Black Widow

After the earth-shattering Endgame, I was pretty much looking forward to being reunited with Natasha, so I warmly welcomed the feature-length Black Widow solo outing. In terms of the cast, it is very decent, with each of the four main actors in the right place, with satisfying supporting characters. Visually, the film showcases itself especially in the second half, which was full of brisk and nicely paced action, though there were a few over-the-top moments, which the viewer must take with a grain of salt in films like this. Screenwriting-wise, Black Widow is a slightly less layered piece compared to the MCU team-ups, but it still sets up some pretty surprising moments. I also praise the post-credit scene and am curious about the follow-up film. A weaker four stars! (07/18/2021)

I was thrilled, about halfway through. Black Widow starts as an unexpectedly dark and adult comic book movie, presenting broken and hesitant heroes and heroines instead of jokes, and surprisingly gritty action that doesn't deny that the creators took inspiration from Jason Bourne and Mission: Impossible. It's also humorless, and for a while it felt like the most mature Marvel movie ever, unafraid of themes you wouldn't quite expect to find there. But then, somehow, it breaks. Halfway through, it's as if the makers decided that their audience probably doesn't actually crave something like this and went back to their old ways of playing it safe, give or take. Black Widow does even that well, and when you take away the not-so-good contact action scenes and the weaker Taskmaster, it's at least a solid job and an inoffensive Marvel average. It just felt a little too little when they went with a more mature yet fully functioning style in the first part. I don't want to make it sound like Black Widow is a bad movie. It's a well-done comic-book routine, but as a viewer, I'm not completely satisfied with that anymore. Especially when Scarlet Johansson and her crew managed to show me that they can do better. (07/08/2021)

After almost two years, a Marvel movie finally hit the cinemas and the result is nothing to write home about. For me, a pretty useless movie about a useless character. The first hour is surprisingly solid, it's well paced, the action is kept down to earth and the fights have decent choreography – they're Bourne style so I enjoyed them. I'm also pleased with Florence Pugh, whom I like a lot, and the Taskmaster's entrance is awesome. By the second hour, however, I felt that perhaps the director had been replaced, the action goes by the wayside, and so does the fun goes, the humour is completely absent, the Taskmaster goes by the wayside! (it's reprehensible to sideline such an interesting villain like that!), and the finale was perhaps the weakest of all the action scenes, so I'm quite disappointed. I rate the first half as 8/10, the second half is about 5-6, and in the end I'm rounding up more towards 6, because for Marvel I found it unbalanced, the effects aren't too dazzling either, it felt a bit like it was going half throttle and quite possibly the first Marvel movie I definitely won't watch again. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5. 6/10. (07/20/2021)

I'm sorry to say it, but this is the most useless Marvel movie for me so far. I don't feel like it contributed at all to the MCU - it was created simply because the fans wanted a Black Widow solo film (and to find out what was in Budapest so that there would be peace) and Scarlett Johansson after Endgame probably didn't mind either. It's such a wasted chance, the film stays in its lane from start to finish, and although the action scenes are pleasantly and deliberately exaggerated (it's no coincidence that Natasha is watching Moonraker) and the main characters and heroes seem even more indestructible than Jason Bourne or any Terminator, which makes sense when I couldn't form any relationship with most of the characters during that fast ride, and in the end I didn't care what happened to anyone. Unfortunately, this also applies to Taskmaster, who is suddenly just there, and according to the creators we should be afraid of him, but we can't be, because it is clear to us that this is not the type of film in which the villain could win or at least come to a draw. There are jokes in Whedon’s style, and you can forget about any tension. If Black Widow can bring anything to the MCU in the future, then perhaps only the return of Florence Pugh and David Harbour. They would both make me happy. But there was no need to tell this Black Widow story. (07/07/2021)

After a two-year cinematic hiatus in the MCU, we got to see another Avengers solo film and I'm actually quite pleased. It might be the twenty-fourth time of basically the same thing, but in many ways it's still a very good mainstream production. A strong female element is very much present, but I can't say I mind that in any way. On the contrary, I think that the whole crew around Feige know how to work with those contemporary paradigms with due flair and grace. The first half delights with a very dark thriller atmosphere, which is appealingly reminiscent of the second and third Captain America films. Despite the top-notch action sequences, Black Widow doesn't avoid the expected schematic quality in its second half, where its initial cheesiness is replaced with the typical Marvel formula that ultimately places this solo effort in the broader MCU average. Which is certainly not a bad thing. [65%] (07/07/2021)