Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weiz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Olga Kurlenko.
It was the film the franchise needed, it just seemed to come at the wrong time.
Marvel have barely put a foot wrong in over a decade’s worth of film and television serials which have caught the public’s attention and imagination, and if looked upon as a stand-alone film within the franchise, Cate Shortland’s Black Widow has all the hallmarks of being a heavy hitter within the ranks; not only for the dynamic framed between Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh as Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova respectively, but for the way that the film is not afraid to tackle the murky waters of young children being groomed for war.
It is perhaps to timing that makes the film feel out of sorts, the action is impeccable, the storyline is dynamite and telling in an age when we are asked to focus on the deplorable notion of the grooming of young people, it is just that for all the wizardry, the combination of the main leads, the film itself is glaringly out of order, one that would have suited being released several years before hand.
This is of course not the fault of the actors, nor of the director, or of the script writers, and for their part, the way they weave a vigorous tale and reveal the darker themes behind the way that spies, trained killers and operatives around the world are raised in doctrine, is required watching, and if as a fan you can get past the out of order release, the knowledge of the fate of one of the lead characters, then it is a film of upmost vibrancy…yet still that nagging doubt remains.
A great Marvel Studios movie, one though displaced by time, motivated, forceful, seeking out a truth that needs to be addressed in the wider world as it is political consensus when dealing with the tragedy and conflict of using the young as pawns in a struggle they have no idea they are partaking in, Black Widow has got a sting that needs to be revealed.
Ian D. Hall