Scarlett Johansson is the super-heroine of the film ‘Black Widow’ directed by Cate Shortland and released on screens this summer (2021) with a delay of one year due, of course, to the pandemic. The film’s producers (including Scarlett) have decided to postpone the release until the audience returns to theatres. Commercially, I think the decision was inspired, and the film, benefiting from the passion of the genre’s fans after a year of abstinence, was devoured by those who were able to reach the cinema halls, and by those who accessed it on streaming. So Scarlett did her duty on screen as Natasha Romanoff, one of the super-heroines of the Avengers cycle returned from the death that had taken place in a previous series, and in the successful campaign to promote the film. Enthusiasts of the genre have passionately discussed how ‘Black Widow’ fits into the ‘Marvel Universe’, as an intermediate story between two series already released many years ago and a prelude to a sequel (or more) to appear in future. Fans less familiar or unfamiliar with comics-inspired movies have received a spectacular action movie, with a few original elements and quite a few other issues that they are not willing to forget as easily as fans do.
I’m not a fan of comic books and Marvel heroes are unfamiliar to me. So I can only judge what I saw, being aware that I miss many of the details. ‘Black Widow’ starts very promising. The lives of a middle-class American couple in Ohio and of their kid daughters are abruptly interrupted when the parents, Russian (ex-Soviet actually as the event took place in 1995) agents, have to flee instantly because their cover has been blown-up. They arrive in Cuba and the girls are traumatically separated from their parents, who turns out to be not even their real parents. There are intense scenes, related to the real world and feelings with which we can resonate. Unfortunately, the only ones. Jump in time, 21 years later. We understand that the two girls followed ‘special’ programs that turned them into ruthless killers, even endowed them with supernatural powers, and now belong to different camps of the geopolitical wars. Destiny reunites the two, and later with their ‘cover’ parents in a mission that I will not say about more than that it is, of course, about saving the world or something like that of the effects of a red-coloured powder that annihilates the power of decision and turn humans into robots subject to any order. Half of the film is action scenes, the other half the tribulations of the reunited family, which was not a real family, but is still brought together by the values of the struggle for good and truth. (I try to be as serious as I can when I write this!)
It is a film inspired by comics and the characters have a depth equal to the thinness of the sheet of paper on which they are drawn. The exception is Natasha, the character played by Scarlett Johansson (an actress I really like) and allow me to appreciate that this is one of her good roles at a time when her choices have raised many questions for me. But the superheroes can’t afford to hesitate and doubt, and the film is, I think, a kind of handover within the series from Natasha to her sister Yelena, played by Florence Pugh, a British actress I see for the first time, talented and beautiful, but who will have to prove that she is able to carry the weight of films with the same aplomb as the magnetic Johansson. There is also an avalanche of feminist messages in this film directed by Cate Shortland, an Australian director with films of completely different genres in her record so far. All the heroines that matter are female, men are either bad guys or, in case they are not bad, they are ridiculous. Too explicit to be effective. ‘Wonder Woman’, for example, promotes the same kind of ideas, but makes it much more elegant. I can’t say that I ended up watching ‘Black Widow’ too disappointed. aA an informed spectator I knew what to expect. Excellent made technically, with captivating action scenes, the film will appeal to fans of action movies, and especially those inspired by comics. Experts in the ‘Marvel Universe’ will have new topics to debate for a long time to come. The rest of us we spent a couple of pleasant hours or so watching, and we’ll quickly forget about everything we saw.