Black Widow – Film Review

Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy, and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been a gargantuan part of my life ever since I was eight years old, and even before that, I was heavily into superheroes in general as well as comic books. Every other weekend or so, my father would take me down to our local comic book and collectible shop and each time I walked through those doors, it felt as though I was walking through the gates of geek heaven.

I would spend so much time reading comics of various characters in Marvel such as Captain America and Hulk and I would love DC Comics as well, mainly the Batman ones. But I’ll always remember seeing Jon Favreau’s Iron Man for the first time in 2008 when it was released on DVD. I was staying home sick from school that day, and my brother told me to come into his room.

When I walked in, I genuinely had no idea what he wanted to show me but he looked as though he had just come up with the greatest idea ever to cheer me up and make me feel better. As soon as I entered the room, I looked at his TV screen where I saw the main menu of Iron Man. My brother’s idea worked – for the next two hours and six minutes, I was absolutely transfixed by this story of a billionaire playboy philanthropist and wanted more stories with him on the big screen immediately.

Fast forward to 2010 and we get Iron Man 2, a movie that introduces us to the character of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow – who I instantly fell in love with. Sure, Tony Stark was cool to me since he had the awesome suit of iron and could fly around and shoot projectiles out of his hands. Hulk was always an exciting character to me. But the moment I saw Romanoff take down a wave of bad guys in stylish fashion and make it look easy, I knew I was going to want to see more of her in the future.

But for whatever reason, being a boy in his first year of middle school and thinking that Black Widow was one of the best superheroes out there was considered uncool, so I always tried to keep my love for the character buried for fear of being teased. All the other kids in my school that liked superhero movies would only talk about Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man but I always wondered – why not Black Widow?

Not only did it seem like her character had quite the backstory that I couldn’t wait to learn more about, but she was incredibly awesome to watch on-screen, knocking down villains left and right and making it look easy in the process.

Of course, in this day and age, there are millions of guys out there who feel the same way as I do when it comes to thinking that Black Widow is one of the best Marvel characters which is such a delight because now I don’t have to worry about looking like the outcast when I talk to fellow comic book movie fans about my love for the character.

As we (probably) all know by now – and MAJOR spoilers for Avengers: Endgame if you somehow haven’t seen the film by this point – Natasha Romanoff dies in the events of that film, in one of the most heroic ways possible. She essentially sacrifices herself in order for Clint Barton / Hawkeye to retrieve the Soul Stone which they need if they want to succeed in defeating Thanos.

But as sad and emotional of a moment as that was, it left millions of people all around the world – including myself – wondering: “Why did we never get a Black Widow solo movie?”. We got one for almost every single one of the original five Avengers excluding Hawkeye (which is fine because not many people like his character anyway).

The potential for greatness with a solo film focusing on Romanoff was always quite high, and now, we finally have one directed by Cate Shortland – some may be disappointed by the fact that we got it so late into the game (after all, she is dead in the present-day MCU), but I’m just glad we got this movie in the first place, because not only is this my third favorite Marvel movie ever made, but it’s also in my top ten favorite superhero movies of all-time.

I knew right from the opening fifteen minutes alone – which features a darkly chilling rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – that I was going to absolutely adore the movie and I’m so glad that I was right. Black Widow is not only an extremely action-packed film that features easily the best choreography, hand-to-hand combat, and grounded action scenes in the entire MCU, but also an extremely dark and thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be free.

This film never shies away from getting down to the nitty-gritty about what happens with the other Widows in the Red Room. They are essentially trained from a very early age to be lethal assassins, no matter if they want to do it or not. The individuals responsible for operating the Red Room take these children’s lives away and force them to become wholly new people. People that their family wouldn’t even recognize by the time their training is fully complete.

We see early on in the movie exactly what happens with Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, who is a sister figure for the former child, and it’s not easy to watch. Throughout the film, grown-up versions of each character will occasionally discuss what it was like growing up without parents and what it was like while being trained in the Red Room.

Long story short – it was hell. Sure, they got trained to the point where nobody would dare attempt to kill them because if they did, they would be making a grave mistake, but what the people behind the Red Room don’t understand is that in doing so, they’re ripping innocent children away from their lives in order to create new ones. Their old lives are nothing but a shell of their memories after.

Watching Romanoff and Belova’s journies unfold throughout the course of Black Widow was one of the most deeply moving and intricate storylines I have ever had the pleasure of watching in a superhero-related movie. And I call it a superhero-related movie because I feel as though labeling this film as nothing more than a fun popcorn flick would be a huge mistake because it is so much more than that.

 

Yes, this movie absolutely delivers the goods when it comes to the insanely impressive and explosive action sequences, but my favorite parts of this movie are easily the moments where we get to see the grounded human moments. There is so much beauty to behold in watching Romanoff and Belova simply sharing a drink together at a bar and talking about their past.

They’re both broken souls but they understand that they are done running from their past. They want to find who they are again, and as a viewer, I felt as though I were watching two real girls who were tormented trying to find out who they truly are. It was such an emotional journey I never expected this film to give me but I’m so glad that it did.

As she has always done ever since her debut performance as the character all the way back in the aforementioned Iron Man 2, Scarlett Johansson delivers yet another powerhouse performance and one of the best of her entire career, period. I have always loved Johansson as a person and as an actress, but this is without a doubt her finest hour as Natasha Romanoff.

It was abundantly clear to me while watching Black Widow that Johansson made sure to give it her all for her curtain call. She portrays the titular character to emotional, exciting, and interesting perfection. She makes acting look easy. Johansson has always been a revelation in the role of Natasha Romanoff, but in Black Widow, she holds nothing back. Johansson’s run of playing this character for the past decade is easily one of the best superhero portrayals ever.

As I’m sure you all know, Florence Pugh is also in this movie as the aforementioned Yelena Belova, who serves as a sister figure to Romanoff and is also an incredibly dangerous assassin on her own. If you have been reading my reviews for quite some time now, then you probably know that Pugh is my favorite actress of all time, and watching her performance in Black Widow reminded me of exactly why that is.

While Johansson is incredible as I’ve already mentioned, Pugh is the star of the movie in many ways. Not only does she get plenty of exciting things to do, but she also gets a ton of characterization as well as a lot of deeply comedic moments that made my entire theatre erupt with laughter. It’s clear that the folks over at Marvel Studios are wanting to do a lot more with Yelena Belova and I can’t wait to see what that entails. To not utilize Pugh in many future MCU projects would be criminal.

The whole cast is genuinely amazing, with not a single one of them feeling out of place. David Harbour is absolutely hilarious as Alexei Shostakov / the Red Guardian. His character is one that was in danger of being over-the-top and too goofy for a movie dealing with genuinely serious themes, but screenwriter Eric Pearson found brilliant ways to ensure that this extremely funny character didn’t ever get to be too much.

Rachel Weisz also gets a relatively small but extremely crucial role here. At first, it certainly felt as though Marvel had for whatever reason, hired a hugely talented actress only to not use her that much, but in the third act, she gets a surprising amount of depth that worked remarkably well. When it comes to her character, I honestly have no complaints, as with the others.

Black Widow is also one of the best-looking superhero movies ever made thanks to the breathtaking cinematography by Gabriel Beristain. There were countless shots throughout the film that made me wonder “How in the world did they film it?”. Beristain clearly knows what he’s doing when it comes to operating a camera, and director Cate Shortland also knows how to make each scene appear interesting.

And it would be a sin to not mention the absolutely astounding score by legendary composer Lorne Balfe, who has composed the scores to a plethora of action-heavy films in the past such as a few Mission: Impossible entries and Pacific Rim: Uprising. His score often finds ways to creep up on you, and when it wants you to feel the excitement, it sweeps you off your feet.

The moment Black Widow ended, I honestly wanted to watch it again immediately. It’s a nearly two-and-a-half-hour movie but I felt like I could have watched two-and-a-half hours more. I am just so incredibly ecstatic that we finally live in a day and age where characters like Natasha Romanoff are getting their time to shine in the spotlight. My only wish is that this film came out before Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, because I feel as though a trilogy focusing on this character would have been phenomenal.

But even though we are getting a Black Widow solo movie prequel after we already know she dies later on down the road, I am still glad that we got it because it’s a film that floored me in ways that I didn’t expect. Even if you’re not necessarily a big Marvel fan, seek out Black Widow, because I think it’ll surprise and inspire you as well.

Overall Grade: A+

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, some language, and thematic material

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, Olga Kurylenko