LINDA MARRIC Superhero thrills, music that killed
Black Widow cert: 12 A
★★★★★
IT’S BEEN two whole years since Spiderman: Far From Home was released, making it one of the longest stints without a new instalment Marvel movie. Thankfully, we now have Black Widow, the long awaited origin story of Natasha Romanoff (beautifully portrayed by Scarlett Johansson).
Rachel Weisz, Florence Pugh and David Harbour also star in this action-packed, fast-paced and hugely entertaining offering from Australian director Cate Shortland (Somersault, Lore, Berlin Syndrome). With a story from WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer and a screenplay by Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Godzilla vs. Kong), this feels like a new departure for the franchise.
The story takes place right after the events of Captain America: Civil War. As the dust settles, Natasha finds herself alone and forced to confront Dreykov (Ray Winstone) the head of a secret organisation with ties to her past — unpacked in a flashback sequence which reveals what happened to her as a child.
Florence Pugh (Midsommar, Little Women) makes a rather splendid entrance into the Marvel universe as Romanoff’s long lost sister Yelena. Elsewhere, Rachel Weisz is both funny and hugely likeable as doctor Melina Vostokoff, while David Harbour (Stranger Things) puts in a hilariously over the top performance as Alexei Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian.
Too often superhero movies rely on dragged-out fight sequences which don’t always add to the story. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Black Widow is its ability to be original while remaining as action-packed as every other other MCU movie before it.
Shortland and her team have given us a film that is more spy genre than the usual superhero fodder, with frequent nods to classic Bond movies and fast-paced spy thrillers such as the Bourne franchise.
Additionally there are some playful references to the Star Wars franchise throughout thanks to Clint Wallace and Charles Wood’s exquisite production design.
This is a genuinely thrilling, funny and wonderfully acted origin story about a much loved heroine, even if deep down it feels more like a goodbye to one character and an introduction to a new one.
In 2002, Nick Broomfield’s documentary Biggie and Tupac lifted the veil on hiphop’s deadly rivalry between East and West Coast record labels, a rivalry which led to the death of two of the industry’s most popular artists.
Almost two decades later Broomfield has picked up where he left off by revisiting the murders in his latest film Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and The Murders of Biggie and Tupac.
In it, the award-winning documentarian lays the blame for the deadly rivalry on the hostile environment generated by Def Jam Records owner Suge Knight who in 2018 was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for an unrelated incident and is currently serving a 28 year sentence at a Californian facility.
Born to a middle class family and with more prospects than the average black kid in LA, Knight became a hip hop mogul after dropping out of college and consequently setting up Def Jam Records.
Surrounded by hangers on, ex cons and fellow gang members of the ‘Bloods’ gang, Knight was both feared and admired by those signed to his label and anyone who was vaguely connected to the industry.
Things, we are told, quickly escalated after a fabricated rivalry between LA and New York hip hop labels culminated in a war of words between the two camps, with Knight encouraging his brightest star, Tupac Shakur to go to war with former friend Biggie Smalls.
Although a tad repetitive Last Man Standing does a great job in recounting the details of this extraordinary tale of power, money and betrayal. Broomfield has done a fantastic job in re-telling this fascinating story and is unapologetic about sticking to his original theory about police involvement.
He’s made an engaging, informative and at times truly shocking account of power, corruption and senseless violence which ended in one of the saddest chapters in the history of the music industry, with talent killed by a corrupt environment.