Movie Review: Black Widow

11 years and 8 movies later, Black Widow finally gets a much-deserved solo movie. 

It has finally arrived! Marvel has finally given us Black Widow. Being way too far into the history and development of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) at this point, the film is less of an origin story and more of a gap filler for the time after Captain America: Civil War. But nonetheless, Black Widow has earned $218M+ in its worldwide opening weekend and is a much-needed film.

Background

Natasha embarks on a European mission to reconnect with her ‘sister’ Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and confront some of the histories of her past, both in terms of the family that she thought she had, and the enemies that she thought she had already defeated. Ok, caught up yet?!

What Worked

The biggest selling point here for me is definitely the cast. Compared to how she was presented in her early MCU showings, you can tell that Scarlett Johansson has really had a hand in the transformation of Natasha Romanoff. She’s less shiny and less ‘fake’. Black Widow excels when it focuses on the family dynamics of Nat and her mother, father, and sister. The film is immediately captivating us with surprising emotional depth and a terrific action sequence on a runway with a heavy emotional recap of the past open scene to a remix of ‘Teen Spirit. The star of the movie though .. Florence Pugh’s Yelena makes her debut and virtually steals the show! Her wit, fight scenes, and overall performance – she has become one of my favorite characters now in the MCU and I can’t wait to see how they evolve her in the years to come.
 

Did We Like It?

Black Widow is for much of its running time, closer to “Bourne” than “Thor.” Overall, Black Widow probably isn’t going to be ranked as the greatest MCU movie, but I can’t say that I had any complaints. Definitely wasn’t a fan of the Taskmaster, as the whole character reveal was a little of a shortcoming. There is no doubt that the delay in release hurt the film, along with Marvel’s clear refusal to give the character her own movie in the first place. In the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, there’s no denying that Black Widow feels a tiny bit out of order in the timeline, but there is enough in the post-credits scene as to where we are going from here. Black Widow is extremely watchable, entertaining, and humorous. We had fun, the family dynamics still were cool, and Florence Pugh is a superstar. That’s about it! Overall I give it 3.75 out of 5 stars.

How to Watch it

It is now playing in movie theaters everywhere or if you have a Disney + subscription, Disney+ offers Premier Access to Black Widow for $29.99.