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black widow- film review

Writer's picture: Shabab TashrifShabab Tashrif


Black Widow is directed by Cate Shortland and stars Scarlett Johansson as the titular character, alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz. Deemed as one of Marvel’s most prodigal characters, Black Widow won many hearts back in Jon Favreau’s Iron-Man 2, mostly because Johansson’s performance and how she was more of an unconventional hero coming from an espionage background. Originally planned to be released in 2020, the film had to be delayed to 2021 due to the pandemic, much to the dismay of the fans.


I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this film. I was excited about the fact that she was finally getting her solo film since her arrival at the MCU, but I was also afraid the film might be susceptible to Marvel movie tropes.


After watching the film, I can say that my suspicions were right.


Black Widow doesn’t seem like an original film with an intriguing story to tell. Instead, this film works as a filler and a launchpad for future Marvel projects by setting up character arcs and storylines.


A common problem with Marvel films is their conspicuous struggle to set up a cohesive universe where film feels like an episode setting up the next one. I am a vehement admirer of the MCU, but this issue has bugged me a lot, and I don’t find any cogent argument behind focusing more on setting up the universe rather than focusing on being a standalone classic. Black Widow is no exception to this routine- in fact it seems to be the epitome of it.


Sadly, there aren’t many positives to chew on. Scarlett Johansson is phenomenal once again as our kickass spy, but her character gets overshadowed for quite a long time by Pugh’s character, who is seemingly a new addition to the ever-growing MCU roster. The action scenes look disappointingly uninspired and formulaic, and there isn’t one standout action scene that I can go back frequently to watch. Moreover, the kickoff of the film is obnoxiously banal and the main story only kicks in somewhere near the 40 minutes mark. Taskmaster is in the film (the overdependence on stunt-double is harrowingly noticeable) and they make a choice with the character that I’m sure no one wanted them to make. There are a few inconsequential details misplaced, but we can forgo those due to the gargantuan number of inconsistencies the script itself has.


I liked the chemistry between Johansson and Pugh, the latter being the saving grace of the film. Harbour’s character was funny and the family aspects where enjoyable. But all in all, none of these (except Pugh’s performance) were enough to offset the blunders made by the screenplay writers.


All in all, Black Widow left me despondent. If this was Johansson’s exit from MCU, it saddened me, and as the launchpad for the highly coveted Phase 4, the film failed to engage me.


I will give Black Widow a C-.


(To be honest, I enjoyed F9 more than Black Widow. (⊙⊙)(☉_☉)(⊙⊙).)

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