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A solid solo film for Marvel’s Black Widow that introduces some fun new characters, but wraps the story up in a bit of a mess. While this movie is hindered by the fact that it’s a prequel and we know Natasha will survive, the rest of the supporting cast’s fate is up in there air, so there’s still some high stakes. Even though this is the perfect time to fill in some blanks in Natasha’s past that have only been hinted at, we only get a few details, and even then it’s more tell than show. While the general plot is predictable from all the trailers, the film takes quite a few twists and turns as it slowly makes its way from point A to point B. Thankfully, they this time is used to flesh-out Nat and her dysfunctional family. There’s a fun dynamic here, and while David Harbour’s Red Guardian can be hard to sympathize with most of the time, Florence Pugh’s Yolena steps up and becomes the heart of the story. She shows not only incredible strength, but also vulnerability that steals the show. The Taskmaster is a suitable villain, but a controversial alteration from his comic book origin and surprisingly short and underwhelming action sequences prevent the character from reaching his potential as a bad-ass Marvel foe. The final act is all over the place, starting abruptly and quickly devolving into CG-fueled chaos that mostly ignores physics and just feels rushed. As expected, there is a post-credits scene that springs from one of the Disney+ Marvel shows, and seems to tee up another.
*** out of *****