We waited a very long time for Black Widow’s story to get a full-length feature film, but I’m happy to say that the new Marvel film was worth the wait. The majority of Black Widow takes place between what would be two scenes in Captain America: Civil War, as multiple references are made to indicate where in the time line we are. However, the film begins in Ohio, with a family featuring Rachel Weitz as mom, David Harbour as Dad, and two small girls. They seem like a normal family, complete with American accents, but we learn pretty quickly that they are Russian illegals set up in America to gather intel from a series of scientific experiments on free will, before blowing up the facility and returning to Russia. In the escape attempt, we see the mother figure shot in the arm, and learn pretty quickly that the father figure is not the biological father to the two girls. Flashing forward, Natasha is on the run, and many of her Avenger friends are in jail. She and Captain America are the top stories for nightly news, but there is a great deal more going on than just the recent bombing at the United Nations. After a resourceful (for a price) friend gets her safely tucked away in Norway, he brings her items left over from the Budapest safe house (“you and I remember Budapest very differently”) and soon, what she thinks is a sanctuary becomes a nightmare when she is attacked by a masked fighter known only as Taskmaster. She returns to Budapest to team up with her “sister” and find out just what Taskmaster was really up to and to bring down The Red Room once and for all.
I absolutely love this movie. While nothing can displace Thor: Ragnarok from the top spot in my bi-panic heart, Black Widow is a very clear second (sorry Captain Marvel). David Harbour is absolutely PERFECTION as Red Guardian. Rachel Weitz is somehow still absolutely stunning and incredible as Melina. However, Florence Pugh steals the entire show as Yelena Belova. Her humor is quick, her action sequences fantastic, and her banter with Scarlet Johansen is perfection. Culturally, some intense care was put in place to make sure to get Russian emotions and behaviors down. While the accents occasionally struggle (honey, I can hear your British coming through), and there are the occasional faux paus, someone really put in the time and effort to create the title sequences, research the Illegals program in the United States, and the language. The actors speak their Russian slower than native speakers, but that’s to be expected, especially when the film is geared towards an American audience.
Black Widow was a very bright spot this July, and I currently plan to watch it obsessively….until the finale of Loki.
