My Black Widow review

My Black Widow review

Before I get started I want to thank Marvel Studios for making us wait an extra 14 months for nothing. 

Intro: It's a shame that Hawkeye gets no love! 

Black Widow: This movie takes place after Civil War and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow is now a fugitive for helping Steve Rogers/Captain American escape. While on the run she attracts the attention of an assassin which led her to run into someone from her past. After learning about a conspiracy involving the organization that turned her into a spy/assassin she has to stop it before it spreads.

If you were expecting this movie to be The Winter Soldier's little sister you're going to be disappointed. Instead, this movie is a copy of that movie but with a few differences and not as good. I wouldn't have minded this story if the writers didn't retcon what we knew about Natasha. Of course, the movie mixes humor with the serious stuff and it doesn't work. Speaking of humor will this studio please stop with the fat jokes you're not good at telling them. I have issues with the ending I mean it raises questions about how did Natasha go from point A to point B? It's kind of a letdown that we don't see characters doing a lot of spy work. What's the point of having spies if we don't see them being spies? The plot holes are also an issue for me because they don't help us understand how things played out in the movie. Sadly, the movie has feminist vibes to it because of how most of the men are portrayed in this movie. We should have gotten a Black Widow movie sooner both figuratively and literally. To be fair we would have gotten this movie sooner if it was for Isaac Perlmutter.   

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow is naked in this movie and I don't mean literally. The movie tried to give her an arc of healing from her trauma. The issue with this is this is something she should have done sooner like after Winter Soldier. I wasn't satisfied with the scenes with her surrogate family because they left more to be desired. It's understandable why she never mentioned them because of what they did to her. Speaking of that the movie jokes about it what the fudge!?! I wish we got into Natasha's head in this movie. In age of Ultron, she said she feels like a monster because of what was done to her, I was hoping to get more of her expressing how this organization affected her in hindsight.      

Yelena Belova (Natasha's surrogate sister.) is sarcastic and plays off Natasha well. Because she's a legacy character I was worried that she would step on Natasha's toes in this movie, thankfully that's not the case. This characterization is what annoys me about her. I mean I find it odd that she would be like this after everything that happened to her. I wish was cold like Natasha was when we first met her because doing that would help reinforce how much Natasha has changed. I would like to know how she was able to reach out to Natasha the way she did? 

Melina Vostokoff (Natasha's mother figure.) is a scientist. The movie tried to make her a victim but she has blood on her hands plus she could have used her brain to get out of the situation. 

I'm not happy with Alexei Shostakov/The Red Guardian (Natasha's Father figure.) because he serves as the comic relief. He should have been written out of the film not just because he creates plot holes around the Super Solider serum it's because he's wasted in this movie. 

TaskMaster (One of the villains.) maybe be considered as another forgettable bad guy but I'm fine with how the character was portrayed in this movie. This character is like the terminator in this movie and he mimics people's moves that's what this character does in the comics. With that said this doesn't change the fact that the TaskMaster from the Spider-Man PS4 was better than this. The liberties that the creators took with this character might bother fans but I'm OK with it because it worked in the context of the film.         

There isn't much to say about the main baddie because we barely see him, when we do, he's an egotistical power-hungry madman.   

I like that the movie can serve as a social commentary on child abduction, child soldiers being hunted by your past, and family dysfunction. I appreciate that this movie isn't an origin story because we had bits and pieces of her backstory where we can fill in the blanks. The movie has moments that will take you by surprise. The opening credits are the best part of the movie because it can pull on your heartstrings, but it has room for improvement. The humor is not overbearing in this movie.  

After all these years this was a poor attended to give Black Widow her own movie. However, that doesn't mean that this movie can't be enjoyed on some level. The movie could have been better if it took place before Iron Man 2. I say that because her going from a target of S.H.I.E.L.D to working for them is more interesting than the movie we've got. I would recommend this if you like spy films. 

Rating = Rental