), zips us through the brutal education of the young Natasha Romanoff as she’s separated from the only family she’s ever known and transformed into a ruthless Russian spying/fighting/killing machine. Eventually, of course, after growing up to be played by Scarlett Johansson, Natasha will defect to the U.S.
All Natasha has are her killer instincts, her spectacular martial-arts moves and a billboard-ready arachnoid pose that comes in for some gently calculated mockery here. Cheeky, self-aware humor is by now an expected fixture of the Disney/Marvel brand, and as strenuous as it can be — look how serious these movies are about not taking themselves too seriously! — a little levity admittedly goes a long way in “Black Widow,” steeped as it is in elements of torture, mind control, murder and espionage.
When Natasha strolled onto the big screen 11 years ago, making a memorable first impression in the otherwise unmemorableshe turned heads with her beauty before unleashing a panoply of lethal moves. It was a familiar Hollywood bait-and-switch, objectification masked as empowerment. Johansson would later call out her character’s early, over-sexualized depictions, and in time those depictions improved.
Herself a recently deprogrammed Russian assassin who’s just as deadly as Natasha, Yelena is played by the superb English actress Florence Pugh — who, between this and her stellar recent turn as Amy in
If BW was released any earlier ScarJo would've been melted by the TVA.
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »
Source: THR - 🏆 411. / 53 Read more »