When considering the fact that Marvel movies, like most movies, have been postponed or shifted around in its release schedule, and considering the unsolicited contention Black Widow faced for a variety of reasons - such as Marvel movies continually getting blamed for the demise of true cinema, random people's public outcries for how Scarlett Johansson has been treated by Marvel, or the fact that Black Widow is only the second Marvel movie with a female lead and probably should've come long before Captain Marvel did - Black Widow definitely was facing an uphill battle and unfair expectations it shouldn't have had any chance of meeting.
Since its release, lot of chatter has been said about Black Widow coming too late or feeling too small an adventure. To that, I say better late than never, and anything can feel too small after Avengers: Endgame.
For me, Black Widow was everything I hoped it would be, and then some.
Sure, in some ways, it was a typical action movie. It had pretty predictable spy-movie tropes, a twist or two you can see coming a mile away, and really loud highs and quiet lows. But Black Widow felt unlike any Marvel movie to date. Its tone fed off the emotional instability of the characters, who never knew what they might find out next as the mysterious story unraveled. Its camerawork was uneasy, making the audience feel as uncomfortable and unsafe as Natasha and her sister Yelena felt trying to protect this vile of an unknown fluid while always staying on the run.
The acting also stands out above pretty much every Marvel movie. No, no one is getting an Oscar nomination here, but it was refreshing to see what made the story compelling come from how the actors conveyed the weight of their situation. The scene at the dinner table is the best example; that family needed inner healing or an intervention after that discussion. Watching Yelena lose her childhood innocence and portray her feeling of betrayal was heartbreaking. Watching their mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) demonstrate the Red Room's power using the pig immediately makes it obvious how difficult it must've been for those girls to grow up with her as their mother. Alexei, their father, brings such a perfect balance to it all with his endearing humor and the embellished, fatherly tales he used as long-winded, yet poignant, metaphors. And Natasha's fiery, yet callous, determination to not let any of her family's messiness deter her from getting her mission done was undeniable.
Yet despite all the seriousness of that scene, as well as a few other moments throughout the movie, Black Widow sure did mix in a wealth of humor. But it wasn't the over-the-top smashing of coffee cups by Thor or the gimmicky (but still hilarious) voiceover tricks when Luis was telling his zany story in Ant-Man. No, this humor was more understated, more natural, It felt like the jokes were meant for the characters instead of the audience. Okay, except for the lines when Yelena was making fun of Natasha's poses (also hilarious).
My least favorite part of the movie was the handling of Alexei's super-soldier status. He's supposed to be Russia's version of Captain America, yet he isn't really strong enough to fight his way past a few guards during the prison break scene? His strength just didn't seem consistent for me.
The way they handled Taskmaster left a little to be desired, but for the most part, what we did get to see was impressive. The fight scene on the bridge was awesome, and seeing Taskmaster implement behaviors from several other Avengers made the villain more fun than "scary," which worked for me.
From a storytelling perspective, Black Widow filled in a few gaps that I've been dying to see. I know there will be some snarky fans out there who will say that Natasha and Clint Barton's Budapest story would've been better off keeping its mystique by staying unexplained, but those snarky fans are wrong. I absolutely loved how that story was unveiled. What's brilliant about it is how we learned the gist of what happened - Natasha and Clint were trying to take down the creator of the Red Room - but they didn't spend so much time overexplaining it that it felt overexposed. One of my favorite scenes of the whole movie was when Natasha showed her sister where she and Clint hid (they played tic tac toe in some sort of ventilation tunnels in the subway area), but the circumstances weren't spelled out completely; instead, we got just enough visual confirmation to know that stuff happened here, which was enough.
We also had a key gap explained regarding what Natasha did after the events of Captain America: Civil War when she was hiding as a fugitive (more on this in my notes). It was cool seeing her at the end with her hair-do from Infinity War.
For anyone who might've wondered why Yelena, Alexei, and Melina weren't around to help during Infinity War, it was made pretty clear they had unfinished business involving traveling all around the world to free these captive Black Widows.
As for the post-credit scene, I'd be curious to know if that was the original plan for that scene, or if Marvel called an audible because they're trying so hard to push their Disney+ shows, because you wouldn't know what's going on if you haven't seen Falcon and Winter Soldier. It seems this Valentina is playing Nick Fury's counterpart for some other team she's assembling in secret. I'm excited for both Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus to return! Scar-jo says she's done with the MCU (which makes sense since her character, you know, died at the end of Endgame), but I've also read she could come back for cameos, likely for multiverse purposes (I feel like any and every character/actor is in play to return at any given point now that we're in the multiverse game now).
Notes:
-It's ironic that during the run of Marvel movies from Captain America: Civil War to Avengers: Infinity War, I heard from or read about so many fans wanting to know what happened to Natasha during that large gap of time, but now, when this movie answers those questions, I've seen snarky fans whining about how no one asked for this story. Good thing we don't base our feelings on the general consensus, huh? Because that would be stupid. Seriously, the MCU has been the coolest thing in entertainment for more than a decade now (though I feel its prime may be done sooner than later), but that just means it becomes an easier target for naysayers to bag on it, as if so say that, since the MCU didn't die a hero, it has lived long enough to see itself become the villain (how dare I use a DC reference in a Marvel review!). I know, I really need to stop reading the moronic forums and comments on social media. And honestly, I have seen a decent chunk of love for Black Widow, but those sort of mindless jabs really irk me for some reason.
-I loved Malia J's haunting rendition of Smell Like Teen Spirit at the beginning of the movie. I almost didn't even recognize the song. So good!
-I watched the movie on Disney+ using my brand new sound system, and it works well. I'm probably going to be fine watching most Marvel movies at home. It actually saves money. Just one trip to the theatre with my wife would cost $30, and that's not including the popcorn I need to buy.