Black Widow

by Hans A. Carpenter
Release Date: July 9
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring; Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, and
David Harbor
Mister Marquee Says:
Average MCU
Number: 4/5
Between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War Natasha Romanov (Scarlett Johansson) must team with her fake spy family to defeat the program that turned her into a child assassin.
Black Widow is your average weave MCU film. In the grand scheme of things, that puts it on roughly the same level as say, Ant Man. It’s a good movie, above average even, just plain by Marvel standards.
Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh have great chemistry as “sisters” Natasha and Yelena. The acting from the pair and their surrogate parents Rachel Weiss and David Harbor are the backbone of this film. Harbor in particular is great as the formerly glorious Red Guardian, a Soviet Captain America knock off.
We may have been transported to an earlier time in the MCU for the plot, but that doesn’t mean we needed to go back to the old days when Marvel had forgettable villains. This is ultimately the fate of Taskmaster, a character with a cool set of abilities that are totally wasted.
A last act plot twist that is as predictable as it is uninspired torpedoes the ending. This combines with the natural pitfalls of a prequel (we all know Natasha’s fate and the world’s fate before hand) make the ending fall flat in what was an otherwise enjoyable movie.
Black Widow is nothing special, but it is another quality outing from Marvel and it felt good to see the MCU back on the big screen.