Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson et son personnage méritent enfin un film dédié. Il aura fallu plusieurs années et, pendant la première moitié, je me disais que l’attente avait valu la peine, mais c’était sans compter le dérapage vers le bavardage futile, les répliques pas toujours drôles et l’action ramollie. Un niveau moyen, donc, mais dans les circonstances favorables du cinéma, en l’occurrence les projections estivales en plein air d’un weekend cinéma FilmBooster. Impression positive, donc. (01/08/2021)

Marvel n’avance plus que par inertie en rattrapant ses manquements du passé, quitte à pomper un maximum sur différents films allant de La Mémoire dans la peau au James Bond sous-estimé Au service secret de Sa Majesté, le tout dans une mise en scène tellement débile et fade que même les fans purs et durs de toute la franchise de superhéros seront dégoûtés. Certes, ce n’est pas le melting pot bâclé à l’héroïne antipathique qu’était Captain Marvel, mais ça n’en reste pas moins un film parfaitement inutile qui vous laissera sur votre faim même si c'est pour accompagner votre pop-corn. (14/07/2021)

Black Widow isn't the weakest Marvel movie, but it definitely falls on the lower end of the spectrum. Still, when Marvel’s throwing around hundreds of millions on new projects, why not give a character who’s always been in the shadows her own film? Even if the story felt a bit lackluster and didn’t really grip me, I can’t deny that the action scenes were a highlight — especially the intense sequences in Budapest. The opening credits were a standout too, probably one of the best intros in the Marvel universe. The cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Malia J was an absolute blast. While the overall plot might be average, the ending managed to hit me harder than I expected. (01/11/2021)

I was thrilled, about halfway through. Black Widow starts as an unexpectedly dark and adult comic book movie, presenting broken and hesitant heroes and heroines instead of jokes, and surprisingly gritty action that doesn't deny that the creators took inspiration from Jason Bourne and Mission: Impossible. It's also humorless, and for a while it felt like the most mature Marvel movie ever, unafraid of themes you wouldn't quite expect to find there. But then, somehow, it breaks. Halfway through, it's as if the makers decided that their audience probably doesn't actually crave something like this and went back to their old ways of playing it safe, give or take. Black Widow does even that well, and when you take away the not-so-good contact action scenes and the weaker Taskmaster, it's at least a solid job and an inoffensive Marvel average. It just felt a little too little when they went with a more mature yet fully functioning style in the first part. I don't want to make it sound like Black Widow is a bad movie. It's a well-done comic-book routine, but as a viewer, I'm not completely satisfied with that anymore. Especially when Scarlet Johansson and her crew managed to show me that they can do better. (08/07/2021)

I have nothing against strong female characters who can have men for dinner, as long as they are believable and have some logical basis in the story, but when the core of the villain organization is skinny teenage girls (in other words, 40 kg in wet clothes) who are supposed to take over the world, I do have a problem. Not to mention that the pheromone idea is straight out of my own teenage attempts at literature when I was trying to write science fiction stories. So I'm thinking, Kevin Feige, do you want to hire me as a screenwriter? A little extra money would be nice :o) (26/07/2021)