Black Widow

It's fine, I guess. 

Florence Pugh seemed to be having fun as Yelena, although getting to play the irritating younger sister seems like a more rewarding role than big sister. The, 'This is a much less cool way to die,' line made me chuckle. The fight they had in the Budapest apartment reminded me a little of watching my friends and their siblings fight, albeit at a much higher level of skill. But the point where they're choking each other with the curtain made me think of two kids where one has the other in a headlock, but their hair's getting pulled or the eye poked or something.

The whole weird family dynamic thing was, I don't know. David Harbour plays Red Guardian as your typical American sitcom dad. A big clumsy well-meaning putz. Who is also a true believer Soviet super-soldier. That kind of humor is pretty typical for Marvel movies, but it felt out of place in what, at times, felt like it was trying to be a spy movie. Everyone else is being so serious, even Pugh, who is playing excited, not silly. 

If there'd been more of them as an undercover family, I think it would have worked there. Him trying to maintain cover and being really unnatural about it. Like Steve Rogers struggling with being inconspicuous in Winter Soldier, a comparison the Guardian would apparently appreciate. By the time the family is together, they're moving into the climax and there's only time for fight scenes and speeches.

Rachel Weisz' character felt like it fit the movie better. She's extremely competent and cool under fire, more than a little morally ambiguous at best with the mind control thing. But she'll also tell Natasha not to slouch at the dinner table. It's still sort of a sitcom mom, but a much more toned down version in comparison to what Harbour's doing. Maybe the movie is too dour without him. Or maybe, since he seems like a true believer in Communism, you also need him to recognize they got used, but their little family still mattered, too. 

I think all three of Melina, Natasha, and Yelena weren't believers so much as they were pragmatists. They were put in situations where they had no choice to play ball, but none of them were under illusions about what they were doing or why. They knew they were just puppets. Maybe Melina with her work with the pigs didn't see it that way, but it seems just as likely she was fooling herself. Like Natasha had been doing when she went to work for SHIELD that it would be different.

When Dreykov was making his big speech about how the world is run from the shadows and blahblahblah, I expected Natasha to point out none of that would have meant a damn thing if the world is conquered by space aliens commanded by an Asgardian. For that matter, what good were all his little widows when Ultron was going to use Sokovia to cause a mass extinction event? But the guy's whole bit is control, so he probably just ignores that.

Taskmaster was definitely not what I was hoping for. Taskmaster being an example of the red in Natasha's ledger was fine. I'd have preferred a freelance killer, but the whole movie is Natasha trying to actually deal with her past rather than run from it, so it's fine. But I was hoping for someone a little more talkative, boastful about their skills, and instead we got a Terminator, basically.

I mean, at least Batroc got to talk a little smack to Steve Rogers.