The movie is good, but not great. Still, I’d go see it.
The Black Widow has always struggled for some identity beyond a potential love interest for the male superheroes.
The least define of the Marvel Galaxy, she debuted in the pages of Tales of Suspense # 52. Natasha Romanova/Romanoff’s superhero code name was a badass, always presented in the contest of a man.
Disney decided to blow that grossly outdated image away with superstar Scarlett Johannson, who has portrayed the Black Widow in her tight black jumpsuit since Marvel’s Iron Man2.
She has been strengthening the character ever since, drop-kicking bad people and pissing everyone off.
But she will have to wait longer for her moment.
At moments, the movie feels like a loud and expensive apology to the women Disney has been so skillfully courting in the Superhero series for some years now.
Black Widow was her chance to define herself finally and with many bangs; one of the not-so-submerged themes of this movie is men controlling women.
An evil Soviet scientist has taken control of the brains and choices of hundreds of women, turning them into murderous zombies who have been planted worldwide and waiting for his instructions to take over.
But Natasha got screwed yet again, overshadowed by the runaway performance of her “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh), who stole the show as a skilled super-assassin herself, even though she likes white jumpsuits.
Separated from her sister by evil Soviet killers and scientists, the two are reunited for the first time in 21 years in Budapest, where they celebrated their reunion by blowing up half the city, trashing a hundred cars of innocent bystanders, killing a score or more men and women in black military gear, and karate kicking and punching each other before declaring a trust.
One thing that ties all Marvel movies together, they don’t worry about plot plausibility. There is no plot, really, just some murky and ominous chatter in between explosions. This, I gather, is what we all love about it.
I enjoyed it.
It’s too bad for Natasha that Yelena came along to steal her movie coming out. She seemed so much more comfortable and charismatic than Johannson did with her grim and often lifeless performance.
There were certainly some touching moments. I shed a tear at the end, but it might have been relief overseeing the last, monumental explosion.
I should all that all of the women, good or bad, in this movie, are gorgeous and skinny. Marvel’s feminist evolution has a way to go.
Like all Marvel/Disney movies, this one is loud and long. Johannson gets some wonderful action shots, but Pugh and the other actors just overpower her.
She seems both grumpy and grim and lacks the hubris and confidence of most supershero stars.
Yelena steps into that role, steely, sarcastic, unkillable, yet somehow very human. “I’m not the killer that little girls call their hero,” Yelena tells her sister at one going in the movie.
Yes, she is. That is the irony there.
Men controlling women all over the world is a great topic for a superhero movie featuring the BW.
But the movie seems to have trouble figuring out which political message they are giving out – family, science, the patriarchy, young immigrants.
The implications of a monstrous villain with a passion for kidnapping and controlling little girls are too creepy and sinister to hover in the background.
In this movie, that just wasn’t enough for the producers. Of course, the future of the earth is at stake, and of course, there is no strong or competent male in the entire film.
The two men we do see (apart from the Soviet villain) are nice but weak or timid.
The action scenes come so fast and furious that they lose much of their impact. Young boys will love it. And there were some spectacular scenes, I think, although I’d have to see the movie a couple of times to be sure.
The movie is fun, and I have no trouble recommending it (the violence is not disturbing, like all good comic books or movie Marvel violence.)
I think of Stan Lee and his “zowie! exclamations in his comic books. This whole movie is one that continuous “Zowie!” Like I said, the boys will love it. I wonder about the girls.
My big problem was that I think the Black Widow character was just too fuzzy, outdated, and poorly defined for Director Cate Shortland to handle. If my memory serves, she would be the toughest Marvel character to turn into a feature-length film.
She just isn’t big enough for the big screen.
If you like the genre, you are guaranteed the usual fun and possible headache. It’s a great escape movie, especially as the pandemic winds down.
It desperately wants a big screen for people to see. The backdrop locations – Norway, Morocco, Budapest – are spectacular.
I was delighted to be in a big theater watching this movie on a big screen, hearing the reaction of other people, and munching my popcorn. That was bliss.
In this movie, as in the others, I struggle to get past the almost casual slaughter of thousands of innocent civilians moved down by speeding armored cards, collapsing buildings, murderous motorcyclists, plane crash, and explosions.
I know the movies are meant to be comic books but are we perhaps a little too casual about movies that kill so many people without even a mention?
I liked the movie and am glad I saw it.
But it seemed to me to fall short; it doesn’t quite stack up with others.
The Black Widow, already one of the shadowiest and least defined characters in the Marvel universe, will have to wait longer for her moment in the sun.
Little kids can see it, and it will definitely take your mind off of the news.