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The New Review
Black Widow
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh
Directed by Cate Shortland
Concept: The Avengers' resident Femme Fatale got her own movie. Explaining what she went through between Civil War and Infinity War.
Some spoilers ahead...
Execution
Cast: ScarJo is back, being her Black-Widowy self. Florence Pugh went from being a relative unknown, to being a powerhouse actress, she is the perfect counterpoint to ScarJo's Natasha. It is as much her movie as it is ScarJo's. And it works. David Harbour is pretty funny, Rachel Weiss is stoic... but both seem wasted. Explanation coming. And a great villain, and not the one you are thinking from the trailers. They needed more... but still had enough.
Score: 15/20
Presentation: The Typical MCU fanfare is what this movie was. And it likes to jump around to different locations, we don't spend enough time in any location long enough to matter. The prison break was a fun sequence, but it reminded me quite a bit of the House Party Protocol in Iron Man 3, with the scaffolding and quick cuts... just in the snow. The soundtrack... was boring, but it starts with a cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", if it was written by a depressed teenage girl...... and it sounded pretty damn good. Not enough to save the soundtrack.
Score: 15/20
Chronicle: The MCU has developed an amazingly complex spy thriller. It was called "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Black Widow was NOT that level. Because it wasn't that complex. It was a straightforward spy thriller with extra extra action... with a bit of a broken family reunion story mixed it... and there wasn't enough of it. Definitely made to set up Yelena as the new Black Widow, and they did just that. The villain had a face(Ivan Dreykov), but the real villain was the Red Room itself. It didn't dumb down the child trafficking, and remembered the pheromone angle from the comics. But the story didn't feel like it had enough solid footing. It's a fun film, but it won't make or break any major story line. It was a spy movie... an action movie... a broken family movie... a sister film... but doesn't want to superhero. And it just doesn't do enough in any direction aside from the sister film.
Score: 19/30
Impact: The MCU BIG female character finally getting her own solo film. It will effect the MCU going forward, but the movie could've been so much better. It's nice what happened with Nat between Civil War and Infinity War... but it didn't feel like it was an important as it was made out to be. And that made up for the hype. It was self-contained, and aside from poking fun at Natasha being an Avengers, it was quite separated from the overall MCU. You knew it was MCU, but no other Avengers make an appearance. If was released when it was supposed to, it would be a much better fit. But no fault from Disney on that. So I will be lenient on that. So... recap... it will affect the MCU going forward, but still not affected by the MCU as a whole. Got it?
Score: 17/20
Extra Oomph: This is your spoiler section. First up... Red Guardian definitely wasn't a hero. Not...a...hero. And he had NO redemption in the movie. None. And I love that idea. It wasn't his movie. He doesn't need it. The mission he had making the fake family with Natasha and Yelena to cover for his real mission. Then basically giving those girls up to the Red Room, knowing what Dreykov was going to do to them...... Alexei is no hero. And they never pretended he was. Second... The Taskmaster. I went into the movie hoping it WASN'T Tony Masters like in the comics. I was hoping for a different payoff: the seemingly throw away comment with about Dreykov's Daughter from the first Avengers movie. The thought I had was... Nat tried to kill Dreykov and thought she killed his daughter as collateral damage. And... dammit... that is EXACTLY what they did. And I LOVE it. He got off unscathed, but his daughter was burned. He turned his daughter into the Taskmaster, complete with mimic skill the character is known for. And it FIT the narrative. Tony Masters wouldn't have fit... there was enough exposition, we didn't need this too. So this was the direction it was supposed to go. Even covered in clichés... this was the right call. So... it gets bonus points for that.
Score: 13/10
FINAL SCORE: 79/100
FINAL GRADE: C+
Conclusion: It's an MCU movie. So, at minimum it had to be good. But... that's it. It was good. Not mind blowing... not even great. Just... good. Happy that Natasha finally got her solo movie, but it ended up not being just her movie. It was a shared experience to "pass the torch" to her "sister" Yelena Belova. So I guess they still makes it a Black Widow movie regardless. The official start of Phase 4. But... only the post credit scene. And... it didn't do Nat justice. It should've been a much strong film...... and it wasn't.
It's all a matter of opinion: I cannot stress enough that THIS is MY opinion, you can either agree with me or not. I don't have to justify my opinion, because *clears throat* that's what this blog is about. Whether I like it or not doesn't mean you have to or not...... I'ts just my justification behind MY recommendation... Which leads me to my FINAL JUDGMENT...
FINAL JUDGMENT: If you love the MCU movies, you need to see this movie. And I'm a fan. I want to watch it again. It was a good spy action film. But not good enough. I want to love it. But I can't. I can at least say I liked it. And will watch it again. And I think you all should to. Up to you if you want to do that in theater or on Disney+, I recommend it.
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So Black Widow is finally out. And it gets an 79.
Worth the wait from Covid? I'm... still not sure on that. Not the worst MCU movie. But not the best. It needed to be a mini series. More time on the individual aspects. But it was still a good enough movie to watch.
Tell what you thought. Did you see it? Gonna see it? What could they have done better? What did they do just right? Leave a comment. Share this review on social media.
And don't forget...
We Are The Audience.
No idea what the next review will be, but stay tuned for more lists and some new concept posts coming through.
Thank you for any support!
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