Marvel is finally back in the theaters. It had been over 700 days since the last Marvel movie had released into theaters, which was Spider Man Far from Home, which like Black Widow was a return to the typical one hero formatted movie, a vast contrast compared to the epics of Infinity War and End Game. Overall Black Widow does not reach the heights of these previously mentioned MCU films, but that is almost an impossible task. So, to be fair this was a good movie, it was highly entertaining and comedically strong, but its importance into the larger MCU seems almost negligible. (Spoilers ahead)
The movie starts out with Natasha's family escaping Ohio, and they were bringing secret information to Cuba. Then it goes to Natasha on the run after the bombing at Sokovia. She ends up with a special concoction that the Taskmaster is after, and so now she is wanted by two high powered entities. So, she teams up with her sister to take down Dreykov, who was suspected dead. Not only does she team up with her sister, but she also gathers the rest of her "family" to help in the mission. Taking down Draykov is harder than it seems. His Red Room is a constantly changing location because it is a floating base. Also, he has an army of controlled women soldiers, Black Widows, and the Taskmaster that must be bypassed to get to him. The concoction found earlier frees the Widows from the mind control, so they need to release it on the other Widows to free them. So there are a ton of moving parts coming into the final showdown.
Scarlett Johansson received top billing for this movie, and in a way, it did work as her origin story, but it became clear early on Florence Pugh, as Yelena, was the star of the show. She had all the comedically funny lines, she got to make fun of Natasha's fighting pose, and she will be the future in the MCU, whereas Johansson's character is finished. So, it makes sense that Pugh becomes the center of attention quickly, but it was unexpected.
Florence Pugh has quickly worked her way up the ranks in the acting sphere. Her first big memorable role came in Ari Aster's Midsommer. She played the role of a woman trying to recover from a family tragedy, but she was in an awful relationship, and they end up in a disturbingly horrifying ritual in one of the craziest break up movies ever (If you have not seen it, you should). She does an excellent job in this role and really has a strong display of emotion. Her next big role came soon after when she co-starred in Little Women. In this she played the role of a younger sister, who did not enjoy living in the shadow of her older sister, and it is a period drama that was excellent. Although Pugh does not get most of the screen time in Little Women, she is still excellent. Now she is becoming a Marvel star, which seems like a step more and more actors are taking at this point. So clearly, she has plenty of range, and she proved she can star in this realm as well, so it is exciting to see what role she will take on next.
One of the big questions surrounding this movie was how necessary it was, or was it too little too late, since Natasha sacrificed herself in End Game. Largely it does seem too late for this movie, it does not help advance the larger MCU story forward. It took place before the past couple of movies on the timeline and the new shows that have come out on Disney+. The only way in which it really moved the story forward came from the post credit stinger. So, the movie could have been boiled down to a one hour show and accomplished the same goals. The stinger showed Val adding Yelena to her team. She recruited her to go after Hawkeye, since he is "responsible" for her sister's death. So now Val has Yelena and the bad Captain America from Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That show had a similar goal as this movie. To replace one of the stars of the Avengers with a new face, Anthony Mackie as the new Captain America, and Pugh as the new Black Widow, at least after they create a storyline for her to join the good guys.
This also had serious #MeToo Movement vibes. The big bad in this film, Draykov, had an army of women under mind control. So that is bad enough on its own, but the circumstances that he got them under his control are also disturbing. He found young girls that were impoverished and either did not have a family or had a bad familial situation and then put them under his control. So, he took the people that needed help and love the most, and turned them into killing monsters, who did not have a say in their life anymore. Draykov gave off a very creepy vibe also. He was a crusty old white man who took advantage of women, a very Harvey Winesteinesque character. So, there was a large amount of girl power being shown throughout the film. The sisters had to team up and free the other girls. Then they all grouped up at the end once free. Also, Natasha was unwilling to fight the Taskmaster after she realized who she was, and that she had no control over her actions.
This film honestly felt more like an action movie, closer to a James Bond/ Mission Impossible film than a Marvel movie. There were no real superheroes involved other than Natasha's dad, who had super soldier serum. They even used the same face swap technology that is used in the Mission Impossible franchise. One argument said that that if one does not consider this a superhero film, then Batman would not be a superhero either, because he does not have any powers, but he still fights villains. The difference between Batman and Natasha is that Batman has a cape and a whole costume associated with his lore, whereas Natasha just wore a fancy jump suit. Now the white jump suit was exceptionally clean, but it was no bat suit. Also, Batman has a variety of gadgets, but Natasha mainly has a gun and that was it, she did not really have anything special to bolster her abilities. None of this took away from the film, but it was an interesting argument as to whether it was more of a spy thriller or superhero film.
One of the biggest questions I have left is if the MCU can continue to raise the stakes. It seemed like an easy and obvious end point to call it quits after End Game, they had a solid decade build up to it and integrated the stories well together to make a massive event, but can they do that again? All the speculation points to them moving towards a multiverse era. This really takes the story out of the typical mundane hero realm and adds a ton of sci-fi to the story. Also, the whole idea of having multiple convoluted timelines seems to just add to more confusion. So, they will have to do this new story impeccably well to make the story coherent enough to not lose the average viewer or even the Marvel expert. There have already been times while watching Loki, where the characters are discussing timelines and other universes that if you think about it too long, you just get a jumbled-up head, and the podcasts I listen to say something similar. So now they are going to add in those multiple dimensions into movies and shows, it just seems like it will be harder to follow. Also, it is hard to raise the stakes much more than losing half the population. Other than losing the whole Earth, which has seemed like a possibility in some of the other movies. This raises the chance of the storylines getting overly repetitive, but Marvel has more than shown that they are capable, so I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Finally, in the opening scene of the movie, they drive past a bridge with lights on it that make an American flag, and then in the shot after that, they drive past Barron Stadium. Both things are in Rome, Georgia, where I went to college. So, it was incredibly cool to see that even though it was less than a minute of the movie. It was also incredibly offensive to say that this part of the movie took place in Ohio. So thank you Marvel for including a small part of my town, but next time do not call it Ohio…
Overall Black Widow was a good movie. It was very entertaining and at times funny. It did not reach the height of other MCU films, but the stakes were not raised to that level either, and the cast was not raised to the level of the Avengers. Florence Pugh did have an incredible performance, so hopefully she will get the chance to a play a big role in the future of the MCU. The action scenes hit incredibly well and as far as enjoyability goes, it is close to the top of the year so far. I gave it 3.5 stars! Go see it in the theaters, and enjoy the movie watching experience in a packed house, it is the best way to do it! It was also funny to leave the film with all the people and having like half of them be confused, because they did not know Natasha was dead.
Other movies this week:
Fear Street 1994 was a decent horror film that seemed highly inspired by Scream. It does not quite reach those heights, but it is way better than your average Netflix horror film.
Fear Street 1978 was slightly below the first one. This one was more influenced by Friday the 13th. It took place at a camp with a killer on the attack, again it was also a slasher. Both are worthy of a watch if you are into horror, they are a fun watch.
Saint Maud was an incredibly disturbing story about an in-home care worker and her relationship with God, that involved physical self-harm and quaker like interactions with God. It is an oddly intimidate relationship, and she tries to convert her patient to it, but it ultimately goes wrong. It is a very thought-provoking film about what is real and what is not, and it is an incredibly uncomfortable watch, but it achieved its goals.
Rankings:
Black Widow: 3.5 Stars
Fear Street 1994: 2.5 Stars
Fear Street 1978: 2.5 Stars
Saint Maud: 4 Stars
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