Black widow It’s a great movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is thanks to all its wide dimension of references, discreet humor and good use of the mythology of the publisher.
On this occasion, the film shows that Black Widow it was not just the female counterpart of a vast male universe. The script takes a journey through the recent history of the triumphs, successes and failures of superhero cinema.
But especially, it’s Marvel’s most direct nod to action movies. The most striking thing is that it has all the solid air, rhythm and tension of the classics James bond. And even some very obvious nods to the franchise of Mission Impossible. Screenwriter Eric Pearson does not hesitate to make use of the feeling of certain decadence and paranoia that relates the movie with something more elaborate.
Black widow It is not just the story of the Natasha Romanoff played by Scarlett Johansson. It is a journey between symbols and codes of a much more sober, adult and powerful cinema. That without losing Marvel’s spectacularity of creating big explosions, iconic moments and an accent on the heroic.
But there is something significant in the fact that it is linked directly to the tradition of Captain America: Civil War (2016) by the Russo brothers. For the occasion, Shortland gave his film a look at his characters that was more concerned with grays than with their brightest moments.
In tune with the new plot tension of Phase 4, the whole plot seems more aimed at a maturity in the background of the narrative. Also in the way of showing his ties to the rest of the Marvel universe. Natasha’s Farewell, a show in which although visual pyrotechnics abound, it is an intimate revision of the heroine. An interesting tour that opens the doors to speculate how the franchise will analyze its new heroes.
Will this be the tone with which the new Captain America will come to the screen? Could the heralded and highly anticipated Blade be a display of good work from the world of action mixed with fantasy? Black widow open the doors for all those possibilities and many others.
‘Black widow‘: a powerful woman
Cate Shortland creates a carefully assembled action suspense thriller. All through a sober staging, closed shots and an ever-attentive gaze on Natasha. The result has the same firmness that sustained the character his great stellar moments in each of the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which he participated.
Black Widow now has the opportunity to be an independent hero to a group of heroes. One that travels a path very similar to the iconic one Jason bourne. Shortland does not seem to forget in the first part of the film the nods to the classic suspense cinema.
From John Frankenheimer and his Manchurian Candidate, Shortland makes a display of clever twists. In addition to the constant sense of threat that maintains a impeccable tension throughout the plot. There is a lot of The black spy by Michael Powell in the way Natasha moves amid the enigma of her identity.
Even Shortland takes the audacity to resize several of the most famous sequences of the man that knew too much by Alfred Hitchcock. However, among the collection of references, Shortland manages to find his own style and build a personality to a production that could be generic. The spy’s formula without identity turned into a weapon to kill against their will is not new. But Shortland endows Black widow of a radiant vitality that is undoubtedly one of its highest points.
This adult plot, elaborate and intelligent, seems to arrive in the ideal world for the changes that the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes through. From the tone of its villains and heroes, to the maturity of its stories. The first film of Phase 4 speaks of an interesting evolution in the understanding of power. And it does it as an amazing show that is thanked as a farewell to a beloved character.