Black Widow is an American superhero film featuring the Marvel character of the same name. The film revolves around Natasha Romanoff’s (Scarlett Johansson) quests between the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Civil War and Infinity War. This is now the 24th film (how many?) in the MCU.
Black Widow was co-written by WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer, along with Ned Benson, and directed by Cate Shortland, functioning as an origin story for Natasha Romanoff’s presence in the MCU. The film touches upon past family trauma, Black Widow’s identity crisis and her sisterly rivalry with Yelena (Florence Pugh – Little Women). The film expatiates on the key characters in a way that hadn’t been done before. It’s an enjoyable watch – even if some of the accents are a little flickering – here’s looking at you Ray!
The film reveals that the two sisters were in fact unrelated orphans, and their fake mother Melinda (Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener) and fake father Alexei (David Harbour – Hellboy) were previously on the payroll of, and now seeking revenge on, evil puppet-master Dreykov (Ray Winstone – Sexy Beast – the film not my opinion – and those bet365 adverts, “Please gamble responsibly”) who has been training an army of “widows”.
The unconventional family dynamic at the centre of the film keeps the film chugging along nicely, with a few chuckle-worthy moments thrown in for good measure. It requires no intricate knowledge of any previous MCU films, only a basic idea of who the Avengers are. It is an easy and enjoyable watch – I guess you know exactly what you’re getting with MCU films by now. There are enough funny moments – but it is no Thor: Ragnarok – but what is?
It is Johansson’s chance to bid adieu to a character that probably should have had her own solo film years ago. I guess there’s time for a Black Widow and Hawkeye spin-off TV series yet too. The film also finally reveals what happened in Budapest! For the uninitiated, this has served as an in-joke between the aforementioned pair, in their pre-Avengers days as killer spies.
It also wouldn’t be the biggest surprises ever if we were to see Harbour, as Captain America’s Soviet counterpart, Red Guardian, ascend to follow-up greatness of his own. I’ll write it if no-one else will!
Clingfilm – That’s a wrap!
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