Black
Widow
(2021/Disney 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B- Sound: B+ & B
Extras: C+ Film: C+
Scarlett
Johansson is back yet again as Natasha Romanoff, a former Soviet spy
turned member of The Avengers in (and also know as) Black
Widow
(2021) in this long awaited prequel to all of her other appearances
as the character in the Marvel Studios universe series of films to
date. Though her character has apparently perished in the current
time you read this, this film starts with her as a child decades ago
in what was the final years of The Cold War, then joins her in 2015.
After
the flashback to help us understand her origins (the film does not
wallow on this too much to its credit) as she is on the run after
some events around 2015, as are her fellow Avengers. This includes
reuniting with the members of her fake Soviet family (parents in a
sleeper cell?) posing as an all-American family, for which they get
caught. Years later, she is reuniting with her 'sister' (Florence
Pugh) and her 'father' (David Harbour, fearless co-star of TV's
remarkable Stranger
Things)
and 'mother' (the always great Rachel Weisz) and bad things continue
to follow them.
This
includes the heartless head of the Soviet/Russian operation that
created all the female Widow agents (Ray Winstone) who wants them
dealt with once and for all so he can out his world-domination plans
into full action (overthrowing the Russian Government is never
considered) and off they all go.
Director
Cate Shortland handles the film well enough, though I thought the
dramatic scenes dragged out a little more than expected and more than
most Marvel films, but the cast has chemistry and Johansson is able
to carry the film just fine. One of the top female movie stars
worldwide, she is also an excellent actress and when anyone has her
commercial success, that talent get underestimated and becomes
underrated. She's so use to this role that it just happens and she's
always convincing. So what stops the film form being better?
Besides
the drama running on a little too much on the 'family' theme, the
humor is too obvious and too much (cynical funny Marvel style) and
the endless Russian accents that are obviously fake become too much
and someone should have thought of a way to make them less
repetitive. I found exposition not as good on the storyline as it
needed to be and then saw the Deleted Scenes. If half of those were
still in the film and the repetitive parts were cut by 10 to 20
minutes, this would have been a much better film. It is almost like
someone (or a group of people) were unnecessarily second-guessing the
film and that turns out to be a mistake.
Otherwise,
it is good moments work as well as expected, though it is conscious
that it is also being a spy film, from its Jason Bourne-esque moments
to Natasha actually watch the 1979 James Bond hit Moonraker
on her laptop (among several Bond connections here) and maybe if it
were a little more of a spy film, it would have put it over in a
great way. Well, maybe next time, if Johansson gets to return.
Olga
Kurylenko and William Hurt also star.
After
over 80 years of superhero films, there have been no serials and few
TV shows (until recently) with female leads. In feature films, it
was not until the well-cast Helen Slater was cast in the 1984
Supergirl
that was a dud, but people still liked her very much. Marvel (this
film and Captain
Marvel)
and DC (the Gadot Wonder
Woman
films) make it only five to date. Despite the recent four films
being hits, there is much room for improvement and we'll see which
comic book company/studio gets there first. This is still very much
worth a look and you can see for yourself what I mean in this
release.
The
2160p HECV/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra
High Definition image on the 4K disc looks good for the most part and
has some nice color to it, though the film was issued in 12-bit Dolby
Vision color in select theatrical bookings, this 4K version only has
10-bit color for some reason. Otherwise, it has some fine shots and
looks better than the surprisingly dull-at-times 1080p 2.35 X 1
digital High Definition image transfer offers. Odd it looks so oddly
weak, but even at its best, it would not be able to compete with the
4K version.
As
for sound, the 4K offers a sometimes very dynamic, lossless Dolby
Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) that is well
recorded, edited and mixed well. More of the film is dialogue (and
joke) based, so expect lulls during viewing. The regular Blu-ray
only offers a mixdown version of
the sound in lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1. The 11.1 Atmos
on the 4K is the best way to hear it.
Extras
include Digital Copy, while the regular Blu-ray adds all the extras,
including those Deleted Scenes noted above,
a Gag Reel, Filmmaker's Introduction and two behind the scenes
featurettes (per the press release, but they are good):
Sisters
Gonna Work It Out
- Watch Scarlett and Florence as they train, fight, and bond to
become the sister duo in ''Black
Widow.''
Listen as the cast and crew discuss the characters, rigorous
training, and building the dynamic between the two fearsome siblings.
and
Go Big
If You're Going Home
- Step back to appreciate the size and scale of ''Black
Widow'''s
solo film. Shot around the world, the film balances family and drama
with mind-blowing action. The cast and crew reveal the intricacies
of stunts that made the film so action-packed.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
