Black Widow
Black Widow , a movie that comes both too late and just in time, gives Natasha Romanoff her solo spotlight after eleven years of supporting roles and a selfless death in Avengers: Endgame . Right on time because it offers the character development and emotional resolution that the MCU's most underappreciated original Avenger deserved; too late because the pandemic delayed its theatrical release by two years, making its chronological placement (between Civil War and Infinity War ) somewhat narratively moot. With some of the most intense action in the franchise and a deeper exploration of themes of agency, trauma, and manufactured identity that go well beyond superhero convention, Cate Shortland's direction turns what could have been a cliched origin story into a surprisingly personal family drama wrapped in espionage thriller packaging. Black Widow stands out right on thanks to its action design, which forgoes the CGI-heavy spectacle of earlier MCU predecessors in favor of r...
