I’m a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and I’ve seen virtually all the previous 24 movies in the franchise, but these films have been released over a period of 13 years and I’ve only seen each offering once at the cinema on its release, so I struggle to remember all the cross-linkages – not helped by the fact that the stories told in the (now) 25 movies are not presented in chronological order. And this time I was viewing the production with someone who was totally new to the MCU (I know …). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, this is the ninth outing for Natasha Romanoff – aka the eponymous Black Widow – played by the wonderful Scarlett Johansson, but all was well because effectively this is a stand-alone origin story and so welcome after its release was postponed for a year by the global pandemic. And we saw it in IMAX which was a blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The movie has a female director, Australian Cate Shortland, and three leading roles for women, so it could be seen as the most feminist of the franchise, except that the robot-like army of women fighters is not exactly an advertisement for female empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After an exciting opening segment showing Natasha as a child, we jump to a time after “Captain America: Civil War” and before “Avengers: Infinity War”. Natasha is now a fully-fledged Avenger, while her ‘sister’ Yelena (an excellent performance by the British Florence Pugh) is now herself a Black Widow who wants to team up with her sibling to bring down the notorious General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) and his evil plan to control the world via a network of ‘widows’ who are lobotomised and given forced hysterectomies (the ultimate misogynist?). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plot is all rather silly (why are there these red vials that are the antidote to the lobotomisation?) and there is more than a hint of James Bond villainy around (references to “Moonraker” especially), but there are lots of thrilling fight and chase sequences, some huge explosions, and touches of humour, making for a very satisfying addition to the franchise and a final farewell to Natasha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, of course, the franchise rolls on and an end-of-credits sequence sets us up for “Hawkeye”. I’ll be there …
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