Black Widow (Dir Cate Shortland, 2h 13m)

 
And we're back. It's been a solid two years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe last rolled out, and whilst this interregnum, as much a natural pause after the genre-defining events of Avengers Infinity War has been abated somewhat by three sterling series that shine focus upon the lesser covered heroes and anti-heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, back comes Marvel, even at the cost of reduced receipts due to the still very active pandemic raging across the world, and thus begins another phase of the single most successful multimedia franchise on earth, only delayed, rather than halted; like the now departed Thanos, it's long since become inevitable.

What, for a long time felt far less inevitable is Black Widow itself, this opening volley of Phase Four's cinematic outings. For, whilst a solo outing for Scarlet Johansson's assassin has been on the cards for almost her entire tenure as the character, (and indeed before, with David Hayter of Metal Gear Solid fame optioned to write and direct as long ago as 2004), it's only at the very end of her tenure as the character, released post- but set pre- the events of Avengers Infinity War and Endgame, that this solo adventure finally comes to be. Despite its protracted production, and the fact, than in blunt terms, this film should have come out half a decade ago, Black Widow is a solid sendoff to one of Marvel's most beloved characters, touching smartly upon both the classic structure of the thriller genre, and the tech-noirism that has come to define Natasha's adventure across the world with the Avengers.

At the centre of this film is, of course, Natasha Romanov; whilst her character arc has carried through much of the series, from stoic assassin to government agent in from the cold, the emotional centre of the Avengers, perhaps no single film has launched her character forward like this, as we see her combat her past, including her surrogate family, her weaponisation in the Red Room, and confront the man who turned her into a weapon. We begin, inevitably, for a film that fully delves into her past, with Natasha as a child, with her younger sister, Yelena, in their seemingly ideal childhood in Ohio, before, in a smartly paced series of scenes, the illusion is utterly shattered, Natasha and her seemingly perfect family proves to be nothing more than deep cover for two agents of the USSR, and, following a crunching action chase, the family are promptly broken up, with Natasha and Yelena ending up in the Black Widow program.

Following a stylishly smart opening credits, cut to, of all things, a sombre version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and piecing together, from stock footage and sequences of the MCU's invented history, as Natasha hunts down and dispatches targets, only to blend back into the shadows, the intervenining twenty plus years, we jump forward to the aftermath of Captain America Civil War, with Natasha making her escape. From here, she makes her way to Norway, whilst the film leaps to Yelena (Florence Pugh) sent to dispatch a rogue Black Widow agent, who comes into contact with a gas that neutralises the programming of the Red Room, and sends some of the agent to Natasha, who promptly comes under attack from the mysterious figure of the Taskmaster. With Natasha heading to Budapest, Natasha promptly discovers from Yelena that the Red Room is still active, Dreykov-a man she believes she has assassinated before defecting to SHIELD is still very much alive-and the duo promptly come under attack from Taskmaster and more Black Widows.

It's about here that Black Widow essentially lays its thematic cards on the table; its mix of fight scenes, espionage, mind-controlling gases, and the like may be straight out of things like Mission Impossible, but its slugging, female-driven action choreography belies its considerable, if well repaid debt to female-centric action movies like 2017's Atomic Blonde, 2018's Red Sparrow (that with its Russian centric plot, double-crossing, and taut, often violent structure practically feels like an attempt to do a Black Widow story without the character) and Luc Besson's Anna. What Black Widow harks back to is the kinetic violent action movies of Hong Kong, through the prism of the phenomenonally successful John Wick and Bourne series, given a hefty dose of Russio-centric espionage, and the usual Marvel visual aesthetic, topped with a fun action heroine, and happily pushed out into the world.

Thus, we're taken through a bruising set of action setpieces in Budapest, as the duo of Natasha and Yelena crash and roll and fall through flats, and through back alleys, before stealing a car and being chased by the seemingly unstoppable force of Taskmaster, a mysterious figure who mimics the fighting styles of multiple of the Avengers, including brandishing a shield-if the film has one drawback, it's that this incredibly versatile combatant is largely restricted to second foil behind, in the rather tired Marvel tradition, some guy in a suit (seriously, Ray Winstone's Dreykov never feels like a threat and -nevertheless, the film matches its heroines with a tough and dangerous foe. Making their escape, the duo catch up, before hatching a plot to rescue their surrogate father from prison.

And it's here that Black Widow's secret weapon arrives, in the form of David Harbour's Red Guardian, aka, Alexei Shostakov. Alexei is the single best thing in an enjoyable film, a one-note stereotype of the Russian tough, a tattoo-covered bragging warrior of half-truths and imagined battles against (the then on-ice) Captain America given warmth, kindness, and an well-wrought character arc of the Soviet relic given a purpose once more. It is he that carries much of the comedic strength of the film, as the jokey, utterly uncool figure against the cooly deadpan Natasha and Yelena, as the figure trying to pull the family back together, and the emotional heart of the film. His rescue, from his introduction arm-wrestling where he essentially walks us through his backstory, to the daring rescue via helicopter as an avalanche bears down on the prison, is enjoyably action packed, and a needed moment of brevity in the midst of otherwise restrained and fairly grounded action.

With the introduction of Melina Vostokoff (an enjoyably deadpan performance from Rachel Weisz, who is still working for Dreykov), so there's several moments of this dysfunctional found family coming together, of this disorted and bizarre group of characters spending time together, in some of the best scenes of the film. What follows, thus, as the film hops into the inevitable Marvel third action action setpiece, is an enjoyably hyperactive series of action scenes, topped of, in perhaps the most astonishing action moment of the year, by a free-fall fight scene in which Natasha and Taskmaster crash through the falling remnants of the Red Room, before Natasha rolls off to rescue the Avengers from captivity and appear in Infinity War.

Black Widow, thus, is a solid farewell to the character; an enjoyably brusing action setpiece of a film, where Scarlett Johansson comes into her own as an action star, crunching through the film with a tough dependability, with her sister, and surrogate parents in tow, finally taking down the mechanism and organisation that kept her a prisoner. Whilst its feminist angling may be a tacked on metaphor, the fact that this is a film in which three of our four main characters are women still makes it a remarkably fresh film in a male-dominated genre. What Black Widow is, simply, is an enjoyable, fast paced, well made action movie, giving the Marvel Cinematic Universe's heroine her own outing at last.

Rating: Recommended.


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