REVIEW: Black Widow

There's a humorous irony to a quote offered by Scarlett Johansson's "Natasha Romanoff" early in the newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Forlornly, she declares "I'm better off alone." In-universe, this character is on the run from the government and separated from the only people who have ever seen her as a good guy, and her confession speaks to a deep-rooted sense of aimlessness. For the audience that has been watching the film's trailers for the last year and a half, this line takes on a different meaning. After all, Natasha Romanoff has been a backup singer for many a superhero since her first appearance in the MCU in 2010, only stepping into center stage now. Is Black Widow better off alone, helming her own superhero movie than she is with her contemporaries?

One could make a case for better, the film admittedly has some competition, but either way Natasha Romanoff's first solo pic provides a worthwhile glimpse into the soul of a character whose psyche has revealed itself gradually over the last ten years.

Natasha's solo adventure finds her drifting after the division of the Avengers following the events of Captain America: Civil War. Maybe the family she found as a superhero was too good to last. She is called into action when her adoptive sister from another life sends a distress beacon. Turns out the regiment that made her into such a heartless creature is still active, still feeding on innocent girls that it retools into killing drones. Putting down old monsters has Natasha confront not only her own checkered past, but also healing old wounds.

The plot hinges on a system of literal mind-control, a system that is admittedly out of place here in a way it wouldn't be in the more fantasy-oriented chapters of the MCU. Just so, it does bring a specific focus in this film: Here it isn't just the faceless masses Natasha is fighting to save, but the other Black Widows who are kept subdued under the iron grip of the sadistic Dreykov. Natasha has tasted the hellish existence of a forced mercenary, and when she realizes that other girls are still victim to her prison, she takes it on herself to rescue them.

Again, this story takes place when her superhero team is scattered, and there's something genuinely unnerving the first time Natasha collides with evil and you realize that her Avenger allies won't be there to back her up. In lieu of Thor and Spiderman, the film offers us an original array of players to join Black Widow on her mission: Natasha's adoptive family from before she was inducted into the assassin army.

There's Natasha's sister, Florence Pugh's Yelena, whose sarcasm and cynicism recalls a 2010 portrait of Black Widow but who was perhaps even more invested in their makeshift family than Natasha was. There's Rachel Weisz's Malina, the family matriarch who will prepare her daughters for the real world at any cost, even their emotional well-being. The kingpin of this set is David Harbour's Alexei, "The Red Guardian," a sort of fusion between Mr. Incredible and your drunk uncle. Any one of these characters would be welcome faces in future MCU projects, and all of them are brought to life so vividly by their performers. Harbour's Alexei in particular gives off sparks that don't come as naturally to his more famous role, the somewhat curmudgeonly (but no less endearing) Chief Jim Hopper.

The heart of the film is the map of emotional scars that divide this family. After all, it was this same family that surrendered Natasha as a child to the maw of ruthless assassin life. Given how upstanding and righteous her superhero colleagues are, it's perhaps understandable that Natasha is so disappointed with this family.

The healing required by both the plot and Natasha herself comes from a sensitive performance by Scarlett Johansson. There's something like dignity in the swan song appearance of Johansson's superhero.

Natasha Romanoff has come a long way from the stonewall warrior who only feigns vulnerability to dupe Loki for information. Her strength is no longer in hoodwinking her enemy with clever displays of manufactured emotion. (This in and of itself is an interesting comment on how differently we've come to define female strength since Black Widow's first MCU appearance.) Her battle scars become lifelines right before our eyes. Her moral compass and compassion have become her most powerful weapons.

--The Professor

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