Soumik Banerjee’s review published on Letterboxd:
Following an excruciatingly prolonged waiting period; at last, we have a stand-alone feature on Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Except for Hawkeye, she was the only one from that OG Avengers team who hadn't got a movie dedicated to them hitherto. Having said that, I'm afraid it's not what we've been waiting for.
Right from the beginning, I was noticing some incongruities in its narrative disposition. Which appeared to have an acute scarcity in terms of consistency and integrality. While it did have subtexts regarding Misogyny, Male Chauvinism, and all the other stuff of social relevance; the Screenplay bristled with its own quandaries had not been able to generate acceptable outcomes I reckon!
I volitionally got myself invested in all this whacky family drama at the early stages in hopes of getting onto something more substantial. However; down the line in a quite befuddling manner, things started to get redundant and unimaginative! Only then I realized, this is not going to work out. Superficial character depictions and Incompetent Writing; these two main factors are to be blamed for. As a consequence; the entire narration fell flat and was unable to capitalize on the sentimental sides of the storyline.
Such a constrictive way of storytelling reigns supreme anytime there's a bit of action going. Chase sequences, Fist Fights, Guns, Explosions, quick-witted Humor; all very conventional Marvel stuff but that's when it achieves the most. Not to mention, it has largely benefited from a bunch of impressive visual effects (for the most part) and a stimulating Score along the same lines.
Speaking of Performances; Scarlett Johansson as the leading protagonist did the best she could, as expected. She's been consistently doing the same for years now, so no real surprise there. David Harbour and Rachel Weisz were welcome additions but they were gravely underutilized, serviceable at best. The standout was definitely Florence Pugh; without a doubt! I strongly believe her portrayal of Yelena soon gonna end up being a fan favorite.
At the end of the day; I just wanna ask, is this even relevant at this point? As we are all aware of the fact that they have already eradicated the character of Black Widow from their Cinematic Universe. Therefore, she won't be playing any part in the next phase (Phase IV) whatsoever! So, Why now? Why not a couple of years back? Isn't it too late?
