Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O-T Fagbenle
Director: Cate Shortland
Screenwriters: Eric Pearson; story by Jac Schaeffer, Ned Benson, based on the Marvel Comics
As Marvel powers onwards into Phase 4 with all the force of a high speed train (or perhaps a quinjet, or space ship may be more appropriate), Black Widow takes a step back, rewinding to Phase 3 to unravel some of the mystery surrounding the past of Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, spy and original avenger, fleshing out her character and giving some well deserved meat to her backstory. Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Black Widow, and is joined by Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour in an action-spy thriller directed by Cate Shortland that sees Natasha reunite with her family of old to confront her past and take down the enemy who plagued her life long before she became an avenger. Though Black Widow has previously appeared in 8 MCU movies, this is the first solo film for the character, finally providing a much anticipated look into the background of a character whose past has, until now, remained largely unexplored.
The opening sequence throws back to the 90s, with a fire-fly filled snapshot of Natasha’s childhood. Along with young Natasha (Ever Anderson), we meet her six-year old sister Yelena (Violet McGraw), and their parents Melina (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei (David Harbour). It’s sweet, it’s tender; for all intents and purposes, it appears to be a childhood as idyllic as any 90s American childhood could hope to be—at least until it warps into a bloody and brutal action sequence that tears the picture of family perfection apart. Russian accents surface and the truth about the situation is rapidly revealed—they’re not so much a family of four from a town in Ohio as they are a group of Russian intelligence agents posing as an American family. In a matter of heartbreaking moments, the family are separated by the orders of Alexei’s boss, General Dreykov (Ray Winstone), and Natasha and her sister are sent back to the Red Room, a twisted training facility masterminded by Dreykov where young girls are, among other things, brainwashed and manipulated as they’re raised to be the world’s most deadly killers.
What follows is one of the most chilling opening sequences seen in a Marvel movie. In mere moments, the tone darkens dramatically as the screen is littered with shots implying various horrors endured by the girls at the hands of the Red Room. The suggestive imagery is perhaps more effective than showing an actual sequence from the girl’s life during this time; using nothing more than a series of cleverly arranged hints, the opening jarringly gives the audience more than enough to be thoroughly disturbed by the prospect of the Red Room by the time the sequence is over.
The film then leaps forwards; 21 years later, Natasha is getting off the grid, trying to salvage the pieces of her life after the events of Captain America: Civil War (think that airport fight in Germany, Captain America on the run, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and Falcon all in prison). However Natasha’s efforts to disappear don’t quite go as quietly as planned; in a series of gritty action sequences, Natasha is reunited with her sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) in Budapest, who, it is revealed, has grown up to become a deadly and dangerous assassin with skills enough to rival Romanoff’s. Following a series of fights (both of the verbal and physical variety), and an escape, the central mission is established: take down the Red Room and free its brainwashed agents.
Family dynamics are explored in all their messy, imperfect, heart-wrenching glory as Natasha reunites her faux family of old to find Dreykov and his Red Room. Florence Pugh, previously seen in Little Women and Midsommar, is a standout in her own right as the jaded, yet somehow still ridiculously endearing, Yelena. Responsible for some of both the wittiest and most poignant scenes on screen, Pugh cycles seamlessly from comedic relief to heartfelt dramatics, delivering an incredible performance that makes Yelena an instantly likeable character. Pugh and Johansson have an incredible on-screen chemistry that makes their sisterhood feel real, full of tangled emotions that stem from their broken lives. Also by their side is David Harbour as Alexei, who throws himself into playing a super solider gone to seed (à la a Russian Mr Incredible from The Incredibles before he went though the getting-fit-train-pulling montage), and comes across as a convincingly exasperating, frustrating goof of a barely competent father, with a tone very much reminiscent of his Stranger Things character (well, if Hopper had possessed super strength that is).
The strong character writing must be commended; aside from the level of depth given to each character, the number of rather brilliant quips, delivered in particular by Pugh’s Yelena, are a true highlight of the film. Surprisingly dark and gritty, with heavy themes that could easily have become despairing, Black Widow was well balanced, deftly interweaving the dark moments and heartbreaking topics with well placed, well timed, dry humour. It’s not hard to imagine that many of the lines will soon become iconic, quotable favourites.
Action set piece, after action set piece, interspersed with a well delivered, tension filled family dinner sequence moves the plot along. Johansson once again rises to the occasion as the strong, feisty, yet still inherently human Black Widow. Half spy thriller, half action film, the movie contains many elements reminiscent of a Bond film (think mysterious lair, bad guy monologues, a Q type character delivering the goods)—in fact, it turns out Natasha is also a Bond fan in-universe. The third act delves more or less into what is expected of a standard Marvel action movie though, with many explosions, a flying headquarters and some fighting moves that defy physics, however at two hours, the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome. With well written characters and equally good acting, it’s faced passed and compelling, remaining dynamic through to the end without feeling stretched. While the fundamental plot isn’t groundbreaking, the true strength of any Marvel film, and what could be considered Marvel’s real recipe for success, lies in delivering stories that are character led first and foremost, grounding their fantastical universe and oftentimes far-reaching plots with relatable human struggles. Black Widow, to its benefit, is no different; at its core this is a film about family. Natasha and Yelena’s relationship is the heart and soul of the film (making the ending even more gut wrenching when it snaps back to the post Endgame timeline). Much of the narrative is driven by the exploration of the vulnerabilities of each character, and the family scenes are wonderfully fraught with real world tensions that are just as messy and dysfunctional as they are tender and humorous.
It could have been a hard recipe to get right; to create a film about a character whose fate is already known and still make it seem valuable to the universe and captivating to watch, but Shortland does it. The result is a story that finally does Natasha justice, revealing enough about Black Widow’s past to round out her character and satisfy some curiosity, while still leaving just as much in the dark for the character to continue to retain some spy-appropriate mystique and intrigue that will leave audiences continuing to imagine what else took place during her life in the years surrounding the known MCU events (the references to the original Budapest escapade with Hawkeye were a gem). While Black Widow’s story may have concluded in the on-going MCU timeline, fans will be pleased to see a post credits scene that catches up to the in-universe present day, linking Yelena with a character last seen in the Marvel TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If Pugh’s performance in Black Widow is anything to go by, Yelena will be more than capable of carrying the Black Widow legacy forward in the MCU (even if she’s one of those heroes who has to rely on an ibuprofen afterwards to get the job done).
