*Warning: This review contains Spoilers for previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and some very mild spoilers for Black Widow (2021)*
After years of fan demand, Marvel Studios has finally come through with a solo film for their first female hero, Scarlett Johansson’s super spy secret agent Natasha Romanov, better known as the Black Widow. Natasha first showed up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2010’s Iron Man 2 and was immediately lauded as a fan-favorite character. She would go on to appear alongside other Marvel heroes throughout two Captain America sequels and four Avengers films. So when would she get her time to shine? This week Marvel released Black Widow both in theaters and on their Disney+ subscription streaming service with Premiere Access (aka additional premium pricing). So, is it worth venturing back into theaters or plunking down an extra $30 to stream the film?
While it is great that the Black Widow solo film has finally happened, it stands as a testament to the phrase “too little too late.” The movie didn’t come to fruition until after the character was unceremoniously killed off in Avengers: Endgame (2019) to little fanfare. This means we already know the fate of the character before even sitting down to watch the movie. This prequel is set right after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), but before the events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Still, even if the film is late to the party, it is absolutely a welcome guest for fans who wanted to see more of her backstory fleshed out and a proper conclusion for the character.
As mentioned above, the film’s story fills audiences in on just what Natasha Romanov was up to in the time between Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Black Widow gives us much more insight as to who Natasha Romanov truly is behind the proverbial mask, telling her story from early childhood as part of an undercover “family” cell alongside her fellow agents, her “sister” Yelena, and her assigned adoptive parents Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz). We also get some flashbacks to some of the events of Natasha’s training, her defection from The Red Room to S.H.I.E.L.D., and we finally get to find out just what she and Hawkeye have been talking about when they refer to Budapest.
We don’t want to give too many spoilers, so we will keep the story rundown generally light. Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is on the run from the U.S. Government after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016). She is in hiding when she gets roped into a conflict with the mysterious Taskmaster. This, in turn, leads her back to Budapest where she finds her “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh), who is also a Black Widow agent fully trained by The Red Room. This is news to Natasha, who thought she had shut The Red Room down when she left. She learns that The Red Room is not only still in operation, but that its founder, Dreykov (Ray Winstone), was still alive and running the whole operation. This leads to a chain of over-the-top action sequences as Natasha and Yelena work together to survive the oncoming attacks from the Taskmaster, reunite with their old “parents” to find Dreykov, and shut down The Red Room once and for all.
Black Widow is largely an action-spy thriller that feels like a superhero spin on a James Bond film. It is very similar in tone to another MCU movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), and you can tell that director Cate Shortland is taking a lot of cues from there. The story is a fun thrill ride full of twists and turns that keep you guessing, and in traditional spy-movie fashion, you never truly know who is on who’s side. The movie is an onslaught of action sequences with very few dull moments throughout, never really slowing down once it takes the first plunge into the action. Marvel has always had an eye for good stunt work, but as Black Widow features mostly non-powered characters, the film was jam-packed with some impressive hand-to-hand combat that absolutely conveyed just how dangerous a Black Widow agent could be; even when empty-handed.
While the action was often the film’s focal point, Black Widow is also top-loaded with heartfelt moments and a strong message about family. Natasha has always been a bit of a loner from what we know of her in previous MCU films, with the exception of her chosen family with the Avengers. Black Widow tells us the story of a woman who can never truly go home again and who questions if she ever really had one to begin with. She struggles to cope with her past and to accept that the family she knew might mean more to her than she remembered. As always with Marvel, there are some solid laughs peppered in throughout the movie, but the humor always feels natural and never out of place.
Looking deeper at Black Widow, the film also tells a very important story about surviving abuse, both mentally and physically. Dreykov abused countless girls after literally plucking them from the streets to train his perfect manipulatable weapons. While he may be quite a few steps down from some of the MCU’s other big villains like Ultron or Thanos, Dreykov presents a very real-life threat in a world full of comic book extremity. We always knew that Natasha had been through the wringer, but we had never really been shown quite the extent of how bad things were for her or how far back into her past these things began.
While we came into the film knowing our titular character after having already seen her in seven other films in the MCU, Black Widow introduces quite a few new players to the fold. The biggest addition is Natasha’s sister Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh. Yelena is sassy, smart, and funny, in the way you’d expect from the MCU, but also has a dark side to her that should bring something new to the table. Perhaps most importantly for this film, Pugh and Johansson have undeniable chemistry on screen together, very believably playing sisters on screen in a way that felt natural. Yelena is expected to be a key player moving forward in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking up the mantle of the Black Widow in the wake of Natasha’s death. We have a feeling she will be welcomed with open arms by the fanbase. Florence Pugh handed in one hell of a debut performance in this film and we are looking forward to seeing where she pops up next (spoiler alert, it’s in the upcoming Hawkeye series on Disney+)!
David Harbour also hands in a super fun performance as Alexei, Natasha’s adoptive father figure and former Russian super-soldier known as The Red Guardian. While he is largely played as comic relief, Alexei is a heavy hitter that you can’t help but fall in love with as he hangs on to his nostalgia for his glory days as a superhero. Alexei is a big soft teddy bear when it comes to his two adoptive daughters, but also a massive super-strong grizzly bear that you don’t want to piss off. Harbour’s performance almost redeems him for his godawful turn as the titular hero in Hellboy (2019). Almost.
Rachel Weisz’s Melina is a brilliant scientist who was behind The Red Room’s greatest scientific achievements. Whether she realized or had any control over what she was doing is another story entirely. Weisz handed in a powerful performance and is absolutely believable as a brilliant scientist who does evil things with good intentions. Weisz is a consistently underrated actress that gives us a very heartfelt turn as a woman living the only way she knows how. I honestly hope that we haven’t seen the last of Melina and Alexei in the MCU. While Natasha is gone, Yelena is still around so there stands a chance that they may return in some fashion.
Not to leave anyone out, acting legend Ray Winstone also makes his MCU debut in Black Widow as Dreykov; the man behind The Red Room that abducted and trained Natasha and the rest of the Black Widow agents. The Red Room is effectively the Russian version of S.H.I.E.L.D., making him the Russian version of Nick Fury. Unfortunately, he’s also a sadistic monster with plans for global domination. Winstone is fantastic in this role and brings a certain level of sleaziness that few actors really could. He is utterly creepy and you can almost feel the abusive tendencies oozing off of him every time he is on screen.
Throughout the film, O-T Fagbenle pops up as Mason; Natasha’s go-to friend when she needs equipment and supplies. Mason is a character we have never seen or heard of before, yet he is played as if he is someone we should be familiar with. Fagbenle does just fine in this minor role but much like the character, he is rather forgettable.
The cast is rounded out by Olga Kurylenko, who has a brief appearance in a role we don’t want to discuss too heavily, and a glorified cameo by William Hurt’s long-time MCU character General Thaddeus Ross. While her co-stars steal the show in a lot of ways, Scarlett Johansson gives one hell of a performance for Natasha Romanov’s swan song. Knowing it was likely to be her last time portraying this character that she first introduced to us over a decade ago may have had something to do with it, but Johansson brought her absolute A-game to her character’s way overdue solo film.
Finally, being the star of the film rather than a supporting character allows us to really get to know Natasha in a much more intimate way and to fill in some major gaps in her history. It only took them a decade, but Natasha finally has a proper backstory and character development! You can almost see the growth as she evolves from who she was in Captain America: Civil War (2016) to who she is in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Who she is by her final moments in Endgame is someone with something to live for, and you can see that she found a lot of that in this film.
The only real complaint with Black Widow (besides the fact that it’s something like ten years too late) is how it handles one of its major villains, Taskmaster. The character we meet in the movie is a major departure from their comic book counterpart. While they prove a menacing enough threat for our heroes, Taskmaster is never given any real development, let alone anything meaningful to do besides lurking or attacking. They are more or less a plot device that exists as an excuse to move things along, which is a shame considering how big of a character Taskmaster is in the comics. We can’t say much else about the character without spilling out some major spoilers. Suffice to say, you will either love or hate how the character is handled much in the way that people were torn about the big “Mandarin twist” in Iron Man 3 (2013).
Black Widow is a bold spy-action film that gives a loving sendoff to one of the MCU’s biggest players. Was it the sendoff she deserved? No, not really. But it was a solid entry in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe that provides plenty of entertainment during its 133-minute runtime. Black Widow was an action-packed thrill ride, and while it wasn’t a great film, it was in no way a bad film. Sometimes that is enough! However, in this particular case, it feels like both Scarlett Johansson and Natasha Romanov deserved so much more.
Natasha’s journey as a hero has been a long time coming, and while she was finally able to clear the red from her ledger, perhaps she deserved a grander send-off than what we ended up getting.
