BLACK WIDOW

MCU Phase 4

Black Widow, a Marvel superhero movie, is the fourth movie in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).  Phase 4 of the MCU will introduce new heroes and explore a post-Endgame world where half of the universe reappeared five years after an event known as the “Blip.”  There are twenty-three Marvel movies planned past 2023, ending with what I hope will be my favorite, I Am Groot.  You can find a list of the twenty-three films at the end of this review.  You can also find more info on MCU’s Phase 1,2 & 3.  Phase 5 is not yet planned. It depends on how much of an appetite the world still has for superhero movies in 2024 or 2025.

Black Widow is very much in the same tone as most of the previous MCU films.  Phase 4 may change the formula a little with some TV shows, like WandaVision, and animated movies.  Also, there are to be new heroes and new storylines introduced.

Black Widow Movie

Scarlett Johansson posing as the Black Widow

The Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff, AKA Scarlett Johansson, is dead.  The Black Widow character died in the Avengers: Endgame when she gave her life to get the Soul Infinity Stone.  It’s alright; Scarlett J. has been in the MCU for 11-years, she was due.

Florence Pugh as a new character – Yelena the Assassin

That makes the film Black Widow the origin story for the Black Widow.  However, much more importantly, the movie is the origin story for her “sister” assassin Yelena Belova, AKA Florence Pugh.  Florence Pugh and her character Yelena is the best reason to watch Black Widow.

As usual, there are plenty of action scenes and humor, like all the superhero films.  But this humor is slightly different.  Yelena supplied all the funny lines in a dry, deadpan way, usually at the expense of her “sister,” the Black Widow.

I say “sister” since, as kids, they lived together for three years as a Russian spy family in America.  In this film, the “family” gets back together.  The Red Guardian Dad (David Harbour, Stranger Things) and the Mom, Black Widow Melina (Rachael Weisz, Disobedience), try to connect with their two “girls.”

Probably the best acting I’ve seen in all the MCU films was when the Red Guardian Dad is trying to connect with Yelena.  Yelena is angry at Dad and sends him away.  Then Dad begins to sing “Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie,” Yelena’s favorite childhood song, and the range of emotions Florence Pugh shows is outstanding.  David Harbour is also a standout in this film, using a lot of body humor.

David Harbour as the Russian Red Guardian

If you stay until the end of the 11-minutes of credits, you see that Yelena is coming back.

Black Widow, another Marvel superhero movie, has a bit more depth than most MCU movies and introduces a new character, the assassin Yelena.

Movie Details

Director

Cate Shortland

Writer

Screenplay: Eric Pearson. Story by: Jac Schaeffer & Ned Benson. Based on Marvel Comics.

Actors

Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, Olga Kurylenko, Ever Anderson, Violet McGraw, O.T. Fagbenle, William Hurt, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Liani Samuel, Michelle Lee, Lewis Young, C.C. Smiff, Nanna Blondell, Simona Zivkovska, Erin Jameson, Shaina West, Yolanda Lynes, Claudia Heinz, Fatou Bah, Jade Ma, Jade Xu, Lucy-Jayne Murray, Lucy Cork, Eniko Fulop, Lauren Okadigbo, Agel Aurélia, Zhanè Samuels, Shawarah Battles, Tabby Bond, Madeleine Nicholls, Yasmin Riley, Fiona Griffiths, Georgia Curtis, Svetlana Constantine, Ione Butler, Aubrey Cleland, Kurt Yue, Doug Robson, Marcel Dorian, Zoltán Nagy, Liran Nathan, Judit Varga-Szathmary, Noel Krisztian Kozak, Martin Razpopov, Olivier Richters, Dalibor Bajunovic, Andrew Byron, Ed Ashe, Dawid Szatarski, Cali Nelle, Geoffrey D. Williams, Robert Pralgo, Jacinte Blankenship, Josh Henry, Jose Miguel Vasquez, Valentina Herrera, Danielle Jalade, Aria Brooks, Sophie Colgrove, Caister Myung Choi, David Turner, Edward L. Oliver, Dale Liner, Rob Horrocks, Oliver Simms, Yuuki Luna, Kalina Vanska, Jordyn Curet, Chad J. Wagner, Joakim Skarli, Ian Wilson, Omar Alboukharey, Tyrone Kearns, Tony McCarthy, Gavin Lee Lewis, Wong Charlie, Ahmed Bakare, Zoltan Rencsar, Adam Prickett, Luigi Boccanfuso, Roman Green, Clem So, Graham Kitchen, Daniel Joseph Woolf, John Wolfe, Paul O'Kelly, Shane Askam, Obie Matthew, Ty Hurley, Stephen Samson, Marian Lorencik, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jeremy Renner

Runtime

2 h 14 min

Release Date

7 July 2021

Genres

Action, Adventure, Thriller, Science Fiction

Overview

Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.