Black Widow

Directed by Cate Shortland, screenplay by Eric Pearson, from a story by Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson, starring Scarlett Johansson

Well, there’s a hell of a lot of expectation riding on this movie. Not just that it has been delayed for a year, but that people have been wanting a live-action Black Widow movie at least since Avengers back in 2012, and were not satisfied with her prominent roles in The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Now it has finally arrived, with the added knowledge that it’s a one-off, since the character was killed off in Avengers: Endgame (and Scarlett Johansson’s decision to sue Disney over her share of profits from the movie, however justified, slams the door on any possible return).

So does it live up to those expectations? Well, not entirely. Black Widow is certainly not a bad movie; it is, in fact, perfectly enjoyable. Marvel have yet to put out anything as dire as Suicide Squad. And there are some bits that are very good, such as Florence Pugh’s alternative Black Widow, who gets all the best lines. Setting the movie in the immediate aftermath of Civil War (indeed, it takes place before that movie’s final scene, and let’s not worry about how Natasha’s hair grows) gets around the problem that cropped up in a lot of the post-Avengers solo movies; if the threat is that big, why not call in the whole team? Instead, Natasha’s support comes from other members of the Black Widow programme. There is the requisite number of spectacular fight sequences, even if some of them show how useful it is for the Avengers to have people who can fly (or won’t go splat when they hit the ground). It’s always nice to see Budapest on screen, a location surprisingly underused in spy movies (the only other one I can think of is the 2011 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). And though the forced sterilisation that Joss Whedon made key to her character in Age of Ultron does get mentioned, it is no longer fundamental to why Natasha is the way she is.

But the movie all feels rather by the numbers. It’s not as innovative as Captain Marvel or Black Panther, and fails to be as empowering as Birds of Prey or  Wonder Woman (though it is, at least, better than Wonder Woman 1984). Exchanges with Pugh aside, Johansson doesn’t get dialogue of the quality of The Winter Soldier, and there are huge plot holes and unexplained story points. Olga Kurylenko is rather wasted.

Part of this is because the storyline is fairly predictable. It’s not really a surprise that a Black Widow movie delves into her past, as many of her stories have done in the comics. Not is it much of a surprise that Yelena Belova and the Red Guardian turn up, though the latter (David Harbour)  is made a father figure instead of an ex-husband. And, of course, the notorious ‘Budapest’ has to be explained.

As I say, this is not a bad movie. But it doesn’t really stick in the mind, and there was the potential for it to be so much more.