Natasha Romanoff finally gets her (heartbreaking) blaze of glory in Marvel’s Black Widow
“Marvels gets women!” asserted Saturday Night Live back in 2015, in a spectacular digital short, which saw Scarlett Johansson herself satirize Hollywood hesitancy to a Black Widow standalone film. First debuting in Iron Man 2 in 2010, Johansson was electric, leading the way for what would soon become a decade of advancement for female-led actioners. Crucial to the intensity of The Avengers (i.e., her brilliant standoff with Loki), and whip-smart of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (“Did I step on your moment?!”), there was no denying her star-power; and yet, it still took 6 years even after SNL’s Black Widow: Age of Me parody to finally give the super-spy the spotlight she deserves.
Black Widow (2021) kicks off right after the events of Captain America: Civil War, as SHIELD continues its pursuit of the heroes who were decidedly Team Cap. Romanoff seems almost at peace; grounded and enjoying her serenity, until things take a turn (rather literally) and the avenger is forced to confront her past and her first real family. While the Red-Room flashbacks of Avengers: Age of Ultron are nowhere to be seen here, director Cate Shortland explains such a tragic backstory in masterful montage early-on (alongside a sultry “Smells Like Teen Spirit”), allowing the remainder to hold an incredibly emotional weight.
Johansson is as charismatic as ever, fully realized and imbued with the depth earlier projects could never explore. Florence Pugh, who plays her long-lost sister Yelena Belova, is equally as mesmerizing, flying off the screen and practically demanding a solo series of her own. Together, their off-kilter sibling dynamic makes for movie magic, at times hilarious and at other times truly heartbreaking. Robbed of autonomy and free-will for most of their lives, these characters are given ample room to explore that trauma with the upmost authenticity. While there is no shortage of high-octane thrills and gorgeous hand-to-hand combat, Pugh’s harrowing monologue towards the third act packs the hardest punch of them all.
From a raucous sibling-fight-turned-car-chase and prison-break-turned-avalanche, the action sequences are downright operatic— and glorious to behold. Such highs make up for its minor flaws: Taskmaster is, as fans have argued, severely under-utilized, and opportunities to make the Widow-verse more expansive fall short of the potential. For a villain whose infamy stems from mimicking an opponents’ every move, hardly any mimicry is evident on-screen; and yet, to write-off this film entirely on the basis of such an easy future fix is a disservice to its incredibly impactful message. Additionally, in consequence to largely telling rather than showing the origins of the Red Room, the Widow-verse feels a tad uninteresting and unexplored— another easy fix so long as Florence is given the mantle to continue this saga.
Oozing with heart, soul and real-world purpose, Black Widow injects the usual Marvel formula with an impassioned battle cry, spotlighting a duo whose dizzying charm is simply undeniable. While this really should have been a Black Widow 2 (the first a proper origin tale focused squarely on Natasha, Budapest and her defection to Shield), this web of espionage intrigue and gut-wrenching emotion is certainly a worthy start.
By Ryan Farrell.
