IR Film Review: BLACK WIDOW [Marvel/Disney]
The key with doing an origin story but from a different perspective is giving a sense of time without losing a sense of pain. The reason "Black Widow" works is not because of the large set pieces (though it does have those but it doesn't need them except in the integral parts (the beginning and the end as well as one in the middle)...just the right balance. But what we have seen on the small screen that has worked so well with Marvel has integrated into this film, even though it was made before. It is not necessary about pure exposition (which in an Avengers film is what it needs to keep all the storylines running). What makes this work is this family together (whatever it is). We all know Natasha but it is showing a perspective of that pain or beauty of what she needed or felt she needed to be able to do at the end of "Endgame". The loss of childhood is really brought together in a couple moments but a simple scene in a house really makes it work.
Scarlett Johannsen, of course, is good but there is an expectation but the weight that Florence Pugh brings in as Yelena really gives it a pit of interesting despair yet joy at different points. Hard shoes to fill but she does it well while bringing something very different than Scarlett. Pugh is the soul of the movie while Nastasha at times maneuvers between the brawn and the heart which is interesting considering David Harbour, who is playing the Red Guardian, has those same qualities though he displays them different. Even in his biggest gestures, there is such tenderness at times. Natasha is her father's daughter in a way. Rachel Weisz is an interesting edition as Milena, the matriarch of this clan, since she disappears, almost too much into the role. There is an inherent coldness but when you see her say one line later to Pugh at a key point, it just turns the lock. Giving away any more what the movie is about would give away more aspects and ruin certain plot elements.
Suffice to say, it takes place between "Captain America: Civil War" and "Avengers: Infinity War" which makes sense but it perfectly fits in without upsetting any balance, except it does show stakes and enhances Natasha's backstory so one can easily look at "Endgame" with a new eye just as one figures "Loki" is changing the way we look at Loki. Both characters endure tragic deaths but only if they have meaning. That is why "Black Widow" works. Certain sequences including one at a snow bound prison work quite well and the film's writing is both fun and pointed (especially within the family dynamic). In this way, the film is built well so much that for its running time it does go by rather quickly. Harbour gets the most humor but Pugh has a way of making her lines poignant and yet lightly innocent and funny despite her assassin background. Different traits of Natasha in a family setting really show what Johanssen is capable of and small notes of the character that perhaps she couldn't show in "Avengers": specifically the need for her to voice, focus and control as necessary.
But with this family, they can call her on it but it is done very specifically.. Again simply the way the dinner table sequence works shows so many facets. This is a boon to the director as well who understood these notes while still delivering the big beats. As a result, the film doesn't feel like it is another link in a wheel (though it does have its place). There is a irony in that but it also is to serve as a coda of sorts without making it utterly overwrought. "Endgame" went for the jugular on that in the end as did "infinity War". "Black Widow" is more subtle but has 2 or 3 pure moments of power that are just quietly moving in a way that they highlight a break between the crescendo so you can truly see what these people are living for, no matter what the outcome. A-
By Tim Wassberg
