Movie Review - Black Widow

Director: Cate Shortland
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone, Ever Anderson, William Hurt, Olga Kurylenko
 
Description: Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises.

Review: Anyone who browses the Marvel encyclopedia is unlikely to pinpoint Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow as their favorite character. While the heroine is slightly skilled in all forms of martial arts and acrobatics, despite this she still stands out a bit flimsy from her superhero colleagues such as Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk. Perhaps this is not entirely justified, as in previous Marvel films Black Widow always had to settle neatly into the supporting role, which meant that she never got the chance, attention or depth she actually deserved.
Finally the Russian heroine gets a solid backstory, where we get more insight into her thoughts and motivations. Given the events in “Avengers: Endgame”, it makes sense we’d have to go back in time for that; to be exact, the moment when Natasha Romanoff has only just violated the Sokovia Accord. Commander Ross and his armed men have opened the hunt for her, but around the same time, a very different specter from Romanoff’s past also presents itself: Task Master. The villain is somehow linked to Romanoff’s traumatic past and therefore feels just a bit more tragic than usual with the marvel universe.
On the other hand, the villain played by Ray Winstone is a one-dimensional figure with rather predictable, megalomaniacal motives. It almost seems like a joke to perform such a character.   
For me, the highlight of the film was Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena, Natasha’s sister. She is cynical, yet the connection between Yelena and Natasha is the heart of the movie. Most laughs are for Alexei/ Red Guardian, played by David Harbour.
“Black Widow” is the kick-off for Marvel’s Phase Four, the fourth phase in which Marvel will once again interconnect a series of upcoming superhero films and work towards a common endpoint.
I enjoyed “Black Widow”, but it was nothing special. It was overall very standard.

Rating: 3/ 5