Black Widow
Full Disclosure: I am a very casual Marvel fan. I was raised as a DC boy, so that’s where my heart lies, but my lack of knowledge on the Marvel Universe as a whole has let me throughly enjoy and invest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I am able to go into every new movie and every new character with a fairly blank slate, and not really care about how close or not close to the comics they are. All I want is a fun movie, and more often than not, Marvel makes fun movies. Thankfully, Black Widow is no exception.
Mild Spoilers for Black Widow to follow.
Black Widow takes place right after the events of Captain America: Civil War where the Avengers have essentially just broken up. Natasha Romanoff is hiding out when she inexplicably gets caught up with the current Black Widow program that she had long thought was shut down.
The idea of having Natasha going after the man behind the program that has ruined so many young women’s lives is a palpable one, but unfortunately nothing much comes from it, at least not emotionally. However, the movie more than makes up for it with the family dynamics of Natasha’s fake Russian spy family, featuring Florence Pugh as her sister and Rachel Weiz and David Harbour as her parents. Pugh is a recently freed Black Widow, Weiz is the engineer and planner of the group, and Harbour is the only Russian Super Soldier to ever exist.
The whole cast completely gels together, having both sincere interactions and hilariously inane and stupid arguments. Harbour easily gets the biggest and best laughs of the movie while also believably fucking some shit up from time to time. But Scarlett and Florence are the heart of the flick, with Pugh in particular standing out. She is just so present and intense and funny, often in the same scene. Her and Scarlett have a great back and forth, and I’m excited to see her pop up in the future elsewhere.
The stunt work of Black Widow is surprisingly practical. Don’t get me wrong, there is CGI out the wahzoo, but I was pleased to see real cars and motorcycles being driven and crashed, as well as real explosions and stunt people doing what they do best. OG stunts just hit different, baby. The fights are particularly gnarly here too, with Natasha both beating and being beaten harder than we’ve ever seen. There is one early fight between Natasha and her sister that had me flinching. It’s not John Wick level brutality, but for Marvel it was pretty cool.
The main physical threat here is The Task Master, the brutal lead henchman of the man behind the Black Widow Program. The Task Master has a mean as hell look to them, with a full face helmet giving a particularly cold and brutal vibe to the character. They beat the hell out of both Scarlett and Florence a few times over, making for a formidable physical challenge.
As for Scarlett, our girl kills it. She’s got this character down, and she handles the action and humor with grace and ease and really it’s nice to see her finally get her own movie, even if it’s not as emotional or cathartic for the character as it should have been.
That’s a minor quibble though, as Black Widow is a very satisfying entry into the MCU, albeit one of the more low key ones. But still, it was just nice to see a new Marvel movie again. I get it if these flicks aren’t your thing, but if they are, then you are going to have a great time with Black Widow.
F9: The Fast Saga
When it comes to The Fast & The Furious franchise, I am all in. I am in particular awe of the journey this series has taken, starting with simple street races and a little VCR thievery to actual space travel in this latest entry. The degree of reality breaking has gone up a staggering amount, and somehow I just accept it all. These movies know exactly they are, and have never for one second pretended otherwise. I love that so much. I also love how much of a soap opera it has become, with dead characters coming back to life on the regular and family secrets coming to haunt you at every corner. Quite simply, I just love this big, dumb, ridiculous franchise, and F9 is a solid entry to the ongoing Fast Saga.
Spoilers for F9 to follow.
The main plot this time around is we find out that a) Dom has a brother b) He is John Cena c) He is after a thing that can do bad things to all things so Dom and team have to stop him and d) Helen Mirren can drive too. We also get Charlize Theron doing a lot of standing and a little bit of walking here and there. Four stars.
OK really, the truth is F9 is easily a lesser entry in the franchise. Director Justin Lin, who helmed F&F 3-6, returns, but screenwriter Chris Morgan, who penned 3-8, doesn’t. It turns out Morgan’s particular insight to this ridiculously conceived world was crucial, even in the worst of entries, and as such F9 feels ever so slightly like a shadow of its formal self. The flip side to that coin is that it took 9 entries to even get a whiff of that kind of fatigue, which is rather impressive when most tend to putter out around 2 or 3 entires.
Even with Morgan gone though, director Lin has a strong enough grasp of the franchise that he keeps it all together. The return of Lin also means a renewed focus on practical stunts, and Lin makes sure to put an absurd amount of cars crashing, blowing up and being pulled through stores by magnets, all in camera baby. It’s a beautiful thing to see.
The set pieces this time around never get as absurd as I’d wish, but the magnet gag deployed throughout the film is cool and unique enough that it satisfies, if not full on impresses. Though an early moment in the film with Dom swinging his vehicle with a rope from a bridge to evade capture was bonkers.
I think what’s really missing from this entry in the sense of camaraderie amongst the characters. The idea of family has been so important and seemingly genuine throughout the series, beginning with Fast Five especially, but here it feels a bit like an afterthought. Don’t get me wrong, they mention it a lot, but it’s glossed over. And I get it, it should be understood at this point, you know? FAMILY. That’s what these guys are all about. But it just doesn’t feel as genuine here.
It doesn’t help that franchise favorite The Rock didn’t return this go round either, leaving a planet size hole of charisma that only he can fill. Everyone else is doing what they’ve been doing for years, with only Kurt Russell and the previously mentioned Mirren being the only ones seemingly having any fun.
John Cena really does try his damnedest though. Every time I see this guy on screen he is giving 110%. Unfortunately, his dynamic doesn’t fit as well as you’d think, as he makes for a pretty bland antagonist. Don’t get me wrong, I love Cena. I think he is particularly good at comedy in a way no one saw coming (he looks like a perfect fit in the upcoming The Suicide Squad), but he just doesn’t have the same intensity to match big head Diesel. But like I said, he tries his best.
Probably the most disappointing thing about F9 is its handling of the return of Han, the beloved character who supposedly died at the end of Tokyo Drift at the hands of Jason Statham. I won’t spoil the explanation, but it’s without a doubt the laziest and lamest reveal of the entire series so far. Though the post credits scene infers that they will be dealing with this situation head on in the next entry, so time will tell if this particular plot line can be redeemed.
I know it seems like I’m coming down hard on this flick, but truthfully I very much enjoyed it. I just have high expectations when it comes to these movies, and I sometimes have a bit of an issue managing those expectations, as such, I often see my opinion go from slightly lukewarm to in love with each successive viewing. I slowly fall in love with what the movie is, instead of crying for what I wanted it to be . For example, it took three viewings of The Fate of the Furious for me to accept it as the enjoyable insanity that it is (The Rock does force a torpedo into a new direction with his bare hand, after all).
What’s most important is F9 entertained me throughout. You most likely know by now if you’re into these movies or not. If you’re not, F9 will do nothing to change your mind. And if you are, F9 will do nothing to change your mind.