I suppose I'm in a position of having to write this review if I want to actually update my MCU ranking page. See folks, that's the issue with setting expectations. But I'm drawing the line here. I have been watching all of the MCU Disney+ shows, but I'm not ranking them with the films, and I'm not reviewing them here.
Probably. Not until after I've written something about The Lord of the Rings, anyway.
So, that said, I did watch Black Widow. After Endgame came out I sorta had a falling-out with Marvel for a minute. I think that was mainly because Far From Home didn't actually thrill me much at all, and I wasn't sure what to think about all the upcoming shows and movies. But then a pandemic happened and pushed the schedule on everything back, and it turns out that what I really needed was time to breathe. The shows started happening, and thankfully they're all pretty short and also pretty excellent (Loki was straight fire, fight me), and so I was feeling rejuvenated going into Black Widow.
All right! So with the groundwork set, what did I think of Black Widow? Well, simply put, I liked it! It was fun! That's, uh... yep! Loads of fun. I'll buy it when it comes out, it'll fit nicely in my collection. But I'm having a hard time getting enthusiastic about Black Widow, and I think that's for a few different reasons which I shall innumerate below.
The first big reason is the chronology of the film. It takes place immediately following the events of Captain America: Civil War, you know, the faux Avengers movie that I didn't really love for it's bizarre treatment of previously well-established characters. So that's already not a great taste going in, but Natasha Romanov was never the reason I didn't like Civil War. She was honestly the only person who I thought acted consistently throughout that film. No, the real reason I had issues with Black Widow being set right after Civil War is that Civil War came out in 2016. Now, five years later, we get a movie that starts... like possibly within minutes of the final scene. If Black Widow had come out right after Civil War, I think I would have liked it more. All we would have lost was the end credits scene, and that would have been totally fine with me.
So that was a film making decision issue that I can confidently level at the producers of the MCU in general. This next issue is really just an unfortunate coincidence that happens to play against Black Widow. See, there's this other movie called Captain Marvel that is also headlined by a female superhero. Also this golden oldie called Wonder Woman (to be clear I'm not actually talking about the "golden oldie" version of the movie, I'm talking about the good one). I was hoping for something of that caliber for Black Widow, and what I got was something more along the lines of Wonder Woman 1984. Not bad at all, really, but still not quite A-tier.
And there were some issues with the movie itself. Some of those might have been resolved by putting more women in charge of the writing, as well as other areas of the production, because there were some moments that felt a touch... disconnected from the themes of the character. Nothing major, and the plot holes were, well, not bad for a superhero movie, but still definitely there.
None of this detracts from what the movie does well, though! The action is, predictably, pretty great. Their treatment of the Task Master was really unexpected, but in retrospect I actually like it quite a bit. The background we got on Natasha's childhood and the nature of the Red Room itself was actually very interesting without straying into the realms of being overly explanatory. And Yelena is an absolutely amazing addition to the MCU. Loved her for just about every moment she was on screen. And all of the female representation was excellent, especially the jokes about how generally ignorant men are regarding women.
They were jokes because they were funny, not because they were untrue. To be clear. The funniest jokes are always grounded in truth. And these jokes were amazingly hilarious.
I'm also just really happy that, with the character of Black Widow actually dead now, Scar Jo was given the chance to headline a movie with that character's name on it. She's honestly deserved that since the first few minutes of The Avengers, and while it's stupid it took this long for it to happen, I'm glad it finally did. Faster next time, Hollywood. Yes Wanda got her own show, but there's no reason not to give her a movie as well. And while we're at it, Yelena is right there. Black Widow 2 wouldn't even have to change the name.
Overall Black Widow is a fun movie, and it didn't sour me to upcoming MCU properties the way Far From Home did. Generally I had a positive movie-going experience, and like I said, I won't hesitate to add this to my collection when the opportunity arises. That said, I might just slip it in after Civil War for my future MCU marathons. That's where it should have been in the first place.
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