I demand a real 'Black Widow' story

★★ out of ★★★★

Black Widow (2021)

Runtime: 134 minutes

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material.

Here I am, sitting in front of the screen, disappointed, after watching Black Widow.

Black Widow just feels like a missed opportunity to expand more about the character of Natasha Romanoff, and instead swerves into a search-and-rescue mission of trained assassins held captive in the 'Red Room'. 

Set after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016) and before Infinity War (2018), Black Widow talks about its main character, Natasha Romanoff, who has to confront her past linked to a dangerous conspiracy (long before she became an Avenger), and in the meantime is also is being pursued by a force that will take her down no matter what.

At first, we get to see two children playing with each other, while they learn the word bioluminescence, which contributes nothing to the story at all. Later, during dinner, they are informed that they have to leave the house and boards a plane to Cuba and the plot just gets even more confusing there, with 'Resident Evil'-like editing which makes me wonder whether the editor was having a fight with a grizzly bear or ferocious tiger.

I won't give out too much spoilers here, but the plot gets even more absurd, especially how the movie resolves little to none during the first half-an-hour, besides slapping us with action scenes. However, if you're a big Marvel fan, stay in for the action sequences - mostly achieved by practical effects. It's one of the best I've seen in years.

The movie feels slightly better when the characters talk to each other, we can start to see a little character development, when all of a sudden, we are disrupted with another action sequence, which wasted the whole potential build-up scenes. This, I think, would happen three or four times more in the movie.

Weisz's character Melina takes a drastic turn as she suddenly becomes 'evil' but then Black Widow bombards us with another laughable flashback that makes the plot ridiculous instead. I laughed again in another lame flashback to 'sever the nerve'. Besides these flashbacks, we are struck with information overload when Romanoff, dressed as Melina, learns more about how universal the members of the Red Room are.

Florence Pugh's performance is not convincing enough. It feels like every dialogue she speaks is monotonous and dull, except for the part where she used a stick to mess with the helicopter. I just feel that she doesn't have the energy or spark in her, while other actors at least give decent performances.

Before I finish this review, I would also like to point out that the villain called the Taskmaster felt very wasted, with little screen time. In what could have been a deeper exploration of the character itself ends on an anti-climatic note.

To summarize things up, I felt like Black Widow could have explored a different aspect, like Natasha and her sister growing up in the Red Room, and how she escaped it and became an Avenger. I assure you, there isn't much Marvel can do by using the 'free people from captivity' story.