- It's finally here! We have a new Marvel movie to review!
- My first Marvel review, of Iron Man, happened in March of 2019. Endgame came out that April (I didn't watch it until 8 months later) and Far From Home came out that July (6 months later for that one). This makes Black Widow an outlier in my Marvel movie reviews - it's the first time I'll be watching and posting about a movie shortly after its release date. For that reason, I'll be more careful about spoilers than usual. Although considering this movie is set after Civil War and before Infinity War, there aren't that many spoilers to be found. Don't worry, guys. Nat survives the events of this film
- More importantly for my viewing experience, thanks to the recent reopening of movie theatres in Toronto, this is the first Marvel movie I've seen on the big screen since Guardians of the Galaxy 2, in 2017, which was 4 years ago and 2 years before I decided to do a full Marvel watch. I've always known that the Marvel movies are best seen in the theatre, and for several of the previous movies, I wished I had taken that opportunity. I'm always going to have positive associations with Black Widow, if only because it represents the beginning of our return to normal after a year and a half of COVID lockdowns. The movie-going experience was still fairly bizarre, there were only 7 people in the whole VIP theatre room, but God did I miss going to the movies. And I missed that popcorn!
- Even when I decided to start watching all the AFI 100 Thrills movies, I knew I'd sprinkle in some more Marvel reviews whenever they came out. I dedicated enough time to getting caught up with the MCU, you can bet that I'll be plopping myself down in a theatre seat for all the movies going forward, as well (next up, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in September)
- But, now I must say, as a movie, Black Widow was fine but not super memorable
- Good to see a solo outing for Scarlett Johansson. She's said that she has no plans to return to the MCU, and of course, given the events of Endgame, that makes sense and necessitated Black Widow being a prequel (midquel? Maybe it's a midquel). And ScarJo was asskicking as ever, especially in the plainclothes fist fight scenes, which were probably my favourite
- Black Widow reminded me a lot of The Winter Soldier in terms of gritty action and serious tone. And I really loved The Winter Soldier! But Black Widow didn't quite have the plot or setpieces to match it
- David Harbour had some fun character moments as Red Guardian, but in the grand scheme of the movie he was pretty inessential
- I loved Florence Pugh in Midsommar and Little Women, but her character in Black Widow just didn't really pop for me. Still looking forward to more from her, though
- And we have another completely forgettable Marvel villain, played by Ray Winstone. And I just realized, Ray Winstone has now bookended my movie-going lockdown events - he was also in Cats as Growltiger, and that was the last movie I saw on the big screen before theatres closed. Yes, I saw Cats in the theatre. Twice, in fact. And it was absolutely bonkers and hilarious and ridiculous and not good, per se, one might even call it awful, but I loved it and everyone should see it. In fact, I can guarantee you I'll be rewatching Cats before I rewatch Black Widow
- When the Marvel Disney+ shows starting coming out, I did think about reviewing them as well, but ultimately I decided I'd rather just stick to movies. More condensed, and more variety. But I'll say, we did watch Wandavision and really liked it a lot, and I fully plan on watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki, just haven't gotten around to it yet
- Like I said above, Marvel has me on the hook. I didn't keep up with the movies when they were coming out, but I spent the time getting caught up, and now I'm ready to follow them along on this cinematic ride to see where they take us. But with Black Widow being the first movie of Phase Four, I can't help but wonder how Marvel will manage to recapture the greatness of the Infinity Saga, which sometimes underwhelmed me with its individual parts, but as a whole came to have a big impact on me as a 23-film movie experience. I'm not sitting here with my arms crossed, I'm legitimately excited to see what comes next, but I do have to wonder if a little bit of the magic may have been lost, especially after they lost some momentum, through no fault of their own, due to COVID. But I'm ready to be delighted, Marvel! Hook me in with another lovable group of superheroes! I'm glad we got to have one last adventure for Natasha Romanoff and Scarlett Johansson, but I'm ready to see something you haven't shown me before!
Up next: OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming. The Guns of Navarone, movie #89 on the AFI 100 Thrills list
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