It's a damn shame that it took this long to get us a Black Widow movie, but on the plus side, it's coming at a point where there hasn't been a Bond movie in a long-ass time, and really does the trick.
It seems an odd compliment, given that it's been two years since an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and given that the prior appearance of the title character of this film was in one of the biggest movies of all time, but I appreciate how small Black Widow is. The film opens with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as a young girl living an apparently normal life in 1990s Ohio, her entire "family" in deep cover, and throughout the following 2 and change hours of spyjinks and chases and explosions and fisticuffs, the focus remains squarely on these relationships and our investment in these characters.
Look, it should be no surprise at this point that Marvel is good at this. They've practically got "find charismatic actors with good chemistry to play off each other in fun scenes between action set pieces" down to a science, and this is a movie that does those things and does them well. Director Cate Shortland shows a strong hand during action (set pieces and fights are punchy and brisk with a good combination of propulsive editing and clear showing of impacts) and Eric Pearson's script favors character moments in favor of dwelling on plot mechanics, making clever use of the MCU's ability to bring in super-science or even magic whenever a situation requires.
It really is like watching a good Roger Moore Bond movie with a more Bourne-esque lead and modern aesthetics and that actually cares about its characters more than Bond movies tend to. The story is approachable even for someone who's paid just cursory attention the Avengers movies - after the split in Captain America: Civil War, Nat is on the run and winds up drawn back into some business with her deep cover family and the Red Room where she was trained as an assassin. The players - her little sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh); her father, Alexei (David Harbour); and her mother, Milena (Rachel Weisz). Their target - General Dreykhov (Ray Winstone) - was Nat's final assignment in defecting to S.H.I.E.L.D., and the movie makes good use of his control over the Widows in the Red Room as an extension of patriarchal society's inclination to commodify women. The performance is a bit broad, but Winstone makes for a memorable villain with a highly satisfying fate.
Black Widow also makes some canny changes to masked foe, Taskmaster (a heavy from the comics who can mimic anyone's fighting style (from Captain America's shield work to Hawkeye's archery) in order to make the tussles with Nat as high stakes as possible, and uses Natasha's past to pack some unexpected character catharsis given that this is a prequel to the character's "final" appearance. But as much as Johansson does a great job anchoring the film (really playing into the "Nat is Steve's right hand and the glue that holds the Avengers together" read of the Phase 2 and Phase 3 films), each member of the core ensemble is more than capable of walking away with entire scenes. Harbour is clearly having the time of his life as a Soviet answer to Captain America, and Weisz is predictably fantastic in a delightfully layered role.
However, Florence Pugh is the movie's secret weapon, and the film knows it. Her "catty younger sister" dynamic with Johansson rips in every scene they share, she has a sense of humor that fits the film but feels all her own, and she even made me care about a stupid vest. Pugh has been tearing it up on the edge of breaking out in a big way, and this really feels like seeing a supporting character give birth to a movie star.
Black Widow is undeniably "slight" compared to the road we've seen getting here, and there's a bit of a shagginess that keeps it from being as tight and breathless as the Jason Bourne side of its inspiration. There's a mixture of silliness in situation with earnest emotion and a tone that angles ever so slightly away from the "MCU normal" that might not click with everyone, but I dug it's "one toe dipped in The Long Kiss Goodnight" vibe. As wild as the settings get (there's a reason I've drawn comparisons to the Roger Moore era), the focus is always tight on the characters and the very personal stakes at play.
Worth the wait? Hard to say, but - for my money - worth your time if you have any investment in the character.
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