I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. Not going to lie, I was not very excited about this movie. I mean, yeah I was excited because it was the next installment in the MCU, but I just did not think we needed an origin story for Black Widow. Fortunately, it was not an origin story, but more of a side adventure that dealt a bit with Natasha’s origin, does that make sense? From here on out there will be SPOILERS, so you should probably stop reading if you have not seen the movie…
The Good
-The cast was fantastic. Scarlett is always great, but Florence Pugh was phenomenal. I loved when she mocks Natasha for posing and then she does it at the end and thinks how ridiculous she looks. Rachel Weisz is another one who is always good. I love Ray Winstone in just about anything. But, David Harbour was excellent as Red Guardian.
-The movie was funny. So many little jokes and funny scenes. The vest and how Yelena can store stuff in all the pockets (and yes, it was the vest that Nat wore in Infinity War). Harbour definitely steals the show with some of his funny lines.
-The movie does explain what happened to Natasha between Civil War and Infinity War. We see that she is in violation of the Accords and that she assaulted the prince of Wakanda. She is on the run from Ross, but by the end she has helped bring down the Red Room and Dreykov. It also explains how Steve and his team end up with a QuinJet. And yet, the movie also gives us the backstory on Natasha and the meaning behind Budapest.
-Okay, this is a controversial one…but I liked the way the movie handled Taskmaster. Tying the character to Nat’s greatest failure (and the cost of getting free of the Red Room–killing Dreykov and his daughter) made it seem more personal. Also, will we see Antonia in later movies training others to fight? They can keep the Taskmaster role from the comics, but it will just be her working with would be heroes. Not a huge deal.
-The fight scenes and other action sequences were very good. The rescue from the gulag was excellent with a nice touch of humor.
-The end-credit scene was cool and it kind of ruined my idea about the Disney+ shows not bleeding into the movies (like I thought there would be no chance of Kang making his introduction in Loki), but after Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine shows up to give Yelena her next target (Clint Barton…the man who killed Natasha), well I am not so sure about that now.
The Bad
-Even though it was a long movie, it did not really spend much time actually developing the villain. Dreykov felt like those countless other MCU villains who just wants to control the world or whatever.
-If a giant floating fortress is falling out of the sky, how come Ross did not call Iron Man? Or any of the registered superheroes who could have helped with the damage. Okay, I get that he just thought he was going to apprehend Romanoff, but Tony Stark does not monitor the sky? Also, how much secret, futuristic tech is in the MCU? Helicarriers, floating bases, submerged prisons…damn, they advanced AF.
-Mind controlled super assassins? Have we seen this before? Granted, this is a little different than Winter Soldier (and you have to figure that if Hydra is doing it, then the USSR would be doing it as well, as well as America and everyone else).
Okay, those were my only complaints. Nothing major. Nothing that kept me from liking the movie.
