Black Widow (2021, Cate Shortland)

The fact that this film bears a sheer predictability right from the starting point is what acts as a huge letdown on the basis of building up anticipation for the lead character, whose fate has already been witnessed earlier.

Black Widow, apparently starting off the fourth phase of the prestigious Marvel Cinematic Universe, meant to give us an outlook of a promising future with these superheroes, goes back to the past and deals with the aftermath of the reminiscing events leading to the feud between the Avengers regarding the conflicts for Sokovia Accords. An unapologetic secret agent turned a bolstering superheroine, is on the run from armed forces and government, tries to go awol and has a bittersweet family reunion.

The above paragraph can be summed up in one word only, filler. Nothing really delivers the specific traits required for a superficial blockbuster movie, except for a few dignified hand-to-hand combat scenes, still at par with the benchmarks Captain America movies have set. 

Followed by them, a potent supporting cast getting derailed all the way, courtesy of a lacklustre screenplay and dull execution. The chalk and cheese dynamics of the said family is what literally of their adjective. Doesn't meet at the edges at all, except for a few impressive comic timings from Florence Pugh and David Harbour, one of the better things in this movie.

Scarlett Johansson once again puts up a pretty much decent act returning on the garb of Natasha Romanoff, but the costumes and facial altercations occurs a disturbance in the supposed continuity of the franchise.

But the rest of the cast is there just for the sake of it. From Rachel Weisz as the forlorn yet rebellious mother to Ray Winstone as one of the most awful antagonists of MCU, there's nothing really to describe their performances, although not something worthy of. Add to it, a stone cold appearance of the much-hyped villain from the pages of comic book, Taskmaster, and so is it's revelation, far from impactful.

As been described earlier, the film doesn't really trod on anticipations, not that it wants to. Even after that, an uninteresting script and a loose third act just carcasses the true spirit of it. Seems like the makers had to make this film as an ode to the character, but the intention isn't really honest in the end.