Page 6 - MidWeek - July 21, 2021

6 MIDWEEK JULY 21, 2021
Rotten
A Win For ‘Widow’
BY CHRIS MCKINNEY
PAPAYAS
I’ve often felt like when it comes to The Aveng- ers, Marvel Studios un- derstandably struggles with what to do with their least powerful superheroes, espe- cially once the conflicts turn cosmic. Hawkeye? Throw in a wife and a bunch of kids and make him a family man. Nick Fury? Let him die not once, but twice, and allow him to fade away for a few films. The toughest for Marvel to deal with has been Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. Eye candy? Leader? Diplo- mat? Hulk’s Prozac? Nothing really stuck.
But this is Scarlett Johans- son we’re talking about, and you can’t squander someone with this much star power be- fore completely ending Mar- vel Cinematic Universe Phase Three. The trick that MCU has been using a lot lately is fram- ing narratives into familiar sub- genres. Its latest release, Black Widow, Johansson’s first and only standalone Marvel film, uses the Russian super spy trope. We’ve seen this one a number of times over recent years in Atomic Blonde, Salt, and Red Sparrow. Black Wid- ow, however, scrubs away the heightened sexuality and re- places it with girl power, which is great, but someone should inform Hollywood that while there’s still tension between the United States and Russia, the Cold War ended 30 years ago.
Director Martin Scorsese once bemoaned the MCU is more theme park than film, and it’s hard to disagree with that notion. However, unlike Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers:
Endgame, Black Widow is more Jason Bourne than Space Mountain. There’s no time travel, space travel or Norse gods wreaking havoc. Instead, there’s a lot of brain- washing, unfinished busi- ness and atoning for the sins of the past. There’s nothing really new here, but what’s present is entertaining. The addition of David Harbour as a washed up, second-rate, Soviet version of Captain America effectively adds co- medic moments.
Widow’s long lost younger sister. She’s on a quest to free her fellow Widows from mind control. This might be a superstar-making perfor- mance for the 25-year-old English actress. Her ability to be fierce, vulnerable and funny in this film exhibits remarkable range and au- thenticity. I suspect we will be seeing a lot more of Pugh, not just in MCU’s Phase Four, but in movies in general.
the post-pandemic opening day record. Clearly, gross isn’t an accurate barometer when it comes to judging the quality of a film, but I’d say that Black Widow is undoubtedly bet- ter than many of the summer blockbusters of the past. It’s better than anything Trans- formers or Pirates of the Ca- ribbean. It’s better than many of its MCU predecessors. It’s not game changing, but what is?
Florence Pugh poses for photographers upon arrival at a fan event for the film Black Widow in London last month. AP PHOTO/SCOTT GARFITT
can stand on her own. They also chose a more than worthy successor in Pugh’s Yelena Be- lova. I look forward to seeing
The star of this movie, however, might not be Jo- hansson. It’s arguably Flor- ence Pugh, who plays Black
After a year with zero theat- rical blockbusters for obvious reasons, Black Widow is our No. 1 summer hit of the year. It grossed $39.5 million on its opening day, edging out F9 for
I’d say, all in all, the army of people who worked to make this film should be proud (the credits scroll like a name list generator). They finally made Romanoff a superhero who
more of this talented actress in
years to come.
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