Black Widow (2021) Review

Black Widow (2021) Review

Dir. Cate Shortland 

In her 9th and supposedly final MCU appearance, Scarlett Johansson's Natasha finally gets her own solo film, but is it a case of too little, too late?  

Black Widow may be quite confusing for casual viewers, who will fail to understand that the film is both a prequel, sequel, midquel and just about every other quel. Taking place during the offscreen gap between 2016's Civil War and 2018's Avengers Infinity War, Black Widow sees Natasha going on a journey back to her past, with old friends and enemies rearing their heads along the way. 

Cate Shortland's first Hollywood blockbuster effort is an impressive action flick. Enjoyable and entertaining as any of Marvel's superhero jaunts. If you like the characters, and are looking for another extra slice of MCU flavour, this is a good time at the movies, and certainly not a bad film. 

The opening sequence in particular established a really refreshing tone for Marvel. Dark, atmospheric and relatively grounded. Black Widow opens very strong, with a moody opening titles sequence almost reminiscent of the Bond series, set to a trailer-worthy Nirvana cover. Part of me wished the film had stuck with this tone throughout, but it’s not long before the Marvel formula creeps back in with enough witty laughs to keep the younger audiences interested. 

Action wise, this film can go toe to toe with your summer blockbusters. Engaging set pieces with video-game grand scale. However, the sense of peril is largely nulled by the fact that physics wise, this does take a lot of liberties. For a universe where a talking tree and raccoon can feel realistic, some of the moments in this film push the boundaries of believability to the point of the recent Fast and Furious films.

My biggest gripe with the film is it’s over dependence on the humour. Marvel has been criticised a lot for its reliance on jokes recently, but this one for me was the most striking. There’s some dark ,real-life issues at play in this story. From child trafficking, abuse to even forced surgery. Sometimes, throwing a chuckle in there can be useful to keep things from devolving into depressing melodrama, but in this case it feels all too light. Brevity at the expense of emotional payoff. Every time I felt the film was about to do something emotionally satisfying, it broke tension all too quickly with another gag. 

The worst of which was a dialogue exchange about forced sterilisation that felt extremely uncomfortable, and in comparison to a previous controversial conversation in Avengers Age of Ultron, made the former look like a paragon of tasteful screenwriting. 

The negatives of the humour aside, when the jokes did land they landed well, and much of the light side was carried by the great David Harbour. It was also very fun to see Rachel Weisz back in an action franchise, having barely aged since The Mummy Returns. Ray Winstone's cockney Russian accent is a particular highlight, and the beloved comic villain Taskmaster takes way less of a focus than the marketing suggests, but does provide some of the best action sequences in the film. 

The real standout star of this film is Florence Pugh. This is a breakout vehicle for her as an action lead. Having proven her acting prowess in recent years, she can now add action heroine to her belt. The film felt as much an origin story for her Black Widow as it was a swan song for Scarlett Johansson's Avenger. 

A fun, extremely comic-book storyline involving super spy assassins and secret Russian bases, with a third act that was strangely reminiscent of a G.I Joe film, Black Widow succeeds at being what it set out to be; your average popcorn solo film, with new characters introduced for their eventual spin offs and pay offs down the line.

All in all, Black Widow was less of a genre-bending Marvel spectacular than your Winter Soldiers and Thor Ragnaroks, but it was a warm, welcome-back hug after 2 years away from the big screen from this Marvel super franchise. It felt good to be back, and Black Widow was a fun ride that I’d happily see again. 

7/10

Review by Elliott Thomas Griffiths