing his fascinating mimicry powers to full effect. In the end, there is an in-universe reason for Taskmaster’s lack of impact, but it still doesn’t make for engaging storytelling.
“After the intergalactic threat of Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame, it’s refreshing to get a Black Widow film that focuses more on intimate stakes and grounded espionage.”
While watching Black Widow, it’s hard to ignore the feeling that it’s all just a bit too little, too late, especially with its prolonged development (the movie has been in a state of flux since 2010). An original Avenger, Black Widow is the last of the superhero roster to get her own standalone film, Norton-Ruffalo Hulk semantics aside. And while the narrative plumbs the depths of Natasha’s character for an affecting meditation on family, sisterhood, and haunted pasts, it feels like these are voids that should have been filled in years ago. It can’t be helped that pairing Black Widow’s lower stakes with the character’s fate in Avengers: Endgame gives rise to a somewhat deflated experience, and one that feels less than the proper swan song Natasha deserves. It may be unfair to hold timing against the quality of a film, but with Marvel Studios’ meticulousness in constructing its galaxies-spanning timeline, Black Widow’s dearth of consequence is more than noticeable.
Like much of the early MCU fare it mimics, Black Widow lacks emotional heft, favoring set-pieces and thrilling action above its characters. There are many points in the story where it comes close to reaching a real character moment for its star’s final outing, but it’s always interrupted by the pulling of the fight scene ripcord. With its sound architecture of balletic choreography, razor-sharp performances, and a promising blueprint for the future, Black Widow is sure to check plenty of Marvel fans’ boxes; in many, many ways, it’s the Natasha Romanoff movie we’ve all been waiting for, I just wish it could have been a better sendoff for a hero that has been with us since the start of the last decade.
