Black Widow
Directed by Cate Shortland
“Black Widow is the most enticing Marvel lead in ages,” said Johnny Oleksinski in the New York Post. As played by Scarlett Johansson in the superhero’s first standalone feature, the former KGB killer turned justiceseeking Avenger proves to be a character with a backstory worth exploring. Because she’s human, she’s more James Bond than Captain Marvel, and Johansson “has Bond’s same confidence and swagger.” After a riveting opening, though, this much-anticipated July 9 release settles into a “familiar, rather wearying rock-’emsock-’em-blast-’em-all-to-kingdom-come groove,” said Justin Chang in the Los Angeles Times. We first see young Natasha Romanoff on the day she and her sister learn that their parents are Russian spies. A heart-pounding escape only lands the girls in training for bloodier KGB missions, and when we rejoin
Johansson’s Natasha in adulthood, she’s about to reunite with her sibling to defeat the Russian mastermind who’s still exploiting women like them. Unfortunately, the story begins to feel engineered, not organic, the product of a Marvel Comics brain trust that “homogenizes everything it touches.” As Natasha’s younger sister, the “remarkable” Florence Pugh banters winningly with Johansson and ends the film poised to carry the franchise into the future, said David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter. Moviegoers could do worse, because this highly satisfying action thriller isn’t just fan service. It “goes beyond the mere appearance of female representation and becomes a narrative entirely shaped by the fearlessness, smarts, and badassery of two young women determined to liberate legions of others.”
(In theaters or $30 via Disney+)