Black Widow: The Last Marvel Movie I Will Buy a Ticket For

Back in 2020, I was beginning to sense that Marvel had rounded the peak of glory and begun its descent. Endgame wrapped things up after the Avengers’ story reached its climax in Infinity War. It seemed anything after that just wouldn’t be the same — but then Spiderman: Far From Home was a really nice after-party.

I like Black Widow as a character and was looking forward to her movie’s May 2020 release, even though I did have a hunch it might be the last Marvel movie I would be excited about. But then…

Covid happened. I couldn’t get into WandaVision, but was looking forward to Falcon and The Winter Soldier. I watched the first episode. Falcon’s family has a fishing business? Interesting.

Anyway, Sam and his sister go to the bank for a loan to finance their boat. The banker is clearly more interested in selfies with Falcon than their loan application. They are turned down, with the stated reason being Sam’s lack of income (since he was gone for five years during “The Blip”). He says that things have “tightened up” with all the people coming back from The Blip. Sam’s sister responds with “Funny how things always tighten around us.” It’s clear by us she means black folks.

You can’t help but see this as messaging about racism. The reason for denying the loan makes sense, so there’s no explicitly evident discrimination here, but the filmmakers obviously want us to think of it as discrimination.

I know there was a time when African Americans were denied loans based on race all the time (and that was wrong) — but that’s not the norm today, and I think we all know that. As someone who worked for a bank, I know discrimination in lending is forbidden by law, and I’m pretty sure lenders aren’t interested in doing so either. Banks just want to make money.

(Note: I could be wrong about the above, but I’m challenging the assertion. If you have evidence to show that I am, please hmu in the comments.)

I’m not saying discrimination in lending never happens today; certainly it does, and it shouldn’t. But putting this in a superhero movie implies that this is the norm in present-day America, and the goal is to send a message about the especially racist society we live in. Well, Disney, you’re the last place I would subscribe to for social judgment. Hard pass.

I quit after episode 1, and that decision was confirmed when I heard about a later episode online. This time, I hear, Bucky and Sam get into an argument and are interrupted by a cop. The officer assumes Sam (the black man) is the aggressor and asks for his ID, not knowing he’s Falcon. We’re also supposed to swallow this as the norm in America, and get fired up about it, I suppose. I watched the scene later on YouTube, and it’s about as staged and fake as you could make it. Shouldn’t something that happens every day in the neighborhood at least feel realistic? A for effort Disney.

Note: Once again, I challenge the apparent assertion that this is the norm or even common in modern America. I am not claiming it never happens. Show me the evidence.

I know, this is supposed to be a review of Black Widow — but there’s a reason I brought all that up. I may have been a little bit paranoid as I took my seat in the theater last night. Is that my fault? I don’t think so, but I’m admitting it in any case. I mean, I had just seen an article about star Scarlett Johansen heralding Black Widow as a “MeToo” movie.

I did attempt to deactivate any radar I might have for political messages, and just enjoy the movie. That being said, here’s what I thought of it…

It started off promising and not how I expected with the opening scene, which is always good. After that, the movie had its moments but constantly interrupted itself by trying to be funny and cute, which fell flat 90% of the time. The plot of freeing the widows and destroying their master had plenty of potential but wasn’t well executed.

The acting is good, especially Florence Pugh as Natasha’s sister. There are some good fight sequences, but the special effects are a bit over the top. One of the best things about Black Widow is she doesn’t really have any superpowers. She’s just a well-trained badass, a more real-life superhero — so her fighting Taskmaster in free fall or atop debris falling from the sky just didn’t look right.

Also, they went the cheap route by having the widows under chemically induced mind control. In Black Widow’s days as an assassin, she was under psychological manipulation, which is more interesting and complex — but now the widows are chemically controlled by their boss (more on him later). Oh, but they can be freed by spraying a little magic red juice in their face. Really?

Did the movie get political? Uh, yes. First, men SUCK. We have basically three mentionable male characters in the movie. The first one we meet seems cool when he’s an undercover Soviet agent, but later we find out he’s an idiot, an overweight muscle man with a big ego and not much of a brain. The females spend most of their time around him rolling their eyes.

The second guy we meet is a contractor Natasha pays to get what she needs when she’s undercover. He’s the radical feminists’ model of a good man — the best a man can be anyway. He’s “sensitive” and needs reassurance and appreciation. Not much else to say there.

Okay, now the bad guy, Dreykov. He’s basically Harvey Weinstein — White, middle-aged, overweight with no chin, and black thick-rimmed glasses. He takes the widows as little girls, has them trained as assassins, and manipulates them via Soviet brain control technology. Then he uses them to control political leaders and regimes, influencing world events to his liking.

To be clear, I have no problem with the movie having a villain like the above. There are men like that in the real world — men that abuse women and children. I also have no problem with strong female characters, or specifically female superheroes. I like Black Widow as a character, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Wonder Woman movie that came out in 2017.

Black Widow the movie is another thing. The males in the movie consist of a human trafficking mastermind, an “idiot”, and a “sensitive” man that can be condescended upon by stronger women. That inevitably sends a message: men suck. I recently saw the IT movie at my brother’s house, and felt the same way about every adult in the movie being abusive to children.

They could have thrown in a supporting male character who was a decent guy, and also competent. A female-led superhero movie that feels the need to populate itself with weak or incompetent males doesn’t exactly help their cause; instead, it implies that a female hero only looks strong next to weak men. Wonder Woman avoided this by having Steve Trevor, a companion who had none of her power or potential, but was nonetheless competent, and could even teach her a thing or two when she was thrown into a new world.

I know people who would read this and tell me I’m insecure and ask me if I feel “threatened”. I will laugh. I don’t feel personally threatened in any way by a movie like this — but I won’t enjoy it, much less pay for it anymore. I also see this propaganda having a negative impact on society, which harms individuals in turn.

Oh, one more thing I can’t help mentioning. When Dreykov shows Natasha images of the terrible events of the world he’s influenced, one of them features three police in riot gear facing a wall of flames, with “POLICE” on their backs in English. Perhaps I am paranoid, and I will give the filmmakers the benefit of a doubt, but I can’t help suspecting that this was a pro-BLM, anti-police easter egg.

I would love to see studios return to making good movies that aren’t injected with toxic or unnecessary politics — but for that to happen, they will probably have to start losing money on big projects like Black Widow. Until then, I suppose there’s some hope for good independent films… or we could return to good old-fashioned books?

Some advice, Hollywood: make a movie about your very own Harvey Weinstein, instead of putting him in a superhero film. Actually… that one is better left off-screen. You get the point.