Black Widow is in many ways a consolation film - made after a lot of criticism and pressure from fans, and it seems - a film for one that not only adds little to the MCU, it also does very little for this character. does.
English language
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow always deserved better.
One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most overlooked characters, the Avenger was first introduced as a painfully erotic superspy in Iron Man 2, later gradually gaining more depth and importance through the films Captain America and The Avengers. . i.e., sacrificing herself on Vermeer in Avengers: Endgame (one of the very few 'real' deaths in the MCU, which is notorious for bringing characters back to life all the time), before her heartbreaking death. .
Marvel's latest film Black Widow is a prequel, designed to give Nat her own (long overdue) standalone film, and finally give us her origin story. Drakov's daughter, Budapest, The Red Room - the things we've casually mentioned in previous films are finally discovered and explained. Directed by Kate Shortland (the MCU's first solo female director, which only took her 13 years and 24 movies to get), Black Widow is an honest effort, but an unmistakable effort. Throw in stuff and stakes to serve as a final farewell to the beloved character, and it's a disappointing one.
Despite its solemn intent to finally give Natasha her due, the film strictly doesn't rise above... serviceable, ticking the all-too-familiar basic blockbuster boxes.
It is in many ways a consolation film - after a lot of criticism and pressure from fans, and it seems - a film for one that not only adds little to the MCU, it does very little for this character.
The film is set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Romanoff is on the run from General Ross, who continues his crusade to round up the Avengers who defy the Sokovia Pact. And of course, as the unwritten rules of superhero movies dictate, as she goes into hiding after an adventure, a new one immediately comes to find her, one tied to her past. Of course, that's a trope that comes with the territory of these movies, but here, I was aware of it specifically because there isn't enough to absorb or distract you from its appropriateness.
With the Avengers surrogate superhero family he discovered - now torn apart, a new threat forces him to seek out his surrogate detective family that was assigned to him. The undercover Russian-posing-an-American fake family she grew up with, made up of Alexi (David Harbour), Melina (Rachel Weisz) and "younger sister" Yelena (Florence Pugh). These are the people in the life he left behind, with whom he must team up once again to make amends in his past and eventually bring down the red room that created him. For what it is, Black Widow follows the blueprint of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, ranging from its stakes and villains to its (relatively) more grounded setting that's more super spy than superhero.
The first 20 minutes, which see Nat hidden, were, to me, the strongest of the film. For one, they're really about him before he conspires, and to some extent, sidesteps him. We see him isolated and alone, yet coming to terms with his world being torn apart and the Avengers torn apart. This is the rare period of calm before the template superhero storms.
From then on, the proceedings may have focused on his old life, sure, but it's focused more on the people around him. Black Widow is part of the film "Getting the Band Back Together", and a launch vehicle to introduce Florence Pugh's one-liner-spewing killer Yelena into the MCU, who will assume Black Widow's designation from here. Undoubtedly many would consider him the film's biggest win, but to me his character represents its biggest failure. Marvel is doing what it did with its characters before — if you can't fix it, reboot it.
Through Nat's tense equation with his newly reunited fake detective family, the film tries to delve into the trauma of stealing your childhood and making genuine connections with strangers for whom you're 'just a job'. . But I could never buy the extent of their relationship or, more importantly, their pain - here reduced to weary jokes and nerdy pranks.
Then there are force fit action sequences, many of which are less gross and more unnecessary. It appears that they only exist to give more importance to the film, rather than just being organic to the narrative. Sometimes, you can feel the words "insert big set piece here" written in the script. Right after his first encounter with the Taskmaster (a new deadly killer on the spot), and shortly before his second, Nat tracks down Yelena, the sister he hasn't seen in years. And the first thing they do is f. We do
