A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War.
Chuck says:
It’s my unfortunate duty to report that “Black Widow,” Marvel Films’ much delayed kick off to Phase Four of their cinematic universe, is a rather lackluster affair. Bloated and empty, it’s a movie that spins its wheels, teasing us with moments that suggest it will break free from its by-the-numbers script, only to retreat to safety of a car chase or scene of hand-to-hand combat instead.
That’s too bad as there’s a great deal of potential on display. Sporting a top-notch cast that’s chomping at the bit, there’s an idea or two here that, had they been developed, might have resulted in one of the most unique entries in the Marvel Universe. Instead, it’s a run-of-the-mill feature, an anomaly amidst the studio’s stable of solid entertainments, its director Cate Shortland (?) content to play it safe every step of the way.
The movie begins in Ohio in 1995 with a typical midwestern family quickly packing their bags so they can hightail it to the airport. Far from flag-waving, apple-pie eating patriots, they’re a group of Russian spies who’ve been compromised and forced to flee. While embedded, Alexi (David Harbour) and his faux-wife Melina (Rachel Wiesz) have uncovered key secrets for the party and are expecting a hero’s welcome when they return. Instead, they’re exiled and their two “daughters,” Natasha and Yelena are taken into the country’s Black Widow program to become trained assassins.
The highlight of the film is the credits sequence that follows. This extended prologue presents a montage of disturbing images showing young girls being trafficked from around the world to be cruelly indoctrinated, transformed into lethal weapons. This points towards a darker tone than previous Marvel films, one that regrettably is merely alluded to and cast aside.
Instead, we get a predictable exercise as the action jumps some 20 years into the future. Taking place after “Captain America: Civil War,” Natasha and Yelena (Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh, respectively) reluctantly reunite to bring down Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the head of the Widow program as well as secure a chemical concoction that, when ingested, undoes the nefarious brainwashing the assassins have endured.
Ostensibly a long chase film, the movie gets bogged down by far too many extended action scenes. To be sure, there are exciting moments here and there. A prison break from a Siberian gulag almost reaches Bond-level thrills, while a motorcycle chase through the narrow streets of Budapest is a showstopper. However, sequences like this are put on a repeated loop until the film becomes nothing but a blur.
Ironically, on the rare occasion when Shortland allows her characters to stop to catch their breath, the film finds its footing. The dynamic between the fractured family-reunited by Natasha and Yelena to help in their quest – provide the movie with its best moments. Alexi’s misplaced pride in his daughters, their animosity towards him and Melina’s efforts to ignore it all so that she might pursue her own interests yield moments of grand humor and palpable poignancy. Everyone in the cast brings their A-Game but the highlight is Pugh who steals the film from Johansson, supplying a sense of barbed humor as well as humanity to her character that’s welcomed. A star is born amidst all this chaos.
I have a feeling fans of the Marvel Films Universe won’t care about the “Widow’s” shortcomings. Having gone over a year without seeing one of their favorite four-color characters on the big screen, they’ll be eager to embrace anything the studio throws their way. However, once they get around to rewatching, it they’ll see how thin it really is.
2 Stars
Pam says: How many origin stories can there be in the Marvel Universe? The number seems to go beyond infinity as is demonstrated in the latest story, “Black Widow” starring Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, the infamous traumatized Avenger who sacrificed herself for the greater good at the end of “Avengers: End Game.” The true stars, however, are Florence Pugh and David Harbour as Natasha’s little sister and father, respectively. THIS is the story we wanted, but unfortunately, we didn’t get enough of it.
To read Pam’s entire review, go to http://reelhonestreviews.com/black-widow/
