Black Widow
Really enjoyed this movie.
Loved all the fight scenes, which were messy and a little bit street (especially Natasha and Taskmaster on the bridge, and Natasha and Yelena when they first meet). Loved Natasha getting to use her signature superspy master interrogator line, and that we could literally SEE IT COMING because of her tender, appreciative smile as she wrapped up her game. "Thank you for your cooperation." AAAAHHHHH. :D Enjoyed very much the awkward family dynamics, and the backstory, and the tie-ins to other bits of canon. For instance, we knew Hydra was fully infiltrated into SHIELD going way back to post-WWII, but the idea that in the 90's the American version was working with Hydra in Russia, and the Winter Soldier program, on this mind control bullshit...it's chilling.
Loved Taskmaster, because I didn't actually guess it was a woman until well into this. Apparently there are a lot of pissed off fanboys/girls on the internet who didn't like the genderflip. Oh well? Since I don't know the comics, I don't have a dog in that hunt. It was super-cool to see the fighting styles of Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Cap, Nat, and possibly others I've missed emulated. (I thought I caught a whiff of Thor leaping up and dropping his hammer, too.) There's more that could be done with the character, to be sure, but what we did get was surprising and fit well with the themes of this movie.
Loved seeing Natasha navigating her loneliness; it is easy to see that although she's great at surviving on her own, it's getting harder and harder for her to remain aloof and apart from the people she cares for. She survives, but doesn't thrive. She ruthlessly puts any thoughts of a normal life behind her, because that's how she survives.
Loved Yelena Belova ESPECIALLY, holy crap do I love her. She is my MCU soulmate. Her dry Russian wit and sarcasm! "You're such a poser!" The demo of Natasha's hair flip, LOL. Red Captain America was hysterical. Don't care about Mrs. Mummy, but she looked absolutely great in a Widow suit.
Wish we had had more of the Widows fighting, but now that they have banded together, perhaps there's an entry point for them somewhere down the road in the MCU. Ick to the creepy gender politics, but mostly in a good way. Interesting pointed commentary on the usefulness of girls, and the way the world (men) considers them disposable. Interesting also to think the Widows have infiltrated so many places of power. There's more story to be told there. I hope we get some of that.
This movie also makes sense of other Natasha-related things in the MCU, and makes me sad about them. Red Captain America's glee over how much red there is in Natasha's ledger, and the coldness with which Natasha talks about killing the daughter (remember how Loki threw that at her in Avengers??? ugh) vs how torn up she really as about it - it helps to put into perspective why she refused to let Clint go over that cliff for her in Endgame. She wanted to balance the ledger her own way. She felt she owed Clint the life she had away from the Widows, and that was a scale to be balanced, from her perspective. I can't imagine she wanted to see Clint continue down that path without his family; she knows how much family means to him. Much of what she did with the Avengers was her choice, in how she lived, and how she died.
The worst thing, tho - Tony's aggravating line in Endgame - "Did she have a family" - UGH. Hits different now.
I wish we'd gotten to actually see Clint and Natasha in Budapest, instead of just his voice in that scene with the killing of the daughter. But it was nice to get a little of the detail on what happened - how he helped Natasha escape and hid out with her. I am always going to be there 1000% for their friendship. It also makes it easy to understand why she did not judge him for going darkside when his family was killed. Natasha is not ever going to judge someone, when she has such a complex past of her own, and knows herself to have been a ruthless killer.
I give it a B+, and I'm sad that this didn't come out about 5 years before Captain Marvel (which is absolutely the most boring and annoying movie in the MCU and the only one I will never buy nor rewatch) because Natasha deserved to be a trailblazer. But I can't criticize the movie for being late. I prefer to be glad we eventually got to enjoy it.
Loved all the fight scenes, which were messy and a little bit street (especially Natasha and Taskmaster on the bridge, and Natasha and Yelena when they first meet). Loved Natasha getting to use her signature superspy master interrogator line, and that we could literally SEE IT COMING because of her tender, appreciative smile as she wrapped up her game. "Thank you for your cooperation." AAAAHHHHH. :D Enjoyed very much the awkward family dynamics, and the backstory, and the tie-ins to other bits of canon. For instance, we knew Hydra was fully infiltrated into SHIELD going way back to post-WWII, but the idea that in the 90's the American version was working with Hydra in Russia, and the Winter Soldier program, on this mind control bullshit...it's chilling.
Loved Taskmaster, because I didn't actually guess it was a woman until well into this. Apparently there are a lot of pissed off fanboys/girls on the internet who didn't like the genderflip. Oh well? Since I don't know the comics, I don't have a dog in that hunt. It was super-cool to see the fighting styles of Winter Soldier, Black Panther, Cap, Nat, and possibly others I've missed emulated. (I thought I caught a whiff of Thor leaping up and dropping his hammer, too.) There's more that could be done with the character, to be sure, but what we did get was surprising and fit well with the themes of this movie.
Loved seeing Natasha navigating her loneliness; it is easy to see that although she's great at surviving on her own, it's getting harder and harder for her to remain aloof and apart from the people she cares for. She survives, but doesn't thrive. She ruthlessly puts any thoughts of a normal life behind her, because that's how she survives.
Loved Yelena Belova ESPECIALLY, holy crap do I love her. She is my MCU soulmate. Her dry Russian wit and sarcasm! "You're such a poser!" The demo of Natasha's hair flip, LOL. Red Captain America was hysterical. Don't care about Mrs. Mummy, but she looked absolutely great in a Widow suit.
Wish we had had more of the Widows fighting, but now that they have banded together, perhaps there's an entry point for them somewhere down the road in the MCU. Ick to the creepy gender politics, but mostly in a good way. Interesting pointed commentary on the usefulness of girls, and the way the world (men) considers them disposable. Interesting also to think the Widows have infiltrated so many places of power. There's more story to be told there. I hope we get some of that.
This movie also makes sense of other Natasha-related things in the MCU, and makes me sad about them. Red Captain America's glee over how much red there is in Natasha's ledger, and the coldness with which Natasha talks about killing the daughter (remember how Loki threw that at her in Avengers??? ugh) vs how torn up she really as about it - it helps to put into perspective why she refused to let Clint go over that cliff for her in Endgame. She wanted to balance the ledger her own way. She felt she owed Clint the life she had away from the Widows, and that was a scale to be balanced, from her perspective. I can't imagine she wanted to see Clint continue down that path without his family; she knows how much family means to him. Much of what she did with the Avengers was her choice, in how she lived, and how she died.
The worst thing, tho - Tony's aggravating line in Endgame - "Did she have a family" - UGH. Hits different now.
I wish we'd gotten to actually see Clint and Natasha in Budapest, instead of just his voice in that scene with the killing of the daughter. But it was nice to get a little of the detail on what happened - how he helped Natasha escape and hid out with her. I am always going to be there 1000% for their friendship. It also makes it easy to understand why she did not judge him for going darkside when his family was killed. Natasha is not ever going to judge someone, when she has such a complex past of her own, and knows herself to have been a ruthless killer.
I give it a B+, and I'm sad that this didn't come out about 5 years before Captain Marvel (which is absolutely the most boring and annoying movie in the MCU and the only one I will never buy nor rewatch) because Natasha deserved to be a trailblazer. But I can't criticize the movie for being late. I prefer to be glad we eventually got to enjoy it.