Black Widow Review

 

Film: Black Widow

Director: Cate Shortland

Release Date: 9th July 2021

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, O.T. Fagbenle

Synopsis: Set in between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War Natasha confronts her past as a spy, and attempts to take down the Red Room once and for all.

Finally, after a year delay the first MCU film since 2019 has finally been released in cinemas and on Disney + with premium access and it is great to see the MCU on the big screen. 2021 has already introduced us to three brand new MCU Disney + series but it is great seeing the MCU return to the big screen in the debut solo adventure for a character that has appeared in the MCU since Iron Man 2. 

Black Widow directed by Cate Shortland provides an entry into the MCU that delves deeper into the history of the character whilst expanding the existing MCU lore and introducing an array of new characters along the way rather successfully. It could be argued that this film should have been made during the earlier days of the MCU but I am glad we finally get to delve deeper into the character. 

The film itself take aspects of previous spy thrillers such as James Bond and mixes it with the magic of the MCU, whilst the film has its references to previous films and characters it in itself feels like a very contained story set in it's own area of the MCU which I rather enjoyed, in previous years we have had huge cross over events including the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame so it was nice to be able to have a more contained story. The film perfectly balances the theme of family and belonging with Natasha exploring her past "family" and the events that bring them back together to help take down the Red Room the very place that created Black Widow and as the film explains is becoming a very real threat in the MCU with the likes of Ray Winston's Dreykov leading the Black Widow program. 

The film contains an array of acting talent and overall, the film as a lot of strong performances. Obviously, it is great to see Scarlett Johansson return as Black Widow after her death in Avengers: Endgame, but it is the new characters that really steal the show mainly Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova who gives a great performance and personally is a character to watch moving forward in the MCU. The film introduces Melina portrayed by Rachel Weisz and Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian) being portrayed by David Harbour to the MCU. Whilst both characters are a good addition to the film, they are mainly used to cermet this idea of family and belonging with David Harbour's character essentially being used as the comic relief for the film. Personally, I liked this element as essentially a character used for propaganda then being thrown in prison making him slightly unstable was an interesting take but I would still love to see more of the Red Guardian in his prime and judging by the way the character talks about himself in the past it would be great to see. The film also introduces us to the character of Taskmaster and whilst the character is surrounded by secrecy (we won't go into the reveal here but it is definitely up there for discussion) the introduction of the character is certainly exciting and I love the mimicking abilities allowing the character to copy any movements and fighting styles of other characters in the MCU, and where the film leaves the character at the end of the film could lead to some interesting and exciting possibilities. 

As with all MCU films there is a lot of action and at times a lot of great sequences but at times it is often the CGI that lets those sequences down looking at times like a video game and looking less realistic. Of course, CGI is sometimes hard to get right at times but with the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame being hugely successful in times of the CGI elements of the film I would of thought elements of the CGI in the action sequences would have been slightly more polished but that might just be a personal preference for me but it didn't take away the overall enjoyment of the film.

Verdict: 

Overall, it is great to finally get the MCU back on the big screen and Black Widow does an excellent job at exploring the backstory of the character of Natasha and her past life away from the Avengers whilst expanding on MCU lore with the introduction of new characters and leaving us with opportunities for further exploration of these new characters moving forward.

4 / 5 Stars