Black Widow certainly suffers from MCU bloat—dutiful references to other installments in the franchise, an overly convoluted plot leading to a two-hour-plus runtime, an endlessly explosive action finale that takes place mostly in front of green screens—yet a strong cast and emphasis on character ultimately overcome much of those grievances.
Scarlett Johansson anchors the film as the title character, otherwise known as Natasha Romanoff, former KGB assassin turned Avenger. Here we find her in the aftermath of Captain America: Civil War, on the run while also investigating a conspiracy linked to her childhood. This involves reuniting with her “father” (David Harbour), “mother” (Rachel Weisz), and “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh).
Pugh and Johansson are fun together; both share a low, sardonic vocal register, which Yelena uses to deflate Natasha’s Avenger status. (“You’re such a poser,” she murmurs.) Harbour gets a few laughs of his own as the former Red Guardian; his Soviet superhero days are long behind him, but he still suffers from Captain America envy. Weisz, I’m afraid, has a much smaller part and isn’t allowed to really sink her teeth into the MCU the way, say, Cate Blanchett did in Thor: Ragnarok.
Speaking of that slaphappy installment, Ragnarok remains the most idiosyncratically directed of the MCU movies, guided as it was by Taika Waititi. Cate Shortland’s work here is fairly anonymous, competently capturing the house style but not striking any signature notes in terms of tone or aesthetic. A climactic fight in which Natasha takes on a squad of other “black widows”—women who have been brainwashed, from childhood on, to serve as part of a Russian program called the Red Room—is the only real moment of visual interest. With its striking red lighting design, the sequence suggests these villains have, if nothing else, a strong sense of branding.
The fact that there isn’t a single male in this action scene is also distinct. By its finale, Black Widow becomes a bit laborious in its attempts to emphasize its feminist themes, but the movie is nonetheless a welcome retort to the thus-far, male-heavy MCU. (One ancillary benefit: so many characters wearing their hair in intricate braids.) Most of the women we meet in the movie are being forced to fight in battles not of their own choosing. What’s more, the goal of our heroes is ultimately to repair relationships, not blow something up. Given the manscape of the MCU, there’s something refreshing about that.