In the new Marvel Phase 4, the studio is hoping the same fire that consumed pop culture will light up the cinema once again. While Black Widow did good at the Box Office, it’s less of a fire and more of a spark. It doesn’t help that disappointed fans are asking, “Why now?”
Staring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh and David Harbour, Black Widow is a fun chase with windows into the past of this Avenger we’ve followed over the years, even though this character is now dead. Yes, that’s right. They decided to make a film about someone they killed off, when her story was more relevant and exciting more than five years ago. And that’s not a spoiler unless you’ve been living under a rock. So with that being said, was it worth watching?
On my YouTube channel I claimed I enjoyed it and I did. I’d watch it again. The humor and the action was fun enough to take you away for a little while (it’s this thing called entertainment that is somehow rare to find now). The story though is not compelling. Had we been introduced some time ago, maybe. But instead, we are left with the sidekicks of the sidekick. Black Widow the character was usually put to the side, with Marvel really wanting to push Captain Marvel on everyone. And fans were…and are not happy with some of this.
The performances in the film are all good, with Rachel Weisz in there as well, an actress I always like to watch. Florence turned out amazing as Yelena with great comedic timing and more of the emotional weight.
The story could have been more interesting again if we had more time to devote to it, more attachment to the characters. Instead, it’s more references to Widow’s past with Barton, and we find she did something she regrets that later turns out to not be so bad…which to me is a big no-no with writing. When consequences to actions haunt or impact the character, don’t just make them less by saying “Oops never mind, it wasn’t that bad!” which is like stealing our invested emotions and time on a character. The villain could have been more interesting if we knew him before, but instead it’s just build up without much payoff.
The script though was good, and that’s not surprising because Eric Pearson was involved with other films I loved, like Thor: Ragnarok and others scripts from well received movies. The stunts in the film were sometimes over the top, but like I said this is just entertainment, and it’s in a super-hero universe.
It does have a good Rotten Tomatoes score overall, so really the biggest drawback is still the question as to why she didn’t get a solo film earlier on. Still, if you enjoy action and the other MCU films, this won’t be one you will want to miss.
WritrWave 