Film: Black Widow

 

GENRE: Action
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 13 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Scarlet Johansson (Avengers: End Game; Jojo Rabbit)
Florence Pugh (Little Women), David Harbour (Stranger Things)
DIRECTOR: Cate Shortland (Somersault, SMILF)
WRITER: Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok; Godzilla v Kong; Agent Carter)
PLOT: Black Widow tries to find the Red Room while on the run.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Just happy to be back in a movie theatre.

STORY STUFF: The story was a lot better than I thought it would be. It moves at a pretty good clip There are some fun action pieces that stretch believability but that’s par for the course for Marvel. I liked the family dynamic and the moments of humour. Interesting end-credit sequence, especially as this was supposed to be released before Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

ACTING STUFF: Pugh steals the show as younger sister Yelena. She plays the action, the drama and the humour incredibly well. There’s a meta comment she introduces that is simply hysterical. I was surprised how much I enjoyed Harbour. He didn’t come off too well in the trailers in my opinion. Johannson plays it straight but was nothing to write home about. Really don’t like Ray Winstone (Indy 4: Crystal Skull) as an actor so I didn’t find the villain compelling. I wish there was more backstory for Mason (O-T Fagbenle) as he just keeps showing up and helping.    

ARTISTIC STUFF: Great action sequences. Expected more from the Red Room though.  

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like Marvel movies and want to see it on a big screen.
UPCOMING REVIEW: The Comeback Trail