Black Widow (2021)

Elevator Pitch:  As children, Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova have been members of a fake Russian family in America stealing US secrets. The four escape back to Russia where the two children are trained as Black Widows by General Dreykov. Later when Yelena escapes from Dreykov’s Red Room mind control due to an antidote she searches out Natasha. They rescue their fake father, Alexei, from a Siberian prison and gradually get closer to the elusive Dreykov and his Red Room, despite interventions from other “Widows” under his control and what seems to be a cyborg, the Taskmaster, who is a formidable opponent.

Content: Absolutely no nudity or anything sexy, despite the fact that large numbers of young women wear very tight black clothing. The Russian spy family escape from America. Natasha holes up in Norway but is attacked by the Taskmaster. Once Yelena is free of Dreykov’s mind control she seeks out Natasha, they fight but then are reconciled. They rescue Alexei from the Gulag, using a Russian helicopter. They engage in a motor bike/car armoured vehicle chase. They get together with Alexei, and their fake mother with a plan to take Dreykov down, requiring them to get to his edge of space station from which he plans to take over the world.

A View: It has been quite well thought of by the critics as a sort of seat of the pants ride in Bond territory. I did not know that in the MCU Natasha is dead, so I was at a disadvantage. Then there were the accents. For the first half of the film I had no idea what Yelena was saying. And the fights were wearing, with sound effects like a grudge match between two female finalists at Wimbledon. So in the end it was a disappointment for me, but I’m sure my review will not deter any fans from seeing it.

Additional Info: I felt sorry for Olga Kurylenko who was probably cast just for her name. Her character’s scarred face was seen twice when the helmet of the Taskmaster was removed. A far cry from her appearance as a Bond Girl.