“Better late than never” isn’t always the case. And when it comes to Black Widow, the member of the Phase One Avengers in most need of real character development, it arriving so long after that point is rather disheartening. Not to mention out of step with how thought-out the MCU generally is when it comes to story arcs over the span of several features. But now that it’s finally here, and the Marvel status quo is slowly returning after the COVID runaround, I can’t say that I hate it… but I can’t say I’m entirely into it either.
Starting with some positives, the action scenes are damn good. It fits with the overall murkier tone of the story, involving Natasha’s past as a trained assassin and the repercussions of it, in how hard the hits can get. Watching each fight unfold really gives the impression that these characters are going for damage over flair, and there’s certainly some wincers to be found. This effect is aided by the new characters involved, with Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz as Natasha’s “family” bringing plenty of personality to the proceedings and adding to the undercurrent of family drama that pushes the more personal aspects of the narrative. Harbour in particular as the Red Guardian, the Russian counterpart of Captain America, is a delight to see here.
The themes on offer here are also quite interesting, using Natasha’s background to fuel questions about free will and the ability to control people, with Ray Winstone’s Dreykov serving as puppetmaster for the Widows and seeing his role as giving “trash” “a purpose”. It goes heavier into feminist leanings than even Captain Marvel, and the greater air of liberation that comes with the victories within the story certainly hit the right note… but there’s definitely something missing from the equation.
Even though I’m fully aware that Aussie director Cate Shortland can deliver on a story with this kind of moral questioning (hell, I’m pretty sure her work on Berlin Syndrome is the key reason why she was tapped for this), the rest of the production and the writing in particular don’t seem as comfortable with just how dark this subject matter can go. It reaches a rather unfortunate point of softballing when it comes to Natasha having to wrestle with one of her past kills (of a child, no less), which comes across like the studio was afraid of really making her come to terms with the consequences of her actions. While Natasha may have been the one most lacking in character depth, her background always pitted her as the dark horse of the initial Avengers, so the film struggling to fulfil that potential is rather annoying.
But the biggest problem here has to do with what I brought up at the start: Giving Black Widow’s character a chance to finally develop into its own entity. The main reason why her character had always felt lacking to me in the past is that, because her background is shrouded in so much mystery and trauma, she usually ended up being defined by her relationships to those around her. Bruce Banner, Hawkeye, S.H.I.E.L.D., the larger Avengers squad, but never on her own terms. And with this film being so focused on her reuniting with her family, all of whom come right out of the gate with personality to spare, she ends up left behind.
Where this development grows concerning is how, within the film itself, it’s almost as if that was the intended effect. Rather than devoting time to reflecting on what Natasha has gone through, the film inexplicably ends up spending more time showing the effect that Captain America has had in-universe. The inclusion of Red Guardian and his tall tales of encountering the hero, the inclusion of Taskmaster with a conspicuously-similar shield weapon, not to mention how very few conversations go by without bringing up Black Widow’s connection to the Avengers, as if she simply doesn’t exist without them. For a film trying to speak on the importance of letting women decide their own fate and actions, the text can’t seem to let the title character do the same.
Now, as off-putting as all this is, I still can’t bring myself to call this “bad”. It’s definitely on the weaker end of the MCU’s output, and really shows a step down from the consistency across Phase Three, but there’s still quite a lot here to like. The acting is solid, with Florence Pugh and David Harbour adding a lot to the entertainment value through sheer presence alone, the action scenes are good (if highlighting the disconnect between thrills and the attempts at something deeper), and there’s some ideas here that maintain the franchise standard of at least being interesting in what they delve into.
But as a solo story, there’s a severe lack of characterisation that I honestly can’t say was the case for previous efforts, making for a standalone feature (an admitted rarity when it comes to the MCU) that doesn’t add nearly enough to the larger picture to work as intended. Or, considering all the conscious decisions made in-story, maybe it did work as intended.
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