Black Widow May Work Better As A Family Drama Than An Action-Packed Spy Thriller
As successful as Marvel Studios has been over the past decade, many would argue that one of their greatest missteps was waiting just as long to produce a solo Black Widow film. The character had been a mainstay in the MCU since her introduction in Iron Man 2, and one would have thought after the surprising commercial success of Scarlett Johansson’s action film Lucy, Marvel Studios would have wanted to take advantage and give Black Widow her own solo franchise quickly thereafter. This, of course, did not fit Marvel’s “grand plan”, as they needed to work up to Infinity War and Endgame, and a handful of other character introductions preceding those films were deemed more important. But now that Black Widow is dead, this is obviously the perfect time to finally give the character her due . . . and establish a new character that, for all intents and purposes, may end up replacing her . . .
Taking place immediately after the events of Captain America Civil War, Black Widow finds Natasha Romanoff on the run from authorities in Eastern Europe, and ultimately reconnecting with the family she knew before she was an Avenger, or Black Widow, for that matter. Secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, as Natasha reunites with her younger “sister” Yelena, who was indoctrinated in the same Widow program as her. Together, they’ll face off against an army of Widows, in addition to the ruthless Taskmaster, an assassin who can mimic the fighting style of any enemy they see.
I certainly have to give Black Widow some credit for at least trying to set itself apart from standard MCU films. Between its flashback opening, introducing audiences to Natasha and Yelena as children raised by Cold War sleeper agents Melina and Alexei, played by Rachel Weisz and David Harbour, to the tense action scene of the “family” escaping authorities and fleeing to Cuba, only to be separated by communist soldiers. We’re also treated to an actual opening credit sequence, uncharacteristic for most Marvel films, with a haunting cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” playing over a montage of adolescent girls, including Natasha and Yelena, being herded into shipping containers. After a proliferation of otherworldly threats presented in the MCU, there is something especially affecting in seeing them tackle the rather grounded issue of human trafficking. Admittedly, most of this is handled in broad strokes in the film, but especially as it relates to Natasha and her cover family, it made for more than a few dramatic scenes.
If nothing else, Black Widow gives Scarlett Johansson more of an opportunity to humanize Natasha as a character in a way we had rarely seen before. We rarely get scenes of her on her own when the action dies down, and in this film, we have these mundane moments that help to make her more relatable. It’s amazing to have watched this character grow and evolve over the past decade, and one of her best moments comes in this film, where she’s cozied up in a mobile home serving as a safe house from authorities, and she’s watching a movie on a laptop, reciting lines from the scene she’s watching. In her earlier outings, it would be easy to write Natasha off as a paint-by-numbers female assassin/badass, but the latter half of her tenure in the MCU has definitely worked to make her more of a fully fleshed out character, and it would have been a shame if her solo film failed to deliver on this front.
Strengthening this is the introduction of Florence Pugh as Yelena Bolova. Her and Johansson do an incredible job of making you buy into them as siblings, from the more snarky exchanges in dialogue, to their introductory fight scene, establishing their tumultuous relationship. Pugh effortlessly brings a great deal of emotion to this character. She perfectly sells us on Yelena’s trauma, even as she finds moments to be jokingly judgmental of Natasha’s life as an Avenger. Cracking on her penchant for dropping into hero poses was a nice touch. Her Russian accent may be marginal at best, but the same could be said for Harbour, Weisz, and especially Ray Winstone.
Spotty accents notwithstanding, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz are welcome additions to the cast as Alexei and Melina. Given his role on the Netflix series Stranger Things, it should come as no surprise to see Harbour, in particular, excel as a flawed, but well-meaning surrogate father, bringing humor and heart to the film. As Melina, Rachel Weisz is a necessary counterbalance, presenting her character as more analytical, but not without a modicum of compassion and measurable remorse for what both Natasha and Yelena have been through.
If there is any weak spot in the cast however, it most certainly has to be Ray Winstone as the main villain Dreykov. Established as a colleague of Alexei and Melina during their sleeper cell mission, his place as the one running the Red Room where Widows are trained fails to make any real impact. We see so little of him until the third act, and Winstone’s performance struggles to elevate the material he is given. Also falling short of expectations is Taskmaster. The character has a great introduction, ambushing Natasha as she leaves her safehouse, but I feel as though there was so much more that could have been done with this character. The “cool factor” of them mimicking other heroes in the MCU ultimately clashes with the filmmakers’ attempt to tie them to the larger overall story of the film, which proves to be little more than a textbook plot contrivance.
As an action film, Black Widow is somewhat frustrating. There is certainly a commitment to showing the effects of a brutal action scene, as characters sport more than the usual amount of bruises and broken bones than you might expect in a Marvel film. You feel the impact in a lot of scenes, and I appreciate the filmmakers lingering on the violence, as it helps to serve the story. The problem is that many of these scenes, especially anything involving hand-to-hand combat aren’t terribly well-edited. There’s still an over-reliance on fast cutting that makes the scenes tiresome, even if some of the actions end with a viscerally satisfying outcome.
Far from perfect, Black Widow excels when the focus is on Natasha and her uneasy reconciliation with her surrogate family. There’s more depth to Scarlett Johansson’s performance compared to her previous MCU appearances, as we see a side to her character that had been all but hidden until now. It’s almost a given that we’ll be seeing more of Florence Pugh’s character in subsequent Marvel projects, and the actress exceeded expectations with her introduction, balancing cold calculating pragmatism with a healthy dose of vulnerability. Its messy and cliched third act aside, Black Widow at least makes the effort to set itself apart from even its most grounded MCU films, while finally giving the character some of the spotlight her fellow Avengers have long since been able to bask in.
(3.5 out of 5)
