Movie Review: Black Widow

2020 was a boring year mainly because many of the big movie blockbusters were delayed thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2021 is fairing a little better because Marvel Studios has now released Black Widow after a one year delay.

For the past few years, many of Marvel's films have been big spectacles featuring loads of characters and a plethora of action scenes.

In this new standalone adventure, Black Widow is a somewhat smaller scale film focusing more on Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johansson) past life as a deadly assassin.

Even though the movie does not feature loads of characters like an Avengers film, she still has a lot of help with her "family".

Along for the ride is Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) and even Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz).

The story takes place between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War so Natasha Romanoff is still on the run as a fugitive.

Instead of just laying low, she somewhat does a side-quest to try and kill General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). This is the same man that kidnapped her and Yelena as kids to brainwash them to become assassins.

Aside from running away from the authorities, Dreykov has also sent his main muscle named Taskmaster to kill Romanoff. Taskmaster is arguably the most exciting character in the entire movie as they always appear when the action sequences begin!

Taskmaster may be a person of few words, but the fight scenes in this movie were really impressive.

Another person that excelled during the fight scenes was Florence Pugh as Yelena. She'll be a great successor to Scarlett Johansson as this should be the latter's last movie as the Black Widow character.

While the story might be a little simple, I liked the linear nature of it as it was easy to follow.

Sure there were a few twist and turns, but it this movie's reveals annoy me as much as The Mandarin from Iron Man 3...

While the majority of this film is fast paced and exciting, there is a patch at the middle of the movie that is full of slow family drama.

The family drama drags on for quite a little bit, although the explosive finale makes up for it.

In terms of hardcore comic book fans, they might not like the reveal involving Taskmaster's identity though. I won't spoil anything here, but let's just say the reveal is not comic accurate.

While Black Widow may not be the best Marvel movie ever made, it's still an entertaining ride featuring a very likable cast with exciting action set pieces.

If you are a fan of the Black Widow character, you must see this movie in theaters or via Disney+!

Verdict: 4/5 stars

Wanna read more on this? Check these out: Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock For Real At Oscars 2022 (more); Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Is A Terrible Movie (more); Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Synopsis Revealed (more); The Matrix Resurrections Trailer 2 Revealed (more).

And here are some more related articles: Another Morbius Trailer Has Been Released (more); Pixar Releases Teaser Trailer For Buzz Lightyear Movie (more); DC FanDome 2021 Proved To Be A Huge Success For Warner Bros (more).

A few more: Early Ghostbusters: Afterlife Rotten Tomatoes Rating Revealed (more); Rumor: The Batman Could Be Getting A Sequel (more).