Black Widow is, unfortunately, one of the more disappointing entries in the MCU to date. A combination of factors including weak villain, lack of suspense, over reliance on third act CGI extravagance, and weird timing of the story in relation to the rest of the films just makes this one a clunker.
Black Widow is the long awaited stand-alone film dedicated to the title character. Set in the immediate aftermath of Civil War, the movie finds Natasha Romanov on the run from the authorities as the Sokovia Accords have put the reigns on super hero activity. Natasha tries to lay low, but soon finds herself embroiled in new intrigue that will force her to confront her dark past. As she attempts to fight her demons, she must decide whether she can trust her long lost family, and whether or not she can reconcile her earlier crimes with the hero she’s tried to become.
There are a whole slew of storytelling issues with this film, that I won’t go into one by one. However, there are some key items that make this an underwhelming movie. The first 2/3rds of the film are ok, and try to stick to a grounded gritty spy thriller feel, rather than a cosmic big block buster MCU feel. If the film had really committed to that aesthetic and storyline, it could have been a stronger product, more akin to Winter Soldier. Instead, there is an out of place antagonist in shiny metal armor; rogue Black Widow agents running around crowded downtown areas in full Black Widow regalia despite the fact that they’re supposed to be invisible secret agents; and a 3rd act that is all about gigantic explosions, CGI battles, and what has become the typical MCU final battle spectacle. Aside from structure and style, the main villain(s) are poorly realized. The primary big bad guy is only on screen for a short time, is pretty easily defeated (although not directly by Black Widow), and doesn’t really stand out as particularly scary or ominous. The primary henchman is interesting in concept, but again, is totally out of synch with the spy thriller aesthetic and just never really runs on all cylinders. The last key area is that there really isn’t any suspense in the movie. Everything just happens, without much build up or feeling that the good guys won’t win. There are a few attempts at twists, but they’re pretty predictable and the twists are revealed so quickly that they don’t really develop into any big surprise.
The cast is pretty good, although I don’t buy Ray Winstone as any kind of Russian. Florence Pugh steals the movie, and the end credits scene clearly shows that Marvel intends to spin her off on her own movies or Disney+ series. David Harbour as Red Guardian runs a close second as far as having standout moments. Unfortunately, no one’s story is really resolved in a satisfying way, and Scarlett Johansson is kind of sleep walking through the movie, playing an overly weepy Black Widow, which is unfortunate, because this is probably the last we get to see of this character, and it could have been her big send off.
The last criticism is the timing of this film. For better or worse, MCU fans already know that Black Widow survives this episode and then dies in the End Game storyline, so none of it really has much weight. There’s some good work on establishing her backstory, but it isn’t really used to great effect. This feels like a movie that might have been less disappointing if it had been released before the Infinity War/End Game movies. It just doesn’t feel like it fits in the current Marvel universe.
Overall, Black Widow is standard MCU big action popcorn fare. Unless you’re a dedicated MCU or Johansson fan, I would recommend waiting for this to come to the small screen or whenever it is available for free on Disney+ or other streaming services.