Black Widow Review - Golden Opportunity Gone Wasted

Avengers created such a solid impact with the audience that all the characters from the Marvel's superhero flick have become beloved. Naturally, when a solo film on extremely popular Black Widow was announced, I was flabbergasted. However, after watching the film, I was left with nothing but a disappointment. 

Morning Show Box Office Report – F9 Opens On Decent Note, Shang Chi Is Excellent

Black Widow kicks off before The Avengers takes place, when Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) and her sister sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) are taken away from mother Melina (Rachel Weisz), father Alexei (David Harbour) during their childhood. She grows up to fight against Dreykov (Ray Winstone), a sinister who heads the dark and shady Red Room through which he controls young girls and turns them into assassins.

Cruella Movie Review – Dazzling Visual Treat With Commendable Performances

Bell Bottom 2nd Week Box Office – Akshay Kumar Starrer Performs Well Despite Restrictions

Directed by Cate Shortland (Sommersault and Berlin Syndrome), Black Widow opens with a bang thanks to the wonderful Malia J’s voice on Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit used as background score in the opening credits. As Natasha escapes to Norway, she faces a pawn of Dreykov - Antonia, who is powerful and fierce. The combat scene between them is simply mind-blowing. The stunts and action sequences follows up in Morocco and Budapest, where Natasha meets her sister, Yemen. The car chase action scene is probably the highlight of the film and worth-watching. Everything goes well until they set out to rescue their father, Alexia, from the prison. After this film, screenplay of Black Widow tumbles down and makes a free fall that it fails to recover (the family reunion is one big drama). Attempt to find out more about the Red Room and the climax scene was messed with poor screenplay which just goes just nowhere.

Black Widow does manage to impress with visuals and CGI along with excellent camera work, action scenes and art direction but fails in the writing area, especially after starting off with a bang in the initial sequence. The 134 minute movie also turns out to be longer than expected which should have few sequences trimmed to get a better view. Performances by the star cast was just about fine considering the talents involved but it is the poor character development which prevents the actors to give honest performances.

So, overall, Black Widow showed promise with initial build-up but breaks in the second half. What could have been a solid follow-up to the Avengers franchises turns fizzy. Decent 2.75/5

Black Widow is currently streaming on Disney+Hostar and is produced by Marvel Studios.