Black Widow- Review

Spoilers for Avengers Endgame

It’s been two years since the last big screen MCU outing with Spider-Man Far From Home drawing an epilogue to the 10 years of the franchise that had culminated in a tonne of money for Disney. And now after a years delay Black Widow is here to kick off a new era of the MCU, albeit in the past.

Coming as a prequel after the characters death in Endgame, Black Widow takes us back to 2016 in that gap between Civil War and Infinity War. Natasha Romanoff is on the run after the airport showdown in 2016s Civil War. And it is here where the journey begins.

The character of Black Widow was by far one of the most interesting in the franchise. Being drip fed information about her past slowly through that weird creepy dancing scene in 2015s Age Of Ultron and other pieces here and there. But the mystique of her character was what really made you want to watch more of her and to keep seeing where she’ll go next.

So to have a whole film that is dedicated to pretty much just exposition for a character that is now dead seems at first a bit pointless. After all, why should we still care about a character that died in mystery? However Black Widow more than justifies its place in the here and now.

Beginning like a spy and espionage film, this had something that felt really James Bond-esque about it. Russian spies, a plot to take over the world and a your standard villain. I was immediately hooked by how much more grounded and realistic this outing was.

For a superhero film, having this grounded feel felt really fresh. It seems that having the over-the-top nature of the last handful of these had gotten pretty stale. This is especially when you consider the success that dark super films and TV have had in recent times, one only needs to look at what Amazon are doing with The Boys and Invincible.

Unfortunately for Black Widow it only really manages to retain that semi-realistic feeling for about 2/3 of the film before going back to being OTT. And this is a shame, as the tone fitted the character and most of the story until that point. I was personally a bit disappointed by this, the potential for an exciting and engaging espionage story wasted in favour of the standard formula that’s been done to death by now.

It does seem like I’m ranting more about the ultimate direction taken with the story, however this is still a lot to enjoy here. Florence Pugh making her debut in this franchise is really exciting. Her character added much needed depth to this film, and her chemistry with Scarlet shines. She’s an incredibly exciting actress at the moment and I’m genuinely intrigued as to where Disney and Marvel choose to take her character in the next few years.

The visual effects and music are also notable standouts. It’s engaging enough to keep you interested in what was going on screen and certainly added to the overall atmosphere of the film.

To conclude, Black Widow is an interesting start to the next phase of the MCU. It won’t blow your socks off, but it’s good and certainly worth checking out on the big screen this summer.

Black Widow is out now in cinemas and streaming on Disney Plus with Premier Access