If today’s cinema world was a closet and you pull something out of it, you’d find yourself a superhero costume 70 percent of the times. Marvel’s Black Widow is just another pretty looking and flashy costume, with little to no design modifications. Nonetheless, its an entertaining film and here’s our verdict.
Film – Marvel’s Black Widow (2021)
Duration – 2h 14 m
Director – Cate Shortland
Main Cast – Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour
Rating – 3 / 5
(It’s a spoiler-free review)
Black Widow acts as a fitting tribute to MCU’s fan-favorite character but at the same time it is just more of the same stuff we see in a superhero flick. For one thing this film is about 5 years too late and for another, it doesn’t really do anything for Black Widow’s character or MCU as a whole. In my opinion it was just a cheap trick to encash the fans’ emotions after losing her in Avengers: Endgame. Well, its not a bad film but it is somewhat unwanted film, which is made for the hardcore Black Widow fans to cheer for their favorite character one last time.
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
Black Widow is a formulaic Marvel film with all the focus on its heroes as well as a journey of redemption for some characters. The film doesn’t take any kind of risks and hence lands somewhere in the category of Ant-man and The Wasp (2018) or Captain Marvel (2019). It did have its moments but none which you’ll remember for more than an hour. I watched the film last week and I had to watch it again to remember what happened for this article. So, its a forgettable film with forgettable characters and forgettable moments.
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
It suffers from average writing, poor dialogues and a very poor villain. Villain makes or breaks a superhero flick and MCU’s Taskmaster unfortunately couldn’t master anything. Taskmaster from Marvel comics is supposed to be one of greatest and most dangerous hand to hand combatants. But here, the character was reduced to a poor level, just so it could match Black Widow. Also, Marvel’s habit of twisting its antagonists and making them more sympathetic, entirely spoiled this amazing character.
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
Anyways, Black Widow succeeded in paying a homage to Scarlett Johansson’s decade old character. Not only did Black Widow showcase her range in battle, but she also succeeded in showcasing her full emotional range. Scarlett Johansson shone in this mediocre film with an exceptional performance. One thing that still bugs us though, is that we still didn’t get to know what happened in Budapest! We only get a little idea as to how she might have joined the Avengers, but we did get an overly clear picture of her past involving Red Room.
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
One other great thing in the film was the addition of Florence Pugh as Natasha’s sister, Yelena. She was an interesting character with good character arc, and can prove to be a good addition to Marvel’s superhero roaster. David Harbour’s Red Guardian was used as the comic relief of the film and Rachel Weisz’ Melina had a very predictable character arc. In fact, the entire film was incredibly predictable and hence, left us unimpressed.
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
Let’s talk about technicalities for a moment. It featured a good soundtrack and an impressive camerawork. The CGI of the film was ok as well but the editing could have been smoother. It boasted some well choreographed action scenes but not as many as you’d expect. The final battle had some over the top action sequences, which were a little hard to believe. Considering that Black Widow does not have any significant superpowers, they felt quite unrealistic (but well executed).
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| (Image: © Marvel) |
The best thing about the film, though, is its post-credits scene as it is the only thing which sets up the future of MCU. Since this is a spoiler free review, I won’t reveal much about it but it features a cameo and sets up an upcoming Marvel project. Apart from that Black Widow really doesn’t do much for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and hence it feels outdated and unnecessary. Also, it isn’t much impressive in its own narrative.
That said, it does make up for an entertaining watch but its not a must watch for fans and non-fans alike. So if you want to experience some good action with a decent (if not great) plot, Black Widow is the movie for you.
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dont leave out how they write her falling off a building and stabbing people but no one gets hurt and no one bleeds
Agreed! As I mentioned unrealistic action. 🤣