The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
UP until now, we all thought Natasha Romanoff’s sacrificing herself so that Hawkeye could retrieve the soul stone from the planet Vormir was to be the assassin’s final gift to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
But boy, were we wrong!
While it did allow Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to retrieve the stone and defeat Thanos, Scarlett Johansson’s exit from the MCU looks to have opened the door for the arrival of Florence Purg (Yelena Belova).
And, based on the recently released “Black Widow” movie, Purg looks to be the real deal.
She has scene-stealing talents of Robert Downey Jnr, the effortless charm of Chris Evans and the believability of her predecessor Johansson.
The fact that Evans, Downey Jnr and Johansson have since been written off the MCU (Avengers-Endgame) only makes Purg’s arrival that much bigger.
‘Divine’ sounds like an appropriate word to describe the timing.
Note this is after just one movie.
The English-actress is rumored to have already shot her scenes for the upcoming Disney-Plus series “Hawkeye” and is said to be the next Black Widow moving forward.
Fingers crossed, is what I say to that.
That said, there is not much else to write home about the actual “Black Widow” movie.
Words like “anticlimactic” and “serviceable” can easily describe the production.
Shot between the events of “Captain America-Civil War” and “Avengers- Infinity War”, the movie catches up with a now fugitive Romanoff (Johansson) after defying the Sokovia Accords.
Elsewhere, her estranged ‘sister’ and fellow Black Widow, defies her Red Room training, and sets out to free the women still under Dreykov (Rey Winstone) who created the programme.
It is all very complicated unless you are an MCU fan, but let us just say the ‘sisters’ are reunited.
Fights ensue, cars race and crash, and a lot of old wounds are opened.
My main problem with the movie, which at this point is becoming a broken record, is the uninspiring antagonist.
From his James Bond villain-like appearance and motives, to the fake Russian accent, Winstone’s performance comes off as lame and uninspiring.
The writers totally botch their presentation of Taskmaster (Antonia Dreykov), the film’s secondary villain and one the most-hyped about aspects of the movie’s marketing prior to release.
In the comics, Taskmaster is a skilled assassin with the ability to mimic the fighting skills of anybody he or she sees.
I knew that because I had to research the character after the first trailer came out late last year. I spent some time trying to come up with guesses as to who could be under the mask and what link they might have to our hero.
Imagine my disappointment!
The character plays no part of value beyond being a henchwoman in the movie.
While her clashes with Natasha Romanoff are a spectacle to watch, there are too few and far in-between.
Do not get me wrong, for this is not to say that “Black Widow” is a bad movie.
After years of petitions and requests from the MCU fan base, I am glad that Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff finally got her own solo movie.
She brings her A-game to the role, one last time, and has a very good supporting cast in David Habour as Alexei Shostakov, Pugh (Yelena Belova) and Rachel Weisz (Melina Vostokoff).
As Romanoff’s surrogate family, these characters allow us to get some insight into the character we have loved for so many years and we will miss in the MCU moving forward.
Purg is the MVP of the entire movie, while Habour keeps the laughter coming as the comic relief.
