Written by Eric Pearson And Jac Schaeffer And Ned Benson
Directed by Cate Shortland
Natasha: "I've lived a lot of lives but I am done running from my past."
It's been two years since the events of Avengers: Endgame and with the Disney+ shows having kicked off the MCU's fourth phase off rather nicely, it was time for another big screen outing and this missing adventure of sorts from Natasha Romonoff was a good way to start things.
There's been a few questions about Natasha's past that needed some answers and things opened where younger versions of Natasha and younger "sister" Yelena enjoyed a suburban life in Ohio before being separated from their "parents" Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz) by Red Room boss Dreykov (Ray Winstone).
Decades pass and while on the run from the events of Captain America: Civil War Natasha finds her reunited with her sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh) and it's not long until the two find themselves being targeted by Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) at the behest of Dreykov of course.
It turns out that Yelena has in her possession a cure for Dreykov's control over the Widows and as Natasha and Yelena reconnect and bicker, it's not long before they're breaking Alexei/Red Guardian out of prison and showing up on Melina's pig farm for an awkward family reunion.
The second live action blockbuster this summer to play heavily on the theme of family, there's a lot of raking over what the Red Room subjected Natasha and Yelena to, forcing both Alexei and Melina to atone for their roles in their daughters lives.
The family stuff works well and there's a believable rapport with Natasha, Yelena, Alexei and Melina. Without a doubt, it's the strongest element of the movie. What's not quite as strong are the villains of the piece.
Taskmaster for example can mimic other people's fighting skills and there's a few good moments where you see that in action but the reveal of the character's identity, connection to Dreykov and Natasha's past doesn't land as well as it could've done. Ultimately the character feels somewhat wasted in the movie.
Dreykov is also a similarly poorly realised baddie. I'm not the biggest fan of Ray Winstone and I thought he was pretty poor here. Dreykov is just too one dimensional and I felt like Natasha deserved a better enemy to go up against, even though he does fit the theme of Natasha freeing herself from her past.
As for the post credit scene that has been spoiled a lot by now, I did like the set up of it. Has Valentina (Julia Louise Dreyfuss) succeeded in setting Yelena after Clint Barton? We won't have long to wait as Yelena will be appearing on Hawkeye later this year. Clint should be on alert.
- Nice small role from OT Fagbenle as Natasha's finder friend, Mason. He's another character I assume we'll see again.
- For those who hated a certain plot from Avengers: Age Of Ultron, this movie doubled down on it big time.
- Standout music: Malia J's version of Smells Like Teen Spirit as well as Don McLean's American Pie.
- Chronology: The movie started off in Ohio 1995 while the majority of events were in 2016.
Black Widow is not a perfect MCU movie but in my opinion, poor villains to one side, it provides a strong last hurrah for Natasha Romonoff but an even stronger debut Yelena Belova. Scarlett Johansson delivers a great performance but Florence Pugh does steal the show.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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