A revisit of the MCU - “Black Widow”

For last week’s edition, I started up my MCU revisit with the last two “Avengers” movies - “Infinity War” and “Endgame.” During these MCU revisits, I will be exclusively checking out the movies that are part of their Phases 4 and 5 (the divisive ones) - and maybe one or two of the Disney Plus shows down the road.

So, continuing on with my Marvel revisit is the 2021 movie “Black Widow” - which I haven’t seen since I initially reviewed it for the paper.

Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger, when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises.

Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy, and the broken relationships left in her wake before she became an Avenger.

Like I stated before, I haven’t seen “Black Widow” since I reviewed it roughly four years ago, so this revisit almost seemed like a fresh look. Now, while the action sequences are pretty decent and there is plenty of character development in this stand alone story, “Black Widow” can also feel kind of generic.

“Black Widow” is an entertaining espionage/spy thriller that can deliver some decent action. The fight scene between Black Widow/Natasha and the villain Taskmaster (who makes a rather quick comeback in “Thunderbolts”) on the bridge is actually quite tense and the entire third act has some fun action as Black Widow and Elena finally get to the Red Room and Black Widow confronts her past.

There is also a nice “family” dynamic between Natasha, Elena (played by a really entertaining Florence Pugh), Alexei (aka Red Guardian) and Melina, which is a nice touch of pace for the MCU. This is where the great character development comes in as the movie dives into Natasha’s backstory, which gives us a more powerful insight of her past.

Trivia: A conscious decision was made during the movie’s development not to include characters like Iron Man or Captain America as they wanted the movie to be exclusively about Black Widow. This movie also marks the fourth time a character’s first solo outing in the MCU wasn’t an origin story, after “The Incredible Hulk,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Black Panther.”

Now, while this MCU movie delivers some entertaining action and a deep look at her backstory, “Black Widow” does have a fairly simple and rather generic story. So, even though it took Marvel quite a while to finally give this character her own solo outing, it can feel slightly forgettable after a while.

Up next on my Marvel Cinematic Universe revisit is the 2021 movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and my MCU revisit will be back in June! You can currently stream “Black Widow” and other MCU movies on Disney Plus.

MPA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, some language and thematic material   (running time 134 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybji16u608U