REVIEW: Marvel’s New Film ‘Black Widow’ Weaves an Intricate Web

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. 

In their cinematic universe, the new Marvel film, Black Widow, which was recently released in theaters and on Disney + on July 9th,  intricately paints the picture of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka the Black Widow’s life, right after Captain America: Civil War.

In addition, it gives viewers a glimpse into Natasha Romanoff’s life before her untimely death in Avengers: Endgame. If viewers remember correctly in Endgame, in the scene between Hawkeye and Black Widow, one of them has to sacrifice themselves in order to keep the Soul Stone safe.

Natasha valiantly sacrifices herself since she doesn’t have a family to think about like Hawkeye. But the thing is, she does. I have a feeling her sister, Yelena, will be out for vengeance soon enough.

The movie opens up with Natasha, her sister, Yelena (played by Florence Pugh), and her parents, her dad, Alexei (played by David Harbour, best known for his performance as Jim Hopper in the Netflix series Stranger Things, and as Hell Boy), and mom, Melina (played by Rachel Weisz, who can be seen in the Mummy movies, Runaway Jury, and Definitely, Maybe among others), in their house.

Her “parents” are spies, and they leave the house immediately. “American Pie” by Don McLean plays in the background as they escape to safety and head on a plane, where the girls are knocked out and end up in Cuba. It’s in this scene that we see that their dad is the Red Guardian.

He’s essentially the Soviet equivalent of Captain America. Something Alexei refers to more than once throughout the movie. He’s a highly-trained athlete, a master in hand-to-hand combat, and strong. Melina, we see throughout the film, has used her brain to get where she is in life. Natasha and her sister Yelena are put in a Russian sleeper cell.

Flash forward 21 years later, and the Sokovia Accords have been put into place in hopes to keep peace among the enhanced individuals and general public. In Morocco, Yelena gets into a fight and is sprayed by red dust, which takes her out of the sleep state she’s currently in. The one she is fighting dies, but not before telling her to free the others. In Norway, Natasha ends up in a safe house with Rick Mason, an independent contractor and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent asleep in her bed. He gives Natasha the fake alias of Fancy Longbottom and delivers Natasha her mail from Budapest, which includes the red formula her sister stole and shipped out to Natasha to keep it safe. Natasha drives away, and her car is hit at night, an explosion happens. A fight ensues, and the case falls as Natasha tries to get away.

They fight some more, and he gets to the car, but it’s empty. Natasha grabbed it along with a photo of her and her sister when she managed to get away. It’s also in Budapest that we see the first adult interaction between Yelena and Natasha, and it’s not all roses. The sisters are kicking the crap out of one another, letting all their past aggression out. It’s here that we see how strong her sister has become, and they call a truce. The red formula is an antidote for mind control, but Yelena isn’t happy she brought it back. She sent it to her sister to keep it safe, and now they’re both in danger. 

Natasha mentions that they thought they killed Dreykov, a high-ranking officer in the Soviet Army and the overseer of the Red Room, a top-secret Soviet brainwashing and training program that took young women and turned them into the most elite assassins. While Natasha is almost positive they killed him, her sister doesn’t think that’s the case. She believes he’s still alive. They narrowly escape being killed, but not before terrorizing half the city. Natasha thinks she also killed Dreykov’s daughter, Antonia, aka Taskmaster, but that isn’t the case. Both Dreykov and Antonia survived the deadly blast. However, not without some bumps and bruises. Antonia is implanted with a mind-controlling device by her father, and she does whatever he tells her to do. Dreykov takes and trains young women, and if they don’t survive the program to become a Black Widow, they die. Her sister reinvents the story to keep her mind off of the current situation and pretends that they’re still living in Ohio, and Natasha is a school teacher with kids. Natasha mentions she never thought of another story other than the one they’re currently living on. 

The sisters go and find the Red Room to kill Dreykov this time. Along the way, Yelena buys a new piece of clothing, a vest with a ton of pockets on it. We see Black Widow wear it in later films, which gives the nod to her sister and proves just how close they were. Rick Mason grabs Natasha a plane and supplies, but it’s not exactly a great plane. He mentions that he could get her a better aircraft with more time, but this will have to do for now. Next, they grab the Red Guardian, who is currently in jail. We see him arm-wrestling while he’s getting another tattoo. The guy he’s wrestling calls him a liar, and the Red Guardian breaks his hand. He’s sent a message, and his “kids” break Alexei out of prison. They try to rescue him, and a fight breaks out.

Yelena, who is piloting the plane, hits the tower where they’re shooting, causing a huge avalanche, and they narrowly escape death. Alexei tries to play nice with the girls, but they don’t have it. They go to see their “mother,” who we find out still works for the Red Room. She’s a scientist. She lives on a pig farm outside of St. Petersburg, where she’s running mind-control experiments on pigs. She shows the girls what she can do. Alexei tries on his suit, and it fits, barely. While it’s tight on him, Melina still finds him sexy, and for a moment, they seem like a normal family. Melina reveals she never knew who they were experimenting on, but Yelena was one of them. We see the remorse on Melina’s face because while she’s not blood-related, that’s her child. Natasha’s birth mother sold Natasha to the program, but Dreykov had her killed for looking for her. Yelena and Alexei have a moment, and they sing “American Pie.”

Dreykov’s team has found them and goes after them. He takes Alexei down with tranquilizers. Yelena goes after them. Her mom, Melina, is a sleeper agent, and they’re all knocked out on purpose so they can get to the Red Room, which is hidden up in the clouds away from everyone. Melina goes to see Dreykov and talk. Here, viewers see that Melina and Natasha have switched places using one of Melina’s experimental devices. Melina puts a scalpel in her pants, and Yelena gets out of getting her brain cut out. Natasha asks Dreykov if killing Antonia hurt, but Natasha gave him the greatest weapon.

She has a computer chip in her, perfect for mind control. Natasha tries to kill Dreykov once and for all but cannot kill him. He tells Natasha that the real war is fought in the dark. They argue. He hits her. Widows control the world. She severs her nerve to stop his control of her. Melina demolishes one of the engines, and Yelena tries to find the other Widows, but they’re already on the move.

Melina saves Alexei while Natasha continues to fight Dreykov. Natasha is also fighting the Widows, and it looks like she’s losing when Yelena drops the gas, and they’re not controlled anymore. Natasha destroys the entire network of Widows. Natasha and Antonia face-off, but she lets her out of the room. Yelena gets on the plane that Dreykov is trying to take off in and blows it off. She falls, and Natasha goes after her.

Antonia and Natasha fight to the ground, where Natasha smashes the mind control chip, and Antonia is no longer controlled. Natasha tries to find her sister, and she does. Natasha decides to stay behind to hold anyone else off while Yelena, Melina, Alexei, and the rest of the Widows, including Antonia, take off on the plane. 

Two weeks later, Rick Mason grabs Natasha a real jet this time. She tells him she has two families (meaning the Avengers, and her other family, the ones who proved they’re worthy of being called family) and that she needs to break some of them out of jail. In the end, we see the pine blossom tree, which is a reminder/nod to her birth mother, who died trying to get her child back.

Like all Marvel movies, don’t skip out before the end credits. There’s always a scene, and this movie is no exception. We see Yelena grab her dog and head to Natasha’s grave, which seems to be in a somewhat public place. Yelena whistles, something the sisters used to do, hoping Natasha would whistle back, but nothing happens.

Her sister is really gone. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who makes sure people know she goes by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, best known as Elaine from Seinfield and Selina Meyer on Veep), is also there to pay her respects.

Valentina gives Yelena a photo of her target. It’s Hawkeye. In the comics, the Contessa worked for both S.H.I.E.L.D. and then defected to HYDRA. But, of course, she could be working for someone else entirely. Only time will tell what side she’s on in this Marvel cinematic universe. Black Widow is now in theaters and streaming on Disney+.