THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – WE CAN AVOID
In the great minorities catch-up session now organized by the super-heroic sagas, there is little doubt that Warner won an important round on the women’s question with the aptly named Wonder woman (2017), embodied in front of and behind the screen by the Gal Gadot-Patty Jenkins tandem. A disappointing return in 2021 (Wonder Woman 1984) does not detract from the merit of the first opus, which Disney will have vainly sought to bring down from its pedestal with the tasteless Captain marvel (2019).
The task was not easy, however. We have to admit that the number of superheroines endowed with an aura similar to that of their male counterparts is quite low in the universe of comics.
Black Widow, which comes out Wednesday July 7 in theaters, will it have this privilege? On paper, the bet, again attempted by Disney, is not won. Apart from the fanatics of the genre, who even knows what this character of “black widow” consists of? At best, it will be remembered that the young lady bears, more or less, the surname (Natasha Romanoff) of a Russian dynasty which has ended badly, that she occupies a position of second knife in the manly group of the “Avengers” from the Marvel team, which she excels in martial arts, last but not least, that the sculptural Scarlett Johansson personifies her in a fitting black leather bodycon jumpsuit. It is to say the poverty of the character. A real job, all the more exhilarating, therefore remained to be done in a film devoted to him.
Threaded weft
In this regard, let us say it at the outset, the contribution of the director Cate Shortland is quite uncertain. Between inept scenario and boring special effects, it is here the Disney Studio which re-enacts us a version of the genre devoid of the slightest plastic invention, devoid of the slightest grace, with rigorously interchangeable plots and characters.
A Russian super-villain, head of the secret service, dreams of submitting the world to it by commanding a formidable skull-headed android as well as an army of warriors whom he chemically holds under his control. Natasha Romanoff, a Soviet spy who worked for the Avengers, her sister Yelena, as well as their adoptive parents – once infiltrated with the girls in the United States – will thwart her plans.
It follows from this threadbare frame in the sleeves a succession of embarrassing situations for the actors (Scarlett Johansson in the lead), supposed to embody what a minimal part of this film would like to pass for a story.
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