Black Widow (2021) - Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, David Harbour

[AlbertV]

Scarlett Johansson is finally getting her standalone Black Widow movie. While a release date has not been locked in yet, a director has already been found in the form of Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland. A script by Jac Schaeffer with re-writes by Ned Benson has also been approved by Kevin Feige. However, today, three more cast members have been announced and joining Johansson, who returns as Natasha Romanoff. They are Florence Pugh (Fighting with My Family, The Commuter), who looks to play a fellow spy; rumored to join are Rachel Weisz (The Mummy & The Mummy Returns) and David Harbour (Hellboy, Stranger Things), possibly as the film's villains.

Shooting begins in June.

https://www.slashfilm.com/black-widow-cast-rachel-weisz-david-harbour/

Edited June 24, 2021 by AlbertV

[AlbertV]

Shooting has begun in London and Rachel Weisz, David Harbour, and Ray Winstone have joined the cast. It has also been revealed that Florence Pugh may actually be playing Yelena Belova, who would also be known as Black Widow after Natasha Romanoff. The two underwent the same training and at first were rivals until they became allies. 

[AlbertV]

Black Widow will be the first Marvel Phase 4 film, with a release date of May 5, 2020. Rachel Weisz has revealed that both she and Florence Pugh will be other Black Widows. While Scarlett Johansson will play Natasha Romanoff, it was confirmed that Florence Pugh will in fact play Yelena Belova while Rachel Weisz will play Melisa Vostokoff, who in the comics is known as the "Iron Maiden" while David Harbour will play Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian. There is also major rumor that The Taskmaster will be the main villain, but just who is the Taskmaster? Concept art right below

https://geektyrant.com/news/rachel-weisz-says-their-are-multiple-black-widow-characters-in-marvels-black-widow

Edited July 30, 2019 by AlbertV

[AlbertV]

The D23 poster has the first look at not only Black Widow's new costume but also, the 1st look at David Harbour in full Red Guardian armor

[AlbertV]

 

[Drunken Monk]

It certainly looks like a movie of two halves. cool spy flick and big CGI silliness. I'm on board.

[Gaijin84]

Martin Scorsese approves

[AlbertV]

Special look...The Taskmaster is officially the villain of the film!

 

[Drunken Monk]

James Young, the fight coordinator/choreographer on most of the Avengers movies is handling the action so hopefully it'll have some decent bouts of fisticuffs.

[AlbertV]

So with the film now coming on November 6, director Cate Shortland in an interview said the film will not only be a bridge film with Natasha Romanoff and "family" taking on the Taskmaster, but the film will ultimately pass the torch from Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff to Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova as the new Black Widow, contrary to Pugh's statements earlier this year that she would NOT be the new Black Widow. Looks like something happened in recent months that changed that tune. Shortland said:

“[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction. And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”

https://www.darkhorizons.com/black-widow-sets-up-pugh-as-successor/

[SamSeed]

This has been pushed back to May 2021 and the whole Marvel slate has followed suit: https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/black-widow-moves-may-2021/

[Secret Executioner]

I was questionning the idea, as while I felt Black Widow was a likeable and competent character - as seen in the several MCU flicks she had a big role in, and BTW I liked her the best in Winter Soldier where she had great chemistry with Cap' and they formed a great team -, she may seem a bit weak to have a movie of her own. That said, a spy film where she gets a "sucessor" ? Sounds good to me and it would make sense seeing her fate in Endgame. The movie could also explain what she was doing during the time she was away from the rest of the main MCU cast - IIRC, it's mentionned in Infinity War.

[Super Ninja]

Black Widow should be arriving to cinemas near you in the next two weeks or so. Personally I'm excited.

On 1/14/2020 at 6:46 PM, Drunken Monk said:

James Young, the fight coordinator/choreographer on most of the Avengers movies is handling the action so hopefully it'll have some decent bouts of fisticuffs.

Didn't really pay attention to the fights in the Avengers movies to be honest so not sure what to expect. Young, a member of Thousand Pounds Action Company, doesn't seem very experienced, hope he prepared something good for us.

On the other hand, Heidi Moneymaker is once again gonna be doubling for Scarlet, but so is Mickey Facchinello who also seems to be a memeber of Thousand Pounds Action Company. From what I know she used to work with LBP Stunts so if anyone can shed some light on this, it would be great.

[AlbertV]

2 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

Black Widow should be arriving to cinemas near you in the next two weeks or so. Personally I'm excited.

Didn't really pay attention to the fights in the Avengers movies to be honest so not sure what to expect. Young, a member of Thousand Pounds Action Company, doesn't seem very experienced, hope he prepared something good for us.

On the other hand, Heidi Moneymaker is once again gonna be doubling for Scarlet, but so is Mickey Facchinello who also seems to be a memeber of Thousand Pounds Action Company. From what I know she used to work with LBP Stunts so if anyone can shed some light on this, it would be great.

James Young choreographed the knife fight and trained Sebastian Stan for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Mickey was once a member of LBP Stunts. She and Brendon Huor once did a homage to the Jackie Chan-Benny Urquidez fight from Wheels on Meals.

 

[Super Ninja]

10 hours ago, AlbertV said:

James Young choreographed the knife fight and trained Sebastian Stan for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

The action in Winter Soldier was sweet, this gives me hope Black Widow will deliver.

10 hours ago, AlbertV said:

Mickey was once a member of LBP Stunts. She and Brendon Huor once did a homage to the Jackie Chan-Benny Urquidez fight from Wheels on Meals.

I thought maybe she's with both teams at the moment, kinda like JJ Perry is a member of 87/11 and an honorary member of LBP.

Good to know, I wasn't aware stuntmen switched teams, kinda took it for granted they're loyal to one.

[Drunken Monk]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's got everything you want from a Marvel movie: big heart, solid action set pieces, a sense of humor and great characters. It's not quite as good as, say, Thor Ragnarok or Captain America: The Winter Soldier but it's an excellent little addition to the MCU.

Florence Pugh steals the show as Black Widow's sister and I look forward to seeing more of her.

[AlbertV]

45 minutes ago, Drunken Monk said:

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's got everything you want from a Marvel movie: big heart, solid action set pieces, a sense of humor and great characters. It's not quite as good as, say, Thor Ragnarok or Captain America: The Winter Soldier but it's an excellent little addition to the MCU.

Florence Pugh steals the show as Black Widow's sister and I look forward to seeing more of her.

I'll be checking it out this week. I have heard that Pugh's Yelena will be the new BW and she will appear in the upcoming Hawkeye series opposite Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld (who will become the new Hawkeye)

[laagi]

I might be biased because I'm a bit exhausted by the entire Marvel (movie/tv) universe. Nevertheless was looking forward to this...

Unfortunately to me this is just another generic Marvel scavenger hunt. Running from one action scene to another. Also the PG-13 rating does show its ugly face here. Literally hundreds of bullets can be shot with little to apparent no harm whatsoever. 

Remember Natasha doesn't have any actual superpowers. However, here it sure seems she does. Or maybe just one or two guardian angels watching over her. 

The best part to me were the family dynamics. They worked really well. Also an early action scene where Natasha squares off in an apartment with her younger sister Yelena. The rest is just eye candy. 

I'm starting to really dislike how they keep just using different characters but repeating the same old formula all over again. Yeah it's entertaining I guess for the most part but it's nothing that will keep me coming back and wanting more. 

Last but not least I think it's worth mentioning that most of the actors did a great job. Especially Florence Pugh and David Harbour. Although the entire russian accent thing is another story again.

 

[DarthKato]

2 hours ago, laagi said:

Unfortunately to me this is just another generic Marvel scavenger hunt. Running from one action scene to another. Also the PG-13 rating does show its ugly face here. Literally hundreds of bullets can be shot with little to apparent no harm whatsoever. 

Eh, I hate when movies have what I like to call "A-Team Syndrome". If you are going to have a movie/TV Show with that much gunfire, throw an "R-Rating" on that sucker and show us some blood and carnage. We can take it. 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Black Widow (2021: Cate Shortland): 

Marvel feels tired.  Funny, just a few years ago I wondered when Marvel was going to burn out for me.  I enjoyed having fun in the theater.  I knew at some point a repetition of stories and scenarios would get old.  But I had no idea when it would happen.  Then Captain Marvel came.  I am joking a bit.  Ant-Man was a bit lackluster (with a good finale). I thought Black Panther was very overrated (while being a decent film, but there was no good reason it should have been nominated for Best Picture), Thor: Ragnorak felt like Guardians of the Galaxy part 3.  But it was Captain Marvel to be the first film I really did not like in the MCU with its thin characters, overt political pushes and one very annoying lead actress.  Now Black Widow is better than Captain Marvel.  It has a solid lead in Scarlett Johansson and the history of the character.  But it is or at least close to my second least favorite MCU movie. 

First a theater story: 

I get there at 1:00 exactly yesterday.  Normally there is trailers (when I went to The Conjuring: The Devil Made me Do It, they skipped trailers to my chagrin). I enter the theater and it was empty (I knew only two other people bought tickets) and the lights were on.  I waited a bit and then complained.  Finally, the “Before the Movie” trivia, commercials come on in a loop.  I complain again (the two people had finally got there).  Finally the trailers, so the movie does not start until 1:40.  I was a little miffed.  But I’m a lot more bold then I used to be.  Don’t mess with my movie time. 

Back to the film: 

Several people told me that the action was good.  I found some of the action scenes decent-to-good (the whole middle of the film slows down), but the fight scenes were bad.  Influenced by Paul Greengrass's fast paced cuts and shaky-cam (oh this killed the fight scenes in Venom as well and countless others) it is nowhere near as good as the hand-to-hand scenes  in Winter Soldier for example (love the elevator fight).  But guess where you get a lot of shaky cam (bad handheld) -- throughout the whole film.  They are talking and like the first Hunger Games the camera never stops bouncing around.  It drives me nuts once you start noticing it.  The main bad person is a masked mimic (who mostly mimics Captain America, is a badass and apparently is mostly a robot – I know you know once you watch the film what the sex of the character is and who it is).  The mimicry reminded me of X-Men Apocalypse (an antagonist with way too much power) and unfortunately like most of this film its parts are all derived from other movies). 

What is good: 

The movie starts off with a pseudo-Russian (Soviet Union at that time) family undercover.  Just a normal everyday family with one Russian super-soldier, a wife and two kids who could probably kill most other kids.  Then they get found out (I kind of wish the backstory would have went longer).  When the cover gets blown they all go there separate ways. 

I like the relationship and banter between Black Widow and her sister Yelena (Florence Pugh; she will be in the Hawkeye mini-series).  This is the one area where the film felt fine, fun and fresh.  The pseudo-family reunion is decent in the middle part of the film, but slows everything down. 

What is bad: 

I have already gone over the action.  The pace of the film falls flat, especially in the middle where it feels like it is in a standstill.  I hate, like in Birds of Prey, all the men characters are evil or stupid.  There are no female villains (they are all under control, not a spoiler as this is told early in the film).  Wonder Woman had a great female antagonist in Elena Anaya (reminds me I still need to see Sex and Lucía).  Since this is a prequel to several later films we know what will not happen: no main character will die.  A sense of urgency seems lost.  It also feels a bit cheaper than most of the MCU – almost like it is an expensive made-for-TV movie. 

I am glad I saw this in the theater.  I do not have an urge to purchase it later on (though I might since I have the rest of MCU on media). 

[laagi]

15 hours ago, masterofoneinchpunch said:

I get there at 1:00 exactly yesterday.  Normally there is trailers (when I went to The Conjuring: The Devil Made me Do It, they skipped trailers to my chagrin). I enter the theater and it was empty (I knew only two other people bought tickets) and the lights were on.  I waited a bit and then complained.  Finally, the “Before the Movie” trivia, commercials come on in a loop.  I complain again (the two people had finally got there).  Finally the trailers, so the movie does not start until 1:40.  I was a little miffed.  But I’m a lot more bold then I used to be.  Don’t mess with my movie time. 

I'm usually on the receiving end having managed a theater for the last 2+ years  Glad you were able to enjoy this basically by yourself. I see what crowd we sometimes get and believe me that would be reason enough for me to never step foot into a theater again. I know...

[masterofoneinchpunch]

5 hours ago, laagi said:

I'm usually on the receiving end having managed a theater for the last 2+ years  Glad you were able to enjoy this basically by yourself. I see what crowd we sometimes get and believe me that would be reason enough for me to never step foot into a theater again. I know...

The times I go I tend to get the theater close to myself (sometimes even get the theater to myself -- I love that -- saw Doctor Sleep by myself which was so fun).

[SamSeed]

This is by some distance the most average MCU film. Black Widow deserved so much better. For a start, it has absolutely no reason to exist. I couldn't stop thinking that you could skip it and miss absolutely nothing story wise.

I liked the fights but even they seemed to lack any real power. The one thing I did love was Ray Winstone, but as he was introduced so late and not set up as a threat it all fell flat.

[sym8]

Wasn’t a fan of this.I have to admit I’m not a big Marvel fan and I was only here for the action but I was left a little underwhelmed,I think I’ve just become tired of the overuse of cgi.I understand there is a need for it especially in these movies but it’s seems to becoming very repetitive,and why can’t we have a fight scene that isn’t reliant on wires.Worth watching if your a fan but not for me.👍👎👍👎

[Super Ninja]

I really enjoyed it and am glad I decided to catch it on the big screen. Black Widow is easily in top five MCU films, next to the first Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange and first Avengers, think that was the one I liked the most. There's plenty of good action, the humor works (even if it takes over too much in the middle "family reunion" part) and it's really well paced. The stuntmen sure earned their money here as well as the screenwriters, who the hell can keep track of what all has happened in MCU so far?

On 7/12/2021 at 4:37 PM, Drunken Monk said:

Florence Pugh steals the show as Black Widow's sister and I look forward to seeing more of her.

Agreed. As much as she irritated me in Midsommar, she made me laugh here, guess that means she's a good actor. Also, she was kinda hot here, not an easy thing to be noticed when you're standing next to Scarlett.