{"id":23098,"date":"2021-07-08T15:37:20","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T22:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23098"},"modified":"2021-07-08T15:37:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T22:37:20","slug":"black-widow-struggles-to-balance-spy-and-superhero-elements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23098","title":{"rendered":"BLACK WIDOW Struggles to Balance Spy and Superhero Elements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film will be released in the United States on\nJuly 9th<\/sup> at theaters. It will also be available through Disney+ with\nPremier Access.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to unforeseen circumstances, it has now been more than\ntwo years since a movie based on a Marvel superhero has been released. For\ncomic book fans, it has been a long wait, but a new title has finally arrived\nthat officially kicks off a new phase in the comic book studio\u2019s plans. Black\nWidow<\/em> is a prequel based on the popular Russian spy who played a supporting\nrole in many titles over the past decade. As expected, the action on display is\nfun to watch, but the story seems caught in two minds, attempting to combine elements\nof a more realistic spy movie with superhero elements thrown in. At times, it struggles\nto find the proper balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Following the events of 2016\u2019s Captain America: Civil War<\/em>,\nNatasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) goes on the run, keeping\na low profile. In the meantime, another Russian Black Widow agent named Yelena\nBelova (Florence Pugh) discovers a disturbing conspiracy. Dreykov (Ray\nWinstone), the man running the program, has developed technology that enables\nhim to control the minds of his agents. We soon realize that Romanoff and\nBelova have a personal history. As children, they were assigned to work with Alexi\nShostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz),\npretending to be an American family during a spy operation. Hunted down, the\ntwo agents attempt to reform their surrogate brood so that they can locate and\nstop the sinister Dreykov before his team wipes them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Initially, the tone is much quieter and subdued, with only\nan inkling of fantastic abilities on the part of the characters. A flashback\ninvolving a young Romanov hints at the dangers involved in spy work and the\ndangers of being discovered by enemies. It\u2019s an interesting conceit, but the\nmovie soon heads in a very different and more conventional direction with the\nnarrative. It isn\u2019t long before Romanoff finds herself squaring off against a\nsilent and threatening figure with armor and a shield.  There is still some mystery to the proceedings\nand the fight choreography between the protagonist and assailant is exciting\nand well-staged. However, the movie can\u2019t help but start upping the ante and\nthe battles become more exaggerated, including elaborate confrontation in the\nstrangely quiet streets of Budapest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The family dynamic does offer some opportunity for humor and\ncharacter development. The egotistical Red Guardian Shostakov provides solid\ncomic relief as a self-aggrandizing superhero who is continually undermined.\nBelova is given plenty of amusingly blunt comments too. Still, given that this\nis a standalone film devoted to Romanoff, one would expect more of the focus to\nbe on her. While there is the occasional tidbit about the lead and her history\nwith the elite assassin unit, the movie ultimately becomes distracted with its\nnew characters. In particular, fellow Black Widow Belova. It\u2019s obvious that she\nis expected to take over the mantle should there be any follow-up films. At\ntimes, the writing is blunt and obvious in its attempts to bring this\nsupporting character to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, despite its attempts to avoid fantastic elements,\nthe movie can\u2019t help but attempt a finale right out of a comic book flick. The\nfinal showdown involves some silly plot devices, over-the-top explosions and\ndestruction, as well as the protagonist undertaking superhuman physical tasks. It\u2019s\nall entertaining enough, but the elements don\u2019t all fit together and the end\nresult isn\u2019t as unique or memorable an experience as it wants to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie is certainly decent and provides a few good action\nscenes, as well as a couple of entertaining witticisms. However, it doesn\u2019t\nfeel like the either the dynamic spy flick or superhero feature that this\ncharacter truly deserves. Black Widow<\/em> can\u2019t quite choose what kind of\nmovie it ultimately wants to be, playing it safe and leaving viewers a bit let\ndown in the process. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film will be released in the United States on July 9th at theaters. It will also be available through Disney+ with Premier Access. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it has now been more than two years since a movie based on a Marvel superhero has been released. For comic book fans, it has been a long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,697,785,2882,2883,2884,2885,4668,5304,7679,13333,13341,16572,16701,17752,18907,19362],"class_list":["post-23098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-black-widow","tag-black-widow-film-review","tag-black-widow-movie-review","tag-black-widow-review","tag-comic-book","tag-david-harbour","tag-florence-pugh","tag-marvel","tag-marvel-universe","tag-rachel-weisz","tag-ray-winstone","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-spy","tag-superhero"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}