Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Black Widow

This film was so much fun but it definitely has flaws that gets in its way from being truly outstanding. This is a film that left me definitely feeling mixed as on one hand it’s a fantastic solo film for the character but it’s the lack of depth that it does for the Assassin Avenger that really is a glaring issue that is hard to overlook. Now the film itself is a fun ride don’t get me wrong the entire cast all give fun performances and the standout is Florence Pugh as she gives a fantastic debut performance to the MCU. And the action is top notch popcorn fun for sure the pacing has some problems here and there but for the most part it flows pretty well. 

Firstly, I’ll say my positives of what I liked first from Black Widow. The film has fantastic action set pieces that are truly engaging and at times jaw dropping in its execution. The film was able to set up such incredible pulse pounding sequences of fun popcorn action that truly engages you the entire way through. Now it does put into question at some points how Black Widow could have lived through some of these life and death situations considering she dose not have super powers but I digress. The Action was definitely top tier at its finest and some of the best choreographed fight scenes I have seen since Civil War and the Winter Soldier. Then added to the fantastic action is the incredible performances from the entire cast but the big stand out everyone will be talking about is Florence Pugh. Everyone is great in the film don’t Get me wrong but Florence Pugh is the absolute best part of the film as she brings a fantastic addition to the MCU. She oozes charismatic energy and all around so much fun. Her performance is both emotionally hard hitting and captivating its a performance that is impossible to look away from. Scarlett Johansson gives another truly great performance as The Black Widow for her what it seems to be her final outing as the title character. She brings honest emotion that will make you shed a tear but also keeps you engaged the entire time with her crackling energy she is giving the character in this film. Now Florence and Scarlett are definitely the performances that are the standouts of the film and I am also sad to say they are the only good performances from the entire cast. As much as I like David Harbour his performance felt way to jokey and comedic to really revel anything real about who his character was under the surface. 

Secondly, Now The Negatives, This film fell flat in many places but what upset me more than anything was the lack of depth. Now this is the biggest thing I knew I was going to have an issue with going into the film. As Black Widow to me has the most compelling backstory out of the original six Avengers sorry Tony. It is true though as she is an Assassin, Ballerina, a straight shooter and everything about her for a long time is left in the shadows as we barely know anything about her. As over the years she mentions multiple missions she did with Clint Barton and Budapest freaking Budapest gets mentioned so many times and we hardly even know to this day what happened on that mission that made it so memorable. Then you have the fact she mentions to Bruce In Avengers 2 that they removed her uterus and she is unable to have kids all really interesting things now is any of this touched on in the movie? Barley the last thing about her unable to have kids is used as a cheap joke later on in the film which I think was pretty tasteless.  The film really wasted the opportunity of answering some of these really big and interesting questions we have had for years to resort to just a typical revenge story. Now I still enjoy the film don’t get me wrong but it defiantly pisses me off that one of the most interesting characters in all of Marvel didn’t get the proper backstory film that her fellow Avengers got. As they scratch the surface of who she is as a person like if you strip away the Avenger status and look at her as a person which is what I wanted to learn we do learn about her Family and the messed up person that is responsible for her violence in her life but that’s about it. Now when typing it that does sound interesting of what they did explore but they could have done so much more than scratching the surface considering the fact we have been asking for this film for 8 years. That Segways me into my second point which is this film is way too late to the party. If this film came out latest 2014 it would have been so much better from a narrative and character arc perspective. And I will tell you why because not to spoil Endgame for anyone but we know Natasha meets her end in Endgame so this film has no way but to set itself in the past now if the film was made before her character died and we knew her backstory before her death it would of been a bigger emotional payoff by the time endgame came around as because we would of then known her backstory with her family and sister and then the death would of been more hard hitting instead of her being dead then rewinding the clock to show you her past which they did instead. So the film definitely feels late in terms of timing for the character and just in general as she should have got her own film far before Captain Marvel and some of the other characters that got their own solo films before her. Another thing that sucks is the fact she will be the only Avenger that won’t have a three film trilogy due to the fact of her character being dead as Iron Man, Captain America hell even Ant-Man has his own trilogy but Black Widow will just have the one which sucks. She is a big enough of a character that deserves her own trilogy and franchise. Now my final issue with the film was a thing that Marvel has been doing for years which is undercutting dramatic scenes with comedy which feels so inappropriate tone wise. As this has been a problem marvel has done countless times over as their will be a scene like in Endgame where Gamora tells Star Lord to put a bullet in her head if Thanos gets her and then Drax is eating chips in the corner of the room. See what I am saying really heavy dramatic moments get ruined by a cheap laugh which is an insult to the scene because you should let the scene play out the way it is intended to without feeling you have to tell the audience to laugh every 5 seconds. As that is something they did multiple times with David Harbour’s character he was used as a cheap laugh a minute character and it sucks as I really would have loved to have found out more then just him being a massive fanboy of Captain America. Overall all of these reasons are why I had mixed feelings about this film. 

Lastly, Black Widow is a fun popcorn film filled with explosive action sequences that will keep you engaged all the way through mixed with fantastic chemistry and performances from Florence Pugh And Scarlett Johansson. The only thing holding itself back was its timing of its release and the lack of depth that kept it from being a truly special film. Now don’t get me wrong Black Widow is still a fantastic film with great moments you will enjoy but their are definite flaws that are hard to overlook but they aren’t big enough that I would call It a bad film its just the issues are not subtle either. All and all Black Widow is a film that you will have fun with but will be left asking more though. I recommend people check this film out. 

This film centres around Black Widow after being on the run and faced with the task of having to confront her past and the demons that have haunted her for years. 

Rated PG - 13 : Some Language, Thematic elements and intense violence 

Scarlett Johansson : Johansson delivers a fantastic final performance as our favourite Marvel Assassin. By this time we have seen Black Widow I would have thought we had seen every layer and each side to her possible. As her character arc has been getting explored from Iron Man 2 to Endgame because we had seen her from a very emotionally closed off person to doing one of the most selfless acts you can do. Here she takes the small bit of character she can explore and goes to her full extent to showcase whatever is left of Widow that has yet to be revealed. She brings this very guarded sense to her that hasn’t been present since Iron Man 2 and what I mean is overtime she was able to let her guard down around the Avengers but since their is a lot of unresolved trauma she’s more closed off around her “family”.  And so you see her defensive up more then ever but their is cracks in her defensive shield towards the third act as their are certain things that truly get to Natasha. Seeing her soften up around her sister was something that was Truly heartwarming and emotionally satisfying to see. You see her hesitation throughout the film to discuss anything shady or morally grey that her sister or people will call her out on it and you can see the utter regret and pain in her eyes and Scarlett delivers that rawness in spades. She has this shakiness in her voice this sensitivity she is afraid to show as she thinks it’ll present her as weak which is something Natasha has been fighting with for years within herself. Here she’s able to confront so much about herself that at times you can see is so emotionally and sometimes psychically painful for her to do. Scarlett explores the darkness we have known bits about but this time shows it for how it was no matter how ugly it gets. As theirs a scene towards the end where she lays into everyone about the “family” she had and it’s very real as she is incredibly upset she let anyone take her emotionally for granted and they all ask her why she’s become this way this emotionally detached person and it’s a fantastic moment that really shows why she’s the way she was. Scarlett takes the bit of the character she has yet to explore the part of her that hid in the shadows and put it on display in fantastic layered emotional complexity. It’s both heartbreaking at times and also charismatic the energy she brings to Natasha in this film. Scarlett once again gives a fantastic outing of the character that fills in the missing puzzle pieces of her heart that have been left as a hole until now. Scarlett soars as the Widow in what feels like a poetic swan song for the character. 

Florence Pugh : Florence is the absolute best part of this film! This actress I have said since 2019’s fighting with My Family that she was going to be a massive star. To see her evolve so big in such a short time has me so so excited as she killed it in Little Woman then terrified us all with Midsommar and then stole the show with Black Widow. Hearing her being part of this film I knew she was going to be a highlight and she didn’t disappoint. Here she plays the baby sister of Black Widow and wow does she really showcase such layers of what Amy other actress would of just shown as a comic relief. Florence Pugh brings dry humour that crackles  the screen for sure but she also digs deep into this character of what makes her so emotionally sensitive and full of heartache. As Florence soaks up this role and has so much fun with it as you can see her enjoying every moment of this character. Her performance as Yelena is incredible as she is able to walk such a fine line over heartbreaking emotion and pure sarcastic humour and the humour isn’t used in a way that downplays the seriousness of her character but more as a defence mechanism she uses to hide behind the sadness and it’s very well balanced. As theirs a scene at a dinner table where she speaks about how what was staged about her life felt very genuinely real to her. The crack in her voice and the stuttering to the glossy eyes she really wears her heart on her sleeve and pours her heart into the smaller more emotional scenes and they spark so powerfully when she executes them on the screen. Florence gives one of the most enjoyable dramatic and comedic performances that really stood out in a long while from the MCU. She has amazing chemistry with Scarlett Johansson and the two of them have such great onscreen electricity you believe they are siblings. Florence really comes into this film like a hurricane and commands the screen with such emotionally complexity and I’d love to see her take over the reins as Black Widow she has the charisma and the talent to do so. She gives a performance that steals the show in this film that’s a combination of heartbreaking and humour and the result is incredible Florence soars in this film giving genuine emotion while levelling it out with fantastic laughs. 

Cate Shortland : Cate Shortland gave good direction on this film! Now this filmmaker I have heard of her stuff prior to viewing this film. Her film Lore got her a lot of critical acclaim and here she takes on a massive big property like Marvel and does she stick the landing? Sort of yes and no is the answer. As you can see her heart was in the right place when tackling one of the most beloved characters in the MCU. The issue that I had with her direction as I said earlier was the lack of  depth as we didn’t get to really dig deep into Natasha and what made her tick now learning about her family was interesting sure but I felt we could have learned so much more. It felt like a missed opportunity to really go deeper into this character besides that she did deliver on fantastic action set pieces  that really put you on the edge of your seat. She got fantastic performances from her cast especially a standout performance from Pugh. Now the tone of the film felt well done with this espionage type look to the frame and this film also has one of the best opening titles I’ve seen for a Marvel film and from the titles alone it sets the tone for what this film will tackle and be about. If she was given more creative freedom to bring the character I felt this could of been something truly special as she had the tone and the right frame to bring the character it just felt very underdeveloped in terms of its execution and it also feels her vision wasn’t fully realized onscreen. It’s a solid Job from a directional stand point for sure she really captures the essence of who Black Widow is but it falls short of something truly spectacular tho. So I will say her direction was good but it could of been great if the script was tweaked a tad in order to give the story that extra punch. Overall Cate did a great job bringing this long overdue story to the screen.