Black Widow: It’s Good To See Marvel Back At The Movies
The post-Endgame Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an odd place to be in. Many of us balked at the idea of any projects mattering after the climactic conclusion to the Infinity Saga, but then Wandavision came, along with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and most recently Loki. Time and time again Marvel has proven that these characters still have stories worth telling, places worth exploring; and Black Widow continues the trend of pleasant surprises that Phase Four has had in store for us, and continues to surprise us with.
Black Widow takes place sometime after Captain America: Civil War, and before Avengers: Infinity War. After the fallout of the Sokovia Accords, Natasha Romanoff (AKA Black Widow) is on the run from the law when her old life comes crashing back into her current one thanks to her “sister”, Yelena Bolova leaving a valuable antidote in her hands. “Sister” has been put in quotations here because as we learn in the film, Natasha and Yelena only played sisters in a Russian sleeper agent cell posing as a family back in 1995, something akin to the television series The Americans. Yelena (played by Florence Pugh) is another Widow, a trained assassin taken as a child and brainwashed to do the bidding of Dreykov, a despicable man thought long-dead by Natasha’s hands. However, on an assassination mission, Yelena was exposed to the antidote to mind control and is set free of Dreykov’s control, and now both Yelena and her sister Natasha will stop at nothing to free the rest of the women under the thumb of the evil organization known as the Red Room.
Along with her sister, Black Widow also introduces Natasha’s false parents, Alexei Shostakov, AKA the Red Guardian (played by David Harbour); and Melina Vostakov, Natasha’s “mother” (played by Rachel Weisz). Alexei in particular is a highlight of the film, a broken patriot for his Motherland that is stuck reveling in glory days long past, but is still a caring person at heart. Natasha’s mother is a brilliant, yet rather unethical scientist and operative for the Red Room. Yelena, for her part is a reformed assassin, but most certainly killed good and innocent people under Dreykov’s command. That’s one of the very interesting parts of Black Widow, its depiction of family. Natasha’s family is unconventional, and nothing like the ideal picture we Americans have of the “Nuclear Family”. Each and every one of them is flawed, and while they work to better themselves none of them are truly redeemed by the end. It’s a far more grounded and realistic depiction of family than most of us are willing to admit – every one of us has family that we don’t get along with, at least not all the time, and its refreshing to see that sort of dynamic on a big budget Hollywood film. Additionally, because none of these characters are actually related, we are presented with the idea that while they may have been chosen to live together back in the 1990s, it was only after years apart and living their lives separately that they realized just how much they wanted to be family, which is a beautiful sentiment.
Undeniably, the big push of this film is to introduce and hype up the “new” Black Widow, Yelena Bolova, as her sister is dead in the current timeline of the MCU. Yelena does a good job elevating herself here with a wry wit and a far more openly emotive personality than her sister Natasha. Some of her jokes didn’t land for me, but only because she acts so familiar with Natasha, despite having only really known her for three years. That said, by the end of the film, you do believe in their connection as sisters; but at the beginning it feels a bit rushed. I look forward to seeing her character continue to grow in the upcoming Hawkeye series on Disney+ this fall.
Red Guardian is admittedly the very thing that got me excited to see Black Widow to begin with, and I’m thrilled to say he did not disappoint, often stealing every scene he was involved with. Alexei provides much of the film’s comic relief, and is truly a joy to watch. He is different than his comic counterpart in that he is Natasha’s father instead of her husband, but this is a change that doesn’t hurt the character in any way. The grizzled, old soldier and father figure suits Alexei well, and he never misses a beat here. I sincerely hope that we haven’t seen the last of him in the MCU, since at this time there is no news of him returning for a future film or television series.
Though that’s not to say that the eponymous Black Widow doesn’t shine here in her starring role. As an audience, we’ve had seven films to explore her character, and waited quite a long time to see her finally have her own picture. It took so long to get here that DC actually released two female led superhero films, Wonder Woman and WW84! Admittedly, Black Widow’s debut back in Iron Man 2 left me feeling unimpressed, as I thought her performance was rather flat and uninteresting. However, after two Captain America films and four Avengers films, I’ve now come to appreciate Scarlett Johansson’s understated, nuanced performance as Natasha Romanoff. While she may appear to be cold and distant, it’s clear that she feels things far more deeply than most of her superpowered comrades. Johansson truly knocks it out of the park here and it’s sad knowing that this will more than likely be her final appearance in the MCU. Scarlett Johansson truly stands out here as the fully realized version of Black Widow.
That being said, the film is not without its flaws. One thing I truly took issue with while watching Black Widow were the film’s villains, Dreykov and Taskmaster.
Dreykov (played by Ray Winstone) is a very one-note, anti-feminist villain – that is to say he’s a fat, older white man with enough sleaze to fund several major motion pictures, a la a Russian Harvey Weinstein. He plays his part well, and it’s very satisfying to see him get his comeuppance by the end of the movie. This type of character works well with the story Black Widow sets out to tell, but it does feel rather cliché.
Taskmaster
Taskmaster is presented as a silent yet intimidating enforcer, dispatched to ensure the Red Room’s continued survival. And while Taskmaster does provide engaging action sequences throughout the film, as a character they do very little for the story. They are entirely mute, and due to the nature of the Red Room, entirely without agency or motivation for the duration of the film. It’s particularly disappointing after seeing how striking of a character Taskmaster is, both in the comics and in other adaptations of the character. It makes me wonder why they would choose to use Taskmaster instead of creating a brand-new character for the role, which is essentially what they’ve done anyway by this point. It feels like a rather wasted opportunity.
Rachel Weisz’s character, Melina Vostokov felt rather underwritten to me. Despite having been put through the Red Room several times and being shown to have little regard for the lives of other creatures, she is willing to throw that loyalty away for her family. That’s not to say that this kind of character arc is impossible, but it felt very much improbable given the short amount of time we are given with her. Perhaps if she returns in another film or television series I will get to understand her better, but for now she remains a weaker area of an otherwise excellently written family dynamic.
The only other issue I had with Black Widow was with some of its camera work. The film continues the MCU trend of shaky cam during fight scenes, which is extremely frustrating in an era where films like the John Wick franchise have shown us that you don’t need to film an action scene so frenetically to have it be impactful and engaging. The shaky cam was really distracting, and even seeing it on the big screen it was hard to tell just what was going on all the time. This style of filming for an action scene is a sad holdout from earlier Marvel movies that I hope we can soon phase out of.
That’s not to say that Black Widow is a bad film, by any means. Flawed, perhaps. But if you’re in the mood for a wall-to-wall action thriller, you could do far worse. When the camera holds steady, the action is truly engaging. The emotional heart of the film and its message on family resonated with me. Natasha’s family makes for a wonderful addition to the MCU and I can’t wait to see them again in a future film or television series. All this makes Black Widow spectacle to see, on the big or small screen. Overall, I give Black Widow a 7.5/10.
It’s good to see Marvel back at the movies.
