Black Widow: Review

There is not better sound than hearing the Marvel Studios open in surround sound. My day was made when I finally got to hear and see that open on the big screen.

I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to start at the end and then work my way backwards. Why? Because I don’t care about Natasha’s past and feelings at this point in the MCU. You had your chance, Marvel, and you waited and now we only care about Valentina and Yelena. So the end credits scene reveals that Yelena has made a grave for her “sister” similar to the, maybe made-up, story that Dreykov told Natasha about her own mother’s grave. She’s kept it up real nice, complete with teddy bears, pictures and flowers. Out of nowhere, Valentina appears beside her, obnoxiously blowing her nose. Remember Ms. Sarcastic from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? If you recall, she recruited Fake Cap, to give him some purpose after killing a man with America’s shield, and he is now known as US Agent. Some of these names, yall. Valentina and Yelena clearly have a history based on what she says to her, but is Yelena on the same team as US Agent or is she a freelancer? Then, Valentina did something that made me go, “Oh, no, lady!” She told Yelena Clint was responsible for Natasha’s death. THE NERVE! It’s already been said that Yelena will be in the new Hawkeye series where Clint and his daughter…so stuff. I don’t know the plot just yet but I’m going to go ahead and say that Yelena will be the villain, initially, and then, somehow, they need to work together to uncover something. I don’t think this Clint-killed-your-sister ruse will hold for the entire series. Everybody knows that Banner and Barton loved Natasha. It’s a fact known round the world. So after watching this movie, I am more invested in who exactly is Valentina and what is she planning? Who does she work for and what’s the endgame?

The widows, Yelena, Melina and Alexei are all able to escape…so where did they go? What do they girls do now? Do they do like Natasha and use their assassin skills to fight for good? Are they a girl group now? That’s what I would like to know.

Here are my gripes. If this movie were released during Phase Three or Two, the sacrifice that Natasha made in Endgame would have been more impactful and not because we found out that her parents sold her to the Red Room. Natasha got to make that decision for herself. She got to choose to end her life to save the others and the world. Honestly, it’s what she’s been doing since she reformed her life and became an Avenger. That’s what I wanted to feel when she died and I didn’t get that because the movie was late.

Speaking of dropping balls, what was the point of Taskmaster? I’ll answer that. There was not point to that character other than reminding Natasha of her past, which is the point of the entire film. We saw Taskmaster about four times and at no point was I frightening of this person. Then, they reveal it was Dreykov’s daughter and I’m starting to think of this a little differently…that is…until her dad and his crew explode in a plane. So what now? There is no revenge so…she just gets to live her life with the rest of the widows…

Yeah, I don’t care. I do care who made the antidote to the widow mind control because I don’t think they told us where it came from. After the blip, I don’t know if we’ll ever figure that out. The world was a pretty strange place for those five years. Nothing made sense and that person could have been bliped but I digress. I imagine that we will revisit mind control and that antidote in a later series or film. Keep that in the back of your pocket, folks.

Does anyone else wonder but me why Natasha kept the alias “Black Widow” when it was a memory and an organization that she didn’t want to be apart of her identity anymore? Watching this film made me wonder why after this whole event she didn’t shed that alias. The Avengers knew her as Natasha and you can argue that’s all that mattered but I wonder…

There were a couple of did not needs in this film which turns into “This movie could have been a hour and thirty minutes instead of two hours” but you go, Marvel. We got another breadcrumb for the Thunderbolts and a set up for Yelena in Hawkeye.

As a side note, Marvel films should not be consumed at home. They should always, always be see on the big screen. That’s what they paid all these fancy people to do. Make theater level content for us nerds.