Black Widow: Movie Review

Well, we gave you plenty of time to see the movie but it’s time for us to review the movie that both of us have been waiting for this year: Black Widow. It is finally the original female Avenger’s turn to get her own movie and might I add: it took Marvel long enough. This movie was well overdue and, even though I loved it and it gave us a glimpse into the world of Natasha Romanoff, it still was missing something very important but more on that later, we have a trailer to watch.

Black Widow is an action filled spy thriller that follows Avenger Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow while she is on the run after the events of Captain America: Civil War. Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow sees Natasha’s past come back into her life in more ways than one as we learn about just some of the things Natasha has done to fill her ledger with red. Naturally, Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as the Black Widow while Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour join the Marvel team as Yelena Belova, Melina Vostokoff and the Red Guardian respectively. The introduction of these characters means that the mantle of Black Widow can be passed down to Yelena and we might just see that relationship between the Winter Soldier and the Black Widow.

One thing that stands out about this movie was the female gaze of the director. There was never an overtly sexual view of female superheroes in this movie. The ladies of this movie are here to kick ass and if they look good doing it, it’s a bonus. Granted, it’s nigh on impossible for Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh to look bad doing anything but the huge positive that can be taken from this movie is that we have strong female lead characters and another supporting female character working together as a team without bitchiness and competition between them. It’s a refreshing change that these badass women can all work together. It also brought up the question of why it took so long for a Black Widow movie to be made? These characters could easily be introduced earlier in the MCU and developed to a greater extent. Honestly, Black Widow and her family could have carried a franchise just as well as Thor, Captain America or Iron Man.

That thing that I mentioned before that was missing? What happened in Budapest. The annoying thing is we are told in passing what happened. There was no flashback to Clint and Natasha in Budapest; we’re just told the story and it’s left at that. After making the long standing friendship between Natasha and Clint blatantly obvious in previous movies and the reference to Budapest being brought up in Black Widow’s solo movie, I was hoping we could see exactly what happened in Budapest in this movie but rather it is once again just referred to. On the other hand, one thing that I really did love about this movie is the sisterly bond between Yelena and Natasha which was brought to life spectacularly by Scarlett and Florence (I’m referring, in particular, to the scene where Yelena makes fun of Natasha for doing battle poses). They convey the perfect levels of sarcasm and dry humour towards one another that really points to their shared childhood and proves that they do, under all of that, care about one another like sisters. Adding to that humour is David Harbour’s Red Guardian who adds levity to even the most tense scenes without it seeming forced while Rachel Weisz adds her own witty banter to create the sense that this team genuinely used to be a family unit at one point in history. You can feel the shared history between these characters especially during the family sit-down in Melina’s house.

Black Widow is another spectacular addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and fits nicely into the pre-existing timeline. It is also another girl power movie for the young female fans to appreciate and highlights that even human women, with no special powers just wit, guile and combat training, can be superheroes too. Personally, I felt that we had to wait too long for a Black Widow movie and that, though it tries, the movie doesn’t make up for the fact that Marvel didn’t utilise all their assets to their fullest potential. Don’t forget to stick around for the end credit scene which will punch you in the feels. Black Widow is in cinemas now and available to stream on Disney+.