We finally return to the MCU films, a full two years after the last film was released! Breaking a decade-long tradition, I am unable to watch it in theaters this time (and probably won’t get to watch any of the others this year in theaters either), but at least we are moving forward now, onto the next phase!
Spoiler-free review first, then spoilery bits follow afterwards.
- incredibly good as an action movie, great fight sequences and set pieces and chases etc. Felt like I was watching something from Mission Impossible or James Bond
- fairly stand-alone, though some knowledge of what happened in Captain America: Civil War would give context to where Nat is at the start of the film
- The pacing is good, alternating between character moments and action sequences.
- terrific performances by Florence Pugh and David Harbour, hope to see both again in the MCU at some point
- a bit of humor sprinkled in there, mostly via Florence and David’s characters, but it’s definitely not the funniest MCU movie.
- happy to see Natasha getting her own solo movie and get some development outside of the ensemble casts, though I wish it could have happened sooner
- There is one post-credits scene, at the very end
- Magugustuhan ba ni Mama? Possibly! She occasionally enjoys action movies. The themes are very family-focused, despite all the violence. She would probably ask a lot of questions though.
- Solid 4/5 for me
- Overall a decent start to phase four. Looking forward to the other films this year, maybe by some miracle I’ll get to watch them in the theaters!
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Nitpicks:
- is Nat a super soldier now? I mean, she survives a car exploding and tumbling in midair, and also a fall from several stories high where she bumps her head a couple of times along the way. She basically just gets up and shrugs it all off, it’s helluva plot armor.
- Taskmaster fight sequences were great, but the character was severely underused, and the actress really got off easy I think?
- the scene at the end with Nat not wanting to leave with the others on a plane even while Ross and his men are still a ways away seems ridiculous, and the cut to “2 weeks later” leaves much to be desired; some people on Reddit claim there was probably a scene where she made a deal with Ross but the scene was cut; regardless, it’s an annoying discontinuity in the theatrical cut
- I wish they could have managed one or two more fanservice cameos, and not just Valentina in the post-credits scene. Like, I would have wanted to have Chris Evans’ Cap meet up with Nat in the “2 weeks after” scene so they go break out their friends together.
Other than the above, I don’t seem to have any complaints about the main plot itself. I watched very few trailers and didn’t have any real idea about the other characters like Red Guardian or Yelena, so I didn’t have any expectations to fail.
The whole “family” theme reminded me of the recent Fast and Furious memes about family lol.
See Also