The Flickering Myth writing team share their thoughts on the trailer for Marvel’s Black Widow…
Yesterday, Marvel Studios gave us our first peek at Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – albeit a movie set slap bang in the middle of Phase Three – with the release of a trailer for Black Widow, the long-awaited solo movie for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. Here’s what our writing team made of it…
Eammon Jacobs – While it’s annoying that it’s a few years too late, it genuinely looks a decent thriller in the vein of Captain America: The Winter Soldier – complete with John Wick-ian fight scenes and a pretty solid cast. The team-up between Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson should be pretty interesting and I’d put money on the twist of Rachel Weisz turning out to be Taskmaster. David Harbour’s Red Guardian also looks like a lot of fun. Count me in.
Alec Frazier – I am very excited by this. I’m very glad they are fleshing out Natasha’s character. Awesome to see they’ve got fallen Cold War elements. It actually reminds me a little of GoldenEye for that reason. The sound mixing and effects are absolutely on point as well. The main challenge will be to ensure a positive, empowering portrayal of the Widow and the other women from the Red Room, showing that they are more than just objects of lust, but rather women in control of their own destinies.
Gerald Jeffrey James – It looks… okay. I’m glad they are going with a more small stakes story after the preceding films but it feels weird to see them introducing characters that we’ll almost certainly never see again in a universe where every new character leads to speculation. Beyond that the dialogue chosen for the trailer comes off as very generic. Maybe the final product will be less by the numbers but this trailer doesn’t distil much hope for that.
Rod Bell – Honestly I’m really looking forward to this. They seem to be going down the Winter Soldier route and for myself this is (so far) the best of all Marvel films to date, so if Black Widow comes even close to this it’s surely going to be a winner.
Laura Jorden -About time they gave Black Widow centre stage, as she’s a beloved character we don’t know a whole lot about, so that automatically peaks my interest here. Smart move giving this a smaller, coming full circle / Winter Solider vibe, and adding the family angle also hits the right spot, seems formidable casting for Scarlett to play against.
As it stands it’s a definite yes, even though the trailer felt at times a bit, “been there seen that, with Nikita and Red Sparrow” but, with luck there will be enough marvellous originality in the finished film to be more than a series of entertaining action scenes, with a few backstory questions finally answered, and if there’s some much needed screen time with Hawkeye and bit more info on “Budapest” even better
EJ Moreno – Something about this didn’t connect with me. Maybe it’s the “a little too late” feeling or the lack of style/vision here, but I didn’t enjoy it. A female-led spy movie should be my thing and there are moments I enjoy here (Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz), but I don’t have much hype for this. This brand needs a “go big or go home” attitude and this feels rather small scale, almost like something for Disney+.
Martin Izzard – I’m far more up for the smaller-scale spy thriller that’s teased early on in the trailer than the ‘shooting guns while falling over the top action’ in the second half of it.
Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing Natasha’s character fleshed out more and the rest of the cast alone is enough to get me into the cinema.
Jo Craig – Despite the unspecified tone and the questionable accents, I’m excited to see the chemistry that Johansson and her incredible supporting cast can create here. We got a taste of the sharp combat choreography, that we should expect from the Russian spy’s stand-alone feature, but it’s Rachel Weisz (aka the possible Taskmaster) who I’m looking forward to seeing kick some ass.
Ricky Church – I still find it hilariously silly that Black Widow finally gets a solo movie only after her death in Endgame. That said, this looks a lot better than I was expecting. I got a lot of Winter Soldier vibes in this trailer, which may still be my favourite entry in the MCU. The fight choreography looks great and that’s a neat cast they’ve – ahem – assembled. Florence Pugh in particular stood out and seems to have some good chemistry with Scarlett. Given this is the first film of Marvel’s Phase Four, I’m willing to bet Pugh will become the new Black Widow for the next group of Avengers by the film’s end.
So, there seems to be plenty of optimism from our writers for Black Widow – especially its Winter Soldier-esque vibes. Whether it will manage to reach such lofty heights remains to be seen, but let us know in the comments below or on our social channels what you made of the trailer, and what expectations you have for the final film.
Black Widow is being directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) and sees Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff alongside Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family) as Yelena Belova, O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason, David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) as Melina Vostokoff/Iron Maiden, and Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) and Olivier Richters (The King’s Man) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.