Black Widow (2021)

Directed by: Cate Shortland | 133 minutes | action, adventure | Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, OT Fagbenle, William Hurt, Olga Kurylenko, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Liani Samuel, Michelle Lee, Nanna Blondell

Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) has been on the run all her life. Not only on the run from her enemies (the US government, SHIELD or the Russians) but also on the run from her past. How closely the two are related becomes really clear in ‘Black Widow.’ From the time she first appeared undercover as an employee of Stark Industries in ‘Iron Man 2’ to the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Agent Romanoff aka Black Widow has played a supporting role in the series of films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now she’s finally getting her own movie.

Chronologically, this film takes place between ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’. Throughout the film series there were frequent hints, a few short flashbacks and a candid conversation with Bruce Banner about what happened in her life, but with this film many pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

The film opens with a flashback scene in which a still young Natasha (Ever Anderson – daughter of director Paul WS Anderson and actress Milla Jovovich) lives with her parents and sister in Ohio. It soon becomes apparent that the family is not related at all, but that her parents are Russian spies, trying to get secrets from SHIELD. Her “father” is actually Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), aka “Red Guardian,” Captain America’s Soviet counterpart. Her “mother” is Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), also a ‘Black Widow’. Her younger “sister” Yelena is Yelena Belova, who we see again as an adult, played by Florence Pugh.

Hot on the heels of SHIELD agents and the US government, they escape to Cuba, where the film’s villain is already waiting for them: General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Nathasha and Yelena are handed over to him to train in the so-called “Red Room”, a relentless training to become one of the ‘Black Widows’: spies and assassins who carry out assignments all over the world. As an adult, Romanoff takes revenge by destroying the “Red Room” and blowing up Dreykov with a bomb. including an innocent victim. An event already referenced in the first ‘Avengers’ movie by Loki (Tom Hiddleston). The witty asides about the Hungarian capital Budapest between Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Romanoff in earlier films are also given the necessary explanation and context. Natasha and Yelena face the mysterious Taskmaster – a masked superhero who can copy opponent’s fighting styles at lightning speed.

Australian director Cate Shortland keeps the film focused on the main storylines, with great pace, strong action sequences and an eye for detail. Completely separate from the Marvel films, ‘Black Widow’ cannot be seen, but Shortland underlines that it is a shame that Johansson only now gets her own lead role in a Marvel film.

‘Black Widow’ is an extremely entertaining film with both espionage and thriller elements and surprisingly enough humor. The jokes and comedic incidents mainly come from the wonderfully grimacing Harbour, as the heavily tattooed and at least as badly traumatized Red Guardian. Johansson is given all the space to add more depth to an intriguing character and receives strong counterplay from Pugh. They carry the film together, supported by the experienced Weisz, Harbor and Winstone.

The plot would not look out of place in a James Bond film (although the film does occasionally balance on the edge of the sometimes ridiculous Roger Moore Bond films) and seems to finish all the usual action scenes and clichés of the genre. However, what takes the film to a higher level is the role of Natasha’s family. Even if it is not her biological family, Natasha has an unbreakable bond with her fake parents and fake sister. ‘Black Widow’ clearly hints that Florence Pugh has an important future in the Marvel universe (see the post-credits scene for that) and also makes the previous films with Johannson just that little bit better.