Black Widow: Latest Marvel Entry Is Big, Bold, Smart and Soulful

By Karen Gordon

Rating: A

Part origin story, part action film, Black Widow is a deeper dive into the forces that shaped Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. And even in a film that should please Marvel fans with its requisite action sequences and detailed plot, it ends up being less about Black Widow’s skills as a trained assassin and, in keeping with the way Scarlett Johansson has played the character throughout the series, more about her soul.

The film opens in 1995, when 12-year-old Natasha and her little sister Yelena are living a happy life in Ohio with their parents Melina and Alexei, played by Rachel Weisz and David Harbour. All of this is ripped away from the girls in a minute. The four are actually unrelated Russian operatives posing as a normal American family until they’re exposed.

The rest of Black Widow is set in the period just after the movie Captain America: Civil War, which fractured the alliances between the core members of the Avengers. Natasha is, for a time, on her own, aiming to lay low and off the radar.

Unfortunately, trouble comes looking for her in the form of mysterious red vials, and an encounter with the elite masked assassin Taskmaster, who is prepared to kill Natasha for them. The trail to find out what’s in those vials takes Natasha on an international chase, landing at a safe house in Budapest where she comes face-to-face with the now-adult Yelena, played by Florence Pugh.

Like Natasha, Yelena is a Black Widow: taken as a very young girl by the secret Russian spy organization to the Red Room and trained to be an elite warrior and assassin in methods we understand are cold and brutal.

The two women are formidable. They’re well matched at command, strategy and combat, including hand-to-hand fighting. Temperamentally, however, they are quite different. The more experienced Natasha is reserved and doesn’t reveal much. Yelena, on the other hand, shoots from the hip and is sarcastic and quick with the quips. They’re wary with each other and there’s some lingering resentment from Yelena, but the bonds forged in childhood are deep.

Soon it’s a full-on family reunion as their self-assigned mission brings them back together with their former “parents.” Melina, also a Black Widow, is living a quiet life as a research scientist. As for Alexei, life after his role as father figure has been considerably more fraught.

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Alexei is also Red Guardian, an enhanced warrior, the Russian version of Captain America. But unlike Cap, who was celebrated and recruited into the Avengers, Alexi post-Ohio was thrown into jail where he’s lost his confidence. When his former “daughters” come to break him out he’s more than happy to be reunited and recruited for their fight.

There is indeed a grand puppet master here, General Dreykov, played by Ray Winstone, who is a fabulous movie villain, a man of extreme ruthlessness who wields massive power and the movie hints, decades of behind-the-scenes influence at the highest levels.

It was on Dreykov’s orders that little girls were taken from their families and trained to be Black Widows, elite but disposable.

With his secret connections, international political reach, and easygoing sociopathy, Dreykov would also be a great Bond villain. That, as it so happens, is not the only way the film resembles a spy/thriller/action movie like Bond or Bourne film.

Which makes sense. Unlike other members of the Avengers, the Black Widows aren’t enhanced superheroes. They are formidable fighters and have some great moves and even some superior weapons. Like Bond or Bourne, the action reflects that.

There are plenty of well choreographed action sequences in Black Widow with sharp hand-to-hand fighting, fabulous car and motorcycle chases through international cities, and daring plane and helicopter stunts that are reminiscent of what we see in Bond or Bourne movies.

Black Widow is the 24th Marvel movie since the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit big screens in 2008 with Iron Man. It’s become most successful movie franchise in movie history and not just because there are so many of them. It’s because the team behind the films have done so much right.

The movies are impeccably cast, with most of the actors in lead roles come from serious acting backgrounds, not previously associated with action. Add to that strong writing, excellent storytelling and a well-thought-out trajectory that intertwines characters and plots, and directors who move the films at a crisp pace and give us lots of action. Right from the beginning the movies hit an interesting tone, a mix of humour and gravitas. The movies are a lot of fun.

But the larger reason the series sticks is that at their heart, they’re about more grounded things. Stripped of the superhero stuff, the Marvel movies are about deep bonds and connections; about the families we come from and the families we acquire through life and how deep and significant those bonds are.

The film is also a chance to appreciate just how measured and consistent Scarlett Johansson has been since she took on the role of Natasha in 2010’s Iron Man 2. In the comic books, Black Widow was a femme fatale. In the movies, she’s been modernized, an equal partner, accomplished fighter, and more of the quiet, steady backbone of the Avengers.

But over the course of the films, she’s also been something more. Unshowy, a woman of few words, with quiet wisdom, and has been a source of strength at times for her teammates. Johansson has played her as a quiet, internally focused woman, who has a strong, unshakeable moral core. What’s evident in Black Widow is a quality of soulfulness that, this film makes you realize, has been there all the time.

There’s another star here: director Cate Shortland. Marvel has a distinguished itself by recruiting directors who you might not expect to be handling such high-octane action, like Taika Waititi with the Thor franchise, and Chloe Zhao whose Eternals hits screens this fall. This range of directors has brought different aspects to the benefit of the series. Shortland has given us a fast-paced movie with action sequences, character depth, and very subtle social and political subtexts about the way women are seen, treated and exploited in the world.

As always with Marvel movies, watch through the credit sequence to be rewarded with a bonus scene from a future movie, with yet another canny and delightful casting choice teasing more fun in the MCU ahead.

Black Widow. Directed by Cate Shortland. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone. Available in theatres and on Disney+ with premier access on July 9.