Black Widow

Marvel has been just spinning the same formula for some time, and so is now trying to make up for their past with a lot of catching up to do, ripping off everything from The Bourne Identity to the underrated Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service. All this is done in such a lackluster manner which is so bland and stupid that it is bound to disappoint die-hard fans of this superhero franchise. The screenplay is not as cheap and crappy as in Captain Marvel, yet it is still completely pointless and a lame bare popcorn movie. (14/07/2021)

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 a two-year cinematic hiatus in the MCU, we got to see another Avengers solo film and I'm actually quite pleased. It might be the twenty-fourth time of basically the same thing, but in many ways it's still a very good mainstream production. A strong female element is very much present, but I can't say I mind that in any way. On the contrary, I think that the whole crew around Feige know how to work with those contemporary paradigms with due flair and grace. The first half delights with a very dark thriller atmosphere, which is appealingly reminiscent of the second and third Captain America films. Despite the top-notch action sequences, Black Widow doesn't avoid the expected schematic quality in its second half, where its initial cheesiness is replaced with the typical Marvel formula that ultimately places this solo effort in the broader MCU average. Which is certainly not a bad thing. [65%] (07/07/2021)

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)