Black Widow

It's an incredible shame they didn't release Black Widow a month after Wonder Woman 84, it could have been a great female combo. It doesn't sound much like that anymore. That's how Captain Marvel and the series' WandaVision fizzled out in the interim, as the start of Phase 4 of the MCU comes at a time of distrust in the Covid-distorted media world. Still, the encounter with Scarlett Johansson's solo film, abundantly supported by Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz, is thoroughly enjoyable. The action is traditionally ironically over-the-top, Cold War fans are satisfied, and this time the travel guide recommends Budapest. (12/07/2021)

After the earth-shattering Endgame, I was pretty much looking forward to being reunited with Natasha, so I warmly welcomed the feature-length Black Widow solo outing. In terms of the cast, it is very decent, with each of the four main actors in the right place, with satisfying supporting characters. Visually, the film showcases itself especially in the second half, which was full of brisk and nicely paced action, though there were a few over-the-top moments, which the viewer must take with a grain of salt in films like this. Screenwriting-wise, Black Widow is a slightly less layered piece compared to the MCU team-ups, but it still sets up some pretty surprising moments. I also praise the post-credit scene and am curious about the follow-up film. A weaker four stars! (18/07/2021)

I have nothing against strong female characters who can have men for dinner, as long as they are believable and have some logical basis in the story, but when the core of the villain organization is skinny teenage girls (in other words, 40 kg in wet clothes) who are supposed to take over the world, I do have a problem. Not to mention that the pheromone idea is straight out of my own teenage attempts at literature when I was trying to write science fiction stories. So I'm thinking, Kevin Feige, do you want to hire me as a screenwriter? A little extra money would be nice :o) (26/07/2021)

The first half is great, it has a dark intro, raw, tight fights and great eye candy FX moments (the chimney scene, WOW!). I almost wouldn't be afraid to say that the first ten minutes not only form a decent backdrop for the origin of a character we don't really know much about, but it also has the emotional edge and directness that was so very good in Winter Soldier, for example. But once it swings into the second part, it becomes more of a comedy, because as it’s usual with comic-book films, few and far between don't go "check all the boxes" style – or rather, they have to please everyone. And so suddenly, the deadly serious-looking film becomes almost a merry-go-round, and it's completely buried from the higher rungs by the insanely over-the-top finale. Florence Pugh is the best, the characters are OK overall, just a bit messily put together. It still has the hallmarks of a bombastic high budget film, but in this version it could have come before the battle and not after. (12/07/2021)

After almost two years, a Marvel movie finally hit the cinemas and the result is nothing to write home about. For me, a pretty useless movie about a useless character. The first hour is surprisingly solid, it's well paced, the action is kept down to earth and the fights have decent choreography – they're Bourne style so I enjoyed them. I'm also pleased with Florence Pugh, whom I like a lot, and the Taskmaster's entrance is awesome. By the second hour, however, I felt that perhaps the director had been replaced, the action goes by the wayside, and so does the fun goes, the humour is completely absent, the Taskmaster goes by the wayside! (it's reprehensible to sideline such an interesting villain like that!), and the finale was perhaps the weakest of all the action scenes, so I'm quite disappointed. I rate the first half as 8/10, the second half is about 5-6, and in the end I'm rounding up more towards 6, because for Marvel I found it unbalanced, the effects aren't too dazzling either, it felt a bit like it was going half throttle and quite possibly the first Marvel movie I definitely won't watch again. Story 3/5, Action 3/5, Humor 1/5, Violence 0/5, Fun 3/5 Music 2/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 3/5. 6/10. (20/07/2021)