Black Widow: A Review

 While I have written, and regularly update, a complete MCU rankings, I have decided I am going to individually review each film on it's own.  Seems like the most recent is as good a place to start as any.

If you are here and reading this, I assume I don't need to put this but for the dumdums out there:

SPOILER WARNING

Ladies and gentlemen...

BLACK WIDOW

Black Widow

Conceivably this should fall much lower as she's my favorite character played by my favorite actress in a film we waited far too long to see that was further postponed by a pandemic.  Needless to say, my expectations were through the roof.

They. Were. Met.

Taking place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, this film is technically a part of Phase 3, though released in Phase 4.  This creates one major issue and that is that we know where Natasha's story ends.  We already saw that in Avengers: Endgame.  That does two things to your viewing experience:

1. You're never worried about Natasha.  You already know she exists in the universe after this film takes place.

2. You're depressed because you know this midquel of her MCU arc is actually her finale.

That being said, holy crap!  This movie has action, heart, and humor to push forward a pretty solid plot.  We are introduced to several new characters that I personally hope to see in future films within the MCU.  We had a pretty great villain in Dreykov and Ray Winstone nailed it. The reveal that his daughter, mentioned in passing way way way back in The Avengers, is not only alive, but is TaskMaster is freaking rad.

I will watch every possible Red Guardian film they want to do if David Harbour stays on board and Florence Pugh as Yelena is both the heart and the funnybone of this film.  She acts her part so beautifully and so fully, it is no wonder Natasha is somewhat overshadowed in her own film.

The set pieces and action sequences are flashy and loud without distracting from the story. The way that many little drops and threads from previous MCU outings are tied up in this film is a sure sign that Kevin Feige knows what he's doing.

The post credit scene taking place in the present was a nice touch and it's of interest that THIS was supposed to be the introduction of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the MCU, not Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  The order, in this case, does not affect her arc.  I like where the MCU is headed with her character and now interactions with Yelena and US Agent and given that we saw Abomination in the Shang Chi trailer, I am hoping Val and Thunderbolt Ross are working together to create Dark Avengers or perhaps The Thunderbolts.  It obviously is connecting in someway to Hawkeye on Disney+.

Does the film have issues?  Absolutely. TaskMaster is sorely underutilized in this film.  I am hoping we will get her back, perhaps as a part of the above mentioned team up, in a future film.  There are some...strange editing and cinematography choices I question but nothing too terrible. The treatment of the "Widows" as a whole feels incomplete but perhaps a Disney+ series could correct that.  The biggest issue really is that we just waited to long to get this film.  It feels like an afterthought instead of a glass ceiling breaking piece of art.

Those few issues aside, it is definitely, in my opinion, the best MCU film to date.  Is part of that ranking due to the fact that we went 2 years without an MCU film? Perhaps.  Because I am in love with ScarJo and her interpretation of the character?  Also possible. Do I care?  No.  I stand by it.  This one is worth a watch and another and then one more.

Go check out where all the films fall in my MCU Retrospective.