Black Widow

 

Score:  A-
Directed by Cate Shortland
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz
Running time: 134 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Marvel, the studio that came to dominate the last decade in Hollywood, symbolizes the return of theaters with the release of the delayed Black Widow.  While it's sort of a "left-over" - a well-established main character (finally getting her own title role) in the midst of a story arc that's complete - Black Widow is one of the most poignant superhero movies, focusing on a family of characters.  It also delivers the blockbuster goods in action, too, and so it's a perfect place to make your return to the theater.

Following the events of Civil War, in which the Avengers have split up in reaction to the government's attempt to control them, Natasha Romanoff (Johansson), aka Black Widow, is on the run.  She receives a strange package which she soon discovers is sought by mysterious, malevolent forces.  Tracking the package to its source, she finds her surrogate sister, Yelena Belova (Pugh), and after a rough welcome, the two grudgingly decide to work together.  They have found the secret to their once-tormented lives under the influence of the sinister Red Room.  Reuniting with their "parents" along the way, Romanoff and Belova are determined to end the reign of the Red Room, whatever the cost.

More than ten years after first appearing in the MCU, the first female Avenger, Black Widow, gets her own  movie; I don't know if it was "worth the wait", but it meets and exceeds Marvel's own impressive standards.  Black Widow is a return for Marvel itself, in several ways; it provides perhaps a final look at the narrative arc that the 2008-2019 films developed and, of course, it's the first Marvel movie to appear in theaters in two years, thanks to the pandemic.  While coming films will move ahead with new stories and characters, this was a nice coda for that previous era.  And Romanoff deserved to finally have the spotlight on her character.  Pieces of her past were revealed in earlier films, but Black Widow fills out both her past details and her present self in satisfying ways.

In addition to a strong performance from Scarlett Johansson in the title role, Black Widow finds its true strength in the hero's spy "family".  Romanoff, ruthlessly trained from childhood to be a cold spy and assassin, is an isolated and reserved character - so it makes a certain sense that we get to know more about her through her relations with others.  Florence Pugh's Yelena, Romanoff's sister, is the primary supporting character and she shows the same tremendous talent and skill that she has in recent projects like Little Women.  The scenes in which Romanoff and Belova are getting to know each other again are probably the strongest in the movie: intense at times, funny at others, but the actors do a great job showing that, for as many reasons as they have to loath each other, there's also an unbreakable bond.  David Harbour gets the most fun role in the film as "dad" Alexei.  A massive man, Russia's answer to Captain America (to whom he continually, hilariously compares himself), he is also the emotional softie of the family and is key to holding the (understandably) often cold, distant females together.  Rachel Weisz also does great work, in a much more restrained, low key role as "mom"; she still has strong ties to the bad old days, but shows the internal struggle in trying to support her family.  The opening scene of the film, a flashback to their 1990s undercover days in America, provides a brief but intense and perfectly executed introduction to these characters, who are then the focus - twenty years later - of the remainder of the film.

Black Widow may have an emphasis on its character development and relations, but it has more than its fair share of Marvel superhero action, too.  Much of it is in the hard-hitting, grounded, realistic (relatively speaking) style of The Winter Soldier, which I find a refreshing change from some of the more CGI-heavy battles that other MCU films rely on.  Romanoff's fights against the Taskmaster, a Robocop-like bad guy, and then a sparring match against Jelena, are small-scale by Marvel standards but highlights for their choreography and tension; a vehicle chase through Budapest is more explosive but similarly great.  I think the film goes a bit overboard on the action, though, with some scenes - notably the prison breakout and finale - just going on too long.  But if you're seeing this in the theater, at least you're getting your money's worth of big-screen spectacle!  The villain is also kind of weak, a pattern for Marvel, mostly because the film focuses overwhelmingly on the heroes (again, as usual).  Romanoff's final showdown with him is among the best in the franchise, though, with higher emotional stakes than usual - plus a fantastic callback to the original Avengers movie.  Not as quippy as some MCU films, Black Widow still has plenty of humor, too.  In short, it pretty much has everything you want from a summer blockbuster and then some.

***

It is so good to see a Marvel movie in the theater again!  Originally scheduled for release in May 2020, Black Widow was well worth the wait - I am so glad that Disney patiently waited until it was safe to release it in theaters, rather than rushing it out on streaming (*cough DC's Wonder Woman sequel*).  At this point, I would rank the movie just below the very top tier of MCU titles, although I definitely look forward to seeing it again sometime - and possibly re-evaluating that.  Despite the continued impact of the pandemic this year, there has already been plenty of Marvel, via three all-new streaming TV series on Disney+ (which I plan to review later this summer).  And because of the backlog, there are three more movies scheduled for release in 2021.  I'm hopeful and confident that there will be plenty of other great, non-superhero movies to watch in theaters this year, too, but Black Widow is an early standout.

* By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61327223