The Barrett Brief Movie Review – Black Widow: A Boring Last Ride For Marvel’s Femme Fatale

Barrett Brief Movie Review – Black Widow: A Boring Last Ride For Marvel’s Femme Fatale

Summary:A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Ah Black Widow. One of the longest established characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), she predated Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and even Captain American. So when the subject of the MCU’s first female led action film came up in conversation, it was assumed she would be up first. Well, we all know how that worked out. So now I am sitting in a movie theater in 2021 waiting for a solo film of a character that died in 2 years earlier and all I kept thinking about during the 2 hours and 13 min runtime was “What is the point of this?”. Welp, after seeing the film, my question still stands, and that is the problem with Black Widow, which attempts to give a mulligan to the first female MCU hero, but ends up coming in as a bloated, boring botch of a film.

002 Late

This film would have been awesome in 2015. On the heels of Captain American: The Winter Solider had opened up the spy genre to the MCU. She had been given a chance to shine and came out as one of the many positives of the film. So we waited, and waited and waited. So what does a 2021 Black Widow offer us? It gives all the things that we have come to dislike about modern cinema (cringe girl power messaging, strange diversity casting, anti-male agenda) wrapped up in a barely interesting plot that is suppose to fill in the gaps between Civil War & Infinity War. But it ends up feeling more like a Disney+ show that Scarlett Johansson convinced Kevin Feige and the gang to put on the big screen as a filler between the end of the Infinity Saga and the beginning of the snore-fest that is “Phase 4”. It also doesn’t help that this movie is 15 months past it’s expiration date, and it feels like it. Marvel has released 3 new shows on Disney+ and when you see this after those have already come out and moved the ball forward, you see how much of a filler this film was. Too bad, Black Widow could have had a great spy adventure, instead she is reduced to the by the numbers family drama, MacGuffin chase that ends promoting Florence Pugh more than Johansson.

 The Cast

Scarlett Johansson has been playing Natasha Romanoff for 10 years. She is solid in the role, hits her beats and brings all the development that she has had with this character to the role. It’s unfortunate the script didn’t bother to do any favors for her. More of a plot device than an actual character, by this point what is growing into? We already know how her story ends and nothing here sheds a light on future actions (they try by attempting to out “family” the Fast and Furious franchise, but it rings hollow). Others have said it and after seeing the film I have to agree this is Florence Pugh’s film. She gets the most development, the best lines and the set up for future adventures. I honestly don’t care about replace one 5’2 women pretending to beat up men with another, so excuse me if I am not excited. David Harbour (Red Guardian) is a big dumb idiot. Seriously that is all he is. Rachel Weisz (Melina Vostokoff) is there, so it’s nice to see her again. The bad guy, Ray Winstone (Dreykov) is 100% wasted as a toxic male who has removed the ability of women to make their own choices (kinda of how Hollywood thinks of Republicans) and is one of the worst villains the MCU has put on screen. Taskmaster is wasted, huge letdown.

Plot & Pacing

This movie wants you to think it is Winter Solider 2.0 combined with a Bond film (in fact there is a little Easter egg acknowledging that in the film). However, it lacks stakes. We know the outcome, so it doesn’t matter how “entertaining” the action sequences are, we know she is gonna live…well for now. The pacing in this film is really all over the place and that falls at the feel of Cate Shortland. It is the 2nd film she has ever directed and it shows. As stated before the plot is not as clever as it thinks it is, it cannot hold a candle to the worst Bond film. 

Technical notes

It’s an MCU film, so all the CGI set pieces are there. The action is fine, LOTS of quick cuts to cover up the fact that Johansson is  sitting in a chair sipping a latte while her stunt double is doing all the work.  Just the rest of the film, not terrible, certainly not great.

Overall

Black Widow wants you to think it is Winter Solider 2.0 combined with a Bond film, however lack of stakes & a paper thin plot lead to a sad send off for the femme fatale

Score:

1 1/2 out of 4 Briefcases