ScarJo Slays as Usual, but It's Florence Pugh Who Steals the Show in 'Black Widow'

Black Widow’s solo film came a tad few years too tale.  But it’s nevertheless a welcome addition to the MCU.  Further peeling off the layers of one of the MCU’s most beloved heroines, it finally allows us to learn in detail of Natasha’s dark past as a KGB spook – the “red in her ledger” that has been alluded to before.

Set before Avengers: Infinity War and immediately after Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow sees Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) on the run from U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) for violating the Sokovia Accords.  While in hiding, she finds herself getting entangled in a conspiracy that’s apparently tied up to her pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. life with the Red Room, the top-secret Russian agency that turned her into the deadly spy and assassin that she was.  All this time, she thought that she had already brought down the Red Room, but as it turned out, it’s been stronger and more heinous than ever.

Natasha becomes determined to bring the villainous organization down for good.  But in order to do so, she must first awkwardly reunite with her “family” – Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), her “younger sister” who also underwent the Red Room’s Black Widow program; “father” Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) a.k.a. the Red Guardian, the Soviet super-soldier counterpart to Captain America; and “mother” Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), a Black Widow like her “daughters” as well as a scientist working for the Red Room.  With their help, Natasha has to take on the Red Room’s agents – including Black Widows who are still in the fold and Taskmaster, a silent and formidable operative who mimics other’s skills and fighting styles – before she can get to and strike the Red Room at its head: Dreykov (Ray Winstone).

Black Widow, at first, feels too serious for an MCU film.  It actually took about 40 minutes before the first MCU-type joke is made.  Nevertheless, it’s generally entertaining from start to finish.  The action is spectacular, with regards to both close-combat choreography and big set pieces.  It has heart, successfully conveying its core message of family in a favorably touching manner, even though it’s such a cliché theme already.  And for something deeper, it has a solid metaphor to offer for the trafficking and exploitation of women and children, evoking vividly the heartbreak and horror caused by this underreported real-life atrocity.

ScarJo’s Natasha Romanoff is her usual appealing self, but that standout of this movie, in my opinion, is Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.  Prior to watching this, I’ve already been enjoying how Pugh has effectively managed to put herself out there and establish a lasting pop culture presence in a short period of time since breaking out in 2019 (Little Women’s Amy March, Midsommar’s Dani Ardor, and Fighting with My Family’s Paige), which she continues to build upon with her memorable performance as the MCU version of Yelena Belova.  Moving forward, I wish Pugh gets to play more memorable characters in her career and that Yelena is given a more significant role in the MCU.

Meanwhile, the only thing that I hated in this movie is its take on Taskmaster.  She’s actually a solid antagonist as far as being a fighting opponent for the good guys goes.  The ability to replicate other people’s physical movements, especially their combat skills, will never not be cool.  But if you are a fan of the original Taskmaster from the comics, which I am, you can’t help but be bummed out by how the character is depicted in the MCU.  Right off the bat, I didn’t like the character design as soon as I saw it in the trailers.  It’s really unimpressive compared to his comic book look.  But more consequentially, the actual characterization is also lackluster.  So, as it turns out, the MCU Taskmaster is female, and she’s revealed to be Dreykov’s daughter (Olga Kurylenko).  This is actually meant as a surprise, but it’s so obvious from the start, and I don’t care too much for it, that I’m okay spoiling this detail here without warning (hence, the “she” in the second sentence).  Now, my issue isn’t necessarily because Taskmaster is gender-swapped (although, I admit that I do prefer the character to have been portrayed as male), but because the character was merely used as an avenue for a plot twist rather than giving the characterization some real substance and personality.  Such a shame when Taskmaster is a character who has the makings to be a fan favorite.

In the end, although I love parts of the movie, I find the whole to be just good enough to belong to the bottom third of MCU films.  While it’s fun and immersive, as MCU films typically are, it also feels uninspired.   In a sense, it comes off as a lesser version of Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Moreover, its place in the MCU timeline makes it kind of feels outdated.  It’s not necessarily because it took place during an earlier time period of where the MCU is chronologically at; this is not the first time a new MCU movie is set in the past of the movie/s preceding it.  It’s probably because it’s supposed to kick off Phase 4, but COVID-19 pushed its release a year later than originally planned.  That meant WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier got to come out before it, and those two shows have already significantly moved Phase 4 forward to new concepts, that it made Black Widow somewhat conceptually obsolete.  I don’t know.  It could be that I’m just talking through my hat here.  But that’s honestly just how it felt to me.

To sum it up, Black Widow gives the eponymous character the worthwhile feature-length standalone adventure she deserves.  It’s not necessarily among the MCU’s most important and most exciting movies, but it’s still highly enjoyable.

Miscellaneous musings:

• It’s sad that ScarJo’s time with Marvel had to end on a sour note.  The ScarJo vs. Disney lawsuit will likely only get uglier, and regardless of the outcome, Disney will probably no longer work with ScarJo.
• At this point, if DC/Warner Bros. is smart, they should cast her for the DCEU as a power move.
• Dozens (hundreds?) of Black Widows emancipated from the Red Room are now out there in the MCU.  We know that Yelena is set to return (most likely in Hawkeye).  But how about the others?  This development is major enough to deserve a followup.
• I’m still wondering if Monica Chang, the second Black Widow in the Ultimate Universe, will still make an MCU appearance.  At the very least, she should have been an Easter Egg in this movie – the name of one of the Black Widows.
• Natasha is supposedly much older than Antonia, Dreykov’s daughter.  When Natasha first attempted to assassinate Dreykov with a bomb, she was already a grownup while Antonia was still a schoolgirl.  Funny thing though is that ScarJo is about 5 years younger than Olga Kurylenko, the actress that played the adult Antonia.

• Between Black Widow and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, significant buildup or teasing has been made for a Thunderbolts TV show or movie, even though it’s not one of the announced MCU projects for the coming years.
• I had a huge crush on Evelyn Carnahan, Rachel Weisz’s character in The Mummy, when I was a kid.  Since then, I’ve always been thrilled of seeing Weisz on screen.  It had been quite a while since I last saw her in anything (I think that was in The Lobster), so it seemed to me that she grew noticeably older in Black Widow from the last time I saw her.  Still gorgeous, though.
• Red Guardian proudly claimed in this movie that he had thrown hands with Captain America in the past.  But, as it was pointed out, this couldn’t be possible since Steve Rogers was still frozen in ice during the time the Red Guardian said he battled him.  Three possibilities here.  First, Red Guardian is just lying or delusional.  Second, the U.S. government secretly made another man don the identity back then.  Perhaps the MCU Jeffrey Mace (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actually already debuted this character, but we all know by now that the “official canon” status of that show is moot) took the mantle back then?  Third, the Captain America that Red Guardian encountered was the Captain America who time traveled to the past and proceeded to live his life through the decades (see Avengers: Endgame).  The third one is the most intriguing possibility, but regardless of which is true, I hope the MCU revisits and explains this detail down the line.