I might have gone to see this in the theatre, except the girls are both up in Churchill for the summer, working, so I bought the Premier Access so they could watch it on opening weekend, as we have so many of the Marvel movies.
And because it was paid for and we can now have guests in in our home, I called the lads over so we could enjoy our first viewing party in almost a year.
And it was a treat. Black Widow is mostly a straightforward spy-fi action adventure, delving into Natasha Romanoff's (Scarlett Johanson) past as an agent of Russia's "Red Room" training program.
But like most MCU movies, there are additional layers dealing with loyalty and betrayal, revenge and regret, families real and pretend, and how the latter might become the former under certain operatic conditions.
We are introduced early on to the ersatz family Natasha grew up with in Ohio - father figure Alexei (David Harbour), maternal unit Melina (Rachel Weisz), and younger sister Yelena (Florence Pugh) - but they are separated after the supposedly successful closure of their mission as sleeper agents.
Years later, Natasha is looking for a place to lay low following the events of Captain America: Civil War, but is dragged back into her old life when Yelena breaks her conditioning and now wants to help other Widows do the same.
Along the way they will fight the ruthless Taskmaster, an assassin who can copy the moves of anyone they've seen and who has been equipped with replicas of Captain America's shield, Hawkeye's bow and Black Panther's claws.
The villainy aren't half as relentless as the pace of this movie though, which often feels like it is just reaching interesting emotional ground when something else explodes or a new chase begins.
But it would be churlish to complain, because the fights are great, the chases are wonderful, and action and pathos alike are intercut with that trademark Marvel humour that leavens the proceedings up nicely.
And the emotional beats are still there - David Harbour is a standout, staggering from regret his alter-ego the Red Guardian never got to tangle with Captain America ("Not so much a nemesis, more like a contemporary, co-equal…") to misguided pride in the lethality of his proxies daughters, and eventually regret that they couldn't stay together.
Florence Pugh is wonderful too, mocking her older sister for her often-imitated landing pose in one moment, but clearly looking for her approval in the next. She can play strong and vulnerable concurrently and also looks very capable in her action sequences. Apparently Kevin Feige and company thinks so too, so rest assured we have not seen the last of Yelena (stay through the credits).
Of great appreciation was the scale of the story - no longer trying to save the world or even the universe, the stakes feel more accessible, more personal, in the style of the earlier Bond films.
Wonderful art design as well, particularly the Russian weapons and hideouts that reminded me less of Bond and Bourne and more of the Metal Gear video games.
Director Cate Shortland has done a deft job marrying the emotional and kinetic requirements of both a summer tentpole and a movie that has to advance the story and mythology of an established film series. Black Widow sticks the (hero) landing and gives Phase 4 a great base to build upon.
Hopefully we can see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in theatres in just a couple of months…
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