
Black Widow is the story audiences deserve, arriving much later than audiences hoped, and in a time frame that’s not quite big enough to suffice the story.
Knowing that the main character, Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson for almost a decade, is already dead makes the viewing both emotional and lackluster at the same time. The solo venture is decent, with just enough spin on the MCU’s typical origin stories; it’s just unfortunate that audiences didn’t get this same story told over multiple movies.
Between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Natasha is on the run from General Ross (William Hurt) and ends up pulled into a conflict from before she joined the Avengers and around the time she transitioned to S.H.I.E.L.D. To defeat a villain from her past played by Ray Winstone, Natasha has to rely on fellow spies Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexi (David Harbour), and Melina (Rachel Weisz), who all posed as her family in the 90s, as well as a new-old friend named Mason and played by O-T Fagbenle.

It’s impossible to not compare Black Widow to its predecessors, especially given that the movie was supposed to debut a year ago, but the comparisons to Captain America: Winter Soldier are just and a compliment. The movie does justice to Natasha’s story, but it’s not the game changer that upcoming films such as Eternals and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness might be.
The films opening and overall action scenes are solid, though they do get CGI heavy as the story progresses, a consistent MCU issue with their final acts.
Pugh earns her rightful introduction as audiences meet her character and learn her backstory in the way that audiences maybe should have received Natasha. It’s as if audiences know the shadow of Natasha and her soul and just as they’re getting to know the human side, the universe introduces them to someone new. At least we can say Marvel Studios is starting with Pugh the way they should have started with Natasha.
Harbour, Fagbenle, and even Weisz aren’t flat either, they just don’t have as much background story to work with as the other two. The story would have been a solid trilogy amid the early phases of the MCU; just be prepared for an emotional closure that still doesn’t feel quite fleshed out.

There are plenty of connections to the larger universe–make sure to stay for the singular post credit–with verbal references to other Avengers and sarcastic mocking and sometimes the jokes land well. The full story behind Budapest will be revealed though not in the fashion audiences may have wanted.
The movie definitely gets weird at times while also retreading some of the MCU’s old frameworks. There’s just enough of a spin on their normal solo movie outings, so that mold is broken. And the post credit scene definitely keeps the momentum moving forward. Jac Schaeffer’s touch is clearly here as a story writer, so expect her to return with another project soon.
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