Review of Black Widow (2021) by Cdougall — 02 Aug 2021

Black Widow isn’t the worst standalone feature Marvel Studios has ever made, but it isn’t the best, either. The cast and chemistry is what works best about the film. David Harbour and Florence Pugh are the highlights of the movie for me as they inject some really nice humor and play off of Scarlett Johansson very well.

The chemistry between Natasha and Yelena carries a lot of scenes in this movie that would’ve felt weird and awkward otherwise, and I can’t wait to see Florence be Yelena again in future installments.

The family dynamic is where this movie shines and has its biggest emotional impacts. The action and fight sequences are good for the most part and meet the standards set by other MCU installments, but they aren’t anything special and remain fairly consistent with MCU formula.

The story and script are decent, but there are other directions they could’ve been taken both in that might’ve worked better for the movie. I was hoping this movie would give General Ross a bit more screen time and focus more on him chasing Natasha, which would’ve worked in more with the ending of Civil War and Natasha’s story between Civil War and Infinity War.

The Red Room feels a bit underexplored in this film and there are core themes that could’ve used more development to give the movie more emotional and real-world impact. The villain is also nothing special; while Taskmaster does have a twist that caught me off guard, overall Taskmaster is a bit of an underwhelming villain and doesn’t seem to pose too much of a threat to our heroes or raise the stakes very high.

In addition to General Ross feeling underutilized, Clint Barton feels like a missed opportunity. I was hoping he’d have a bigger role in this film, and that simply doesn’t happen which is unfortunate because he and Natasha have a very close bond in the MCU.

I’m also very curious to know what Natasha said to Ross that stopped her from being thrown in jail, as that feels like a plot hole to me that needed to be explained. While Black Widow does have some redeeming qualities, it’s a bit of a letdown considering how long we had to wait for it and doesn’t live up to the standards set by other MCU movies.