[Movie] Black Widow

[Shadowferal]

A friend made an interesting observation: You get butt shots of ScarJo but nothing like that with Pugh, and even her close wasn't as skin tight as ScarJo's.

Might have been Scarlet's decision. She was listed as an "executive producer".

[tyrlaan]

My grips of course was the underused Taskmaster combined with the useless need to turn the comic character female. The character did little for the movie so either sex makes little difference. Completely underused for the type of power level these characters have. The character should have been so much more. As a Taskmaster fan in the comics, it was a big disappointment to see that character go down the tubes. There is hope for a future showing given the end but I'm doubting it still.

Couldn't disagree more. The identity behind Taskmaster was a GREAT move for this movie because it tied Taskmaster so viscerally to Natasha and completely changed the dynamic of their fight in Act 3.

It's also worth considering that everything that made Taskmaster, er, Taskmaster, was a chip and a HUD. I.e. someone could easily pick up the helmet from the wreckage and become the next Taskmaster.

Another issue I had was not showing what happened when General Ross showed up. Would have liked to have seen that conversation for the conclusion and how it might have tied into Infinity War given it's supposed to be right after Civil War. Minor grip but something just dropped.

100% agree with this. Super weird to have done this not just completely off screen but also not even drop a single sentence about it at all.

[Zaktar]

Couldn't disagree more. The identity behind Taskmaster was a GREAT move for this movie because it tied Taskmaster so viscerally to Natasha and completely changed the dynamic of their fight in Act 3.

It's also worth considering that everything that made Taskmaster, er, Taskmaster, was a chip and a HUD. I.e. someone could easily pick up the helmet from the wreckage and become the next Taskmaster.



100% agree with this. Super weird to have done this not just completely off screen but also not even drop a single sentence about it at all.

I think part of the issue with Taskmaster is that the concept didn't translate very well on film. I'm not sure how it could, unless the audience is extremely keyed into fighting styles. Basically it only worked when they hammered it in with the equipment she used, and even then it was like "it used a bow like Hawkeye... cool?" Maybe it would have worked better if she were fighting against more Avengers so you see how she can stymie them all or something, I dunno. Agreed though that her identity was an excellent narrative decision, it lent some needed weight to the ending.

I overall enjoyed it, especially the first 2/3rds of it. The film touched me more than I thought it would, and the new Black Widow was charming as hell. Those schlockfest endings are too long and drawn out for me, it feels weird being bored watching people run away from explosions and perform death-defying leaps but here we are.

[Shadowferal]

It's also worth considering that everything that made Taskmaster, er, Taskmaster, was a chip and a HUD. I.e. someone could easily pick up the helmet from the wreckage and become the next Taskmaster.

No. Taskmaster was a perfect mimic because the character has "photographic reflexes."

[Adamas102]

My grips of course was the underused Taskmaster combined with the useless need to turn the comic character female. The character did little for the movie so either sex makes little difference. Completely underused for the type of power level these characters have. The character should have been so much more. As a Taskmaster fan in the comics, it was a big disappointment to see that character go down the tubes. There is hope for a future showing given the end but I'm doubting it still.

I agree with "underused", but I'd say tying the character to Dreykov's daughter (a reference dropped way back in the first Avengers movie) worked well. This movie was entirely about Natasha coming to grips with her past, so taking the time to introduce Tony Masters just doesn't really make sense. Especially if they're not really planning on using the character again any time soon.

I get it. It's no fun seeing one of your favorite characters get relegated to what is essentially a cameo in the grand scheme of things. No matter how extensive the MCU gets, you're still going to have plenty of characters that might have had more presence in the comics, but on the screen they're updated/trimmed/changed specifically to facilitate the story of the ACTUAL main characters. That's what happened to Taskmaster. So while you might have wished for a more comics accurate approach, from the perspective of this being a final Black Widow centered movie the screen character suited it just fine.

[Aurrora]

This reads a lot like you think armor has to have boobs on it for the character inside the armor to be female.

No, it's literally a male wearing the costume, Andy Lister. Women have different hip structure and move differently.

[tyrlaan]

I think part of the issue with Taskmaster is that the concept didn't translate very well on film. I'm not sure how it could, unless the audience is extremely keyed into fighting styles. Basically it only worked when they hammered it in with the equipment she used, and even then it was like "it used a bow like Hawkeye... cool?" Maybe it would have worked better if she were fighting against more Avengers so you see how she can stymie them all or something, I dunno. Agreed though that her identity was an excellent narrative decision, it lent some needed weight to the ending.

See, I thought the bridge fight showed Taskmaster's "superpower" really well, but it was less obvious in future scenes. But I am curious what someone who doesn't know the comics would think of Taskmaster.

No. Taskmaster was a perfect mimic because the character has "photographic reflexes."

Thanks for the mansplain?

I'm specifically talking about what the movie presented us with, not the comics.

No, it's literally a male wearing the costume, Andy Lister. Women have different hip structure and move differently.

Lister is the stunt double. While that does mean you are technically correct about a male wearing the costume, you are pushing it a tad to be confused like "was the character supposed to be trans??"

[Shadowferal]

I'm specifically talking about what the movie presented us with, not the comics.

A female version of Taskmaster named Antonia Dreykov appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021), portrayed by Olga Kurylenko. This version is the daughter of General Dreykov who completes missions for the Red Room.

So? A woman with the same "photographic reflexes." What's your point?

[Lodreh]

A female version of Taskmaster named Antonia Dreykov appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021), portrayed by Olga Kurylenko. This version is the daughter of General Dreykov who completes missions for the Red Room.

So? A woman with the same "photographic reflexes." What's your point?

Uses an AI chip in her brain to copy the 'reflexes and fighting styles'... much less cool.

My biggest gripes about the movie:

The movie should have been structured a bit differently. The Red Room should have been run by; and the Widows being trained by Taskmaster. The unfinished business was taking down an international network of spies/assassins. Dreykov still could have been the puppet master controlling everything even Taskmaster... but that should have been a reveal in the end. Taskmaster trained armies in the comics it would have added a little nod to the fans and given Taskmaster some agency. Being Dreykov's daughter felt predictable... having an AI inside her brain to control her fighting styles felt watered down... almost a call back to Stark's tech in Civil War... which this movie leaned a little too heavily on.

Overall I'd give it 6/10... better than average but not much.

[Shadowferal]

Uses an AI chip in her brain to copy the 'reflexes and fighting styles'... much less cool. .

Nah...chip explained here Not one word about her mimicry.

[formerShandalay]

Nah...chip explained here Not one word about her mimicry.

At the beginning of the movie they say something about the 'Taskmaster protocol' and then show one of the Widows uploading something onto said chip. Antonia herself is never called the Taskmaster, afair, it is a 'protocol'.


They explained all of the Red Room's stuff as stolen technology from other experiments, further developed by the Red Room scientists, like the mindcontrol was taken from Shield/Hydra and their Winter Soldier experiments and then refined by Melina (btw I thought it looked awfully like there was some magic involved and it wasn't purely biological), what if there is an actual Taskmaster running around and they mimiced his ability by technology, maybe with the help of some stolen Stark Tech, and made that into their 'protocol'?

[minkage]

Nah...chip explained here Not one word about her mimicry.

She has 0 powers in the movie.

She got blown up
They added an AI chip in her brain and a HUD to copy fighting styles specifically to make her into a weapon.

[PrimiOne]

At this point I really think we should just accept the fact that villains in the MCU are gonna suck...and hard.

And I know comic readers are gonna have a hard time accepting that because comics are filled with awesome villains that define the heroes they oppose as much as the heroes themselves. There's not FF without Doom...there's no X-Men without Magneto...there's no Spidey without the Green Goblin. The clash with their nemesis over the decades have forged their characters as much as their own actions.

Yeah some honorable exceptions ( not much: if you ask me Loki ,Zemo and Killmonger) and I'm not saying they always fail , no, they usually just fulfill its function and that's all: no "this villain is awesome , I would like to see more of him"-

Vulture as an example.Is there something wrong with the character? the aesthetic? The actor? No, not really, everything fits. Everything it's ok and the problem is comic reader expects more than "Ok" for the villains.

We are not gonna see that in the MCU. The low-profile is completely intentional because Marvel Studios don't want the villains to steal protagonism from the star that is the hero. They just don't want the villain shine so much you can't see the hero's light.

So yeah guys...it's time to accept it: Villains sucks and will suck in the short term with no foreseeable change ( does anyone expect much of the "Mandarin" or Druig?)

So pray our Lord and savior Doom invert this philosophy because deep down we all know that if Doom suck there's no redemption: every single villain will be just a mean for the hero's brilliance.

Edit: Oh I actually forgot the reason I was posting LOL.

I was completely sceptic about Florence Pugh. My mistake. She's the perfect White Widow and the best ( non comical) of the movie.

[tyrlaan]

A female version of Taskmaster named Antonia Dreykov appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021), portrayed by Olga Kurylenko. This version is the daughter of General Dreykov who completes missions for the Red Room.

So? A woman with the same "photographic reflexes." What's your point?

What's MY point? Did you even read what I wrote before your original response?

Or is your argument that unless another iteration of Taskmaster is introduced in the MCU has literal photographic reflexes listed as his super power and doesn't use the tech, it's not Taskmaster?

So was the Maguire Spider-Man not Spider-Man because he produced webbing rather than invented the tech to do it?

I mean, if you want to be that much of a purist, that's cool I guess, but let's not act like your take is the only right one.

At this point I really think we should just accept the fact that villains in the MCU are gonna suck...and hard.

And I know comic readers are gonna have a hard time accepting that because comics are filled with awesome villains that define the heroes they oppose as much as the heroes themselves. There's not FF without Doom...there's no X-Men without Magneto...there's no Spidey without the Green Goblin. The clash with their nemesis over the decades have forged their characters as much as their own actions.

Yeah some honorable exceptions ( not much: if you ask me Loki ,Zemo and Killmonger) and I'm not saying they always fail , no, they usually just fulfill its function and that's all: no "this villain is awesome , I would like to see more of him"-

Vulture as an example.Is there something wrong with the character? the aesthetic? The actor? No, not really, everything fits. Everything it's ok and the problem is comic reader expects more than "Ok" for the villains.

We are not gonna see that in the MCU. The low-profile is completely intentional because Marvel Studios don't want the villains to steal protagonism from the star that is the hero. They just don't want the villain shine so much you can't see the hero's light.

So yeah guys...it's time to accept it: Villains sucks and will suck in the short term with no foreseeable change ( does anyone expect much of the "Mandarin" or Druig?)

So pray our Lord and savior Doom invert this philosophy because deep down we all know that if Doom suck there's no redemption: every single villain will be just a mean for the hero's brilliance.

Edit: Oh I actually forgot the reason I was posting LOL.

I was completely sceptic about Florence Pugh. My mistake. She's the perfect White Widow and the best ( non comical) of the movie.

I dunno, I thought Vulture was excellent. And I am also a comic reader.

You thought Thanos sucked?

Taskmaster pretty good, Dreykov sucked.

Ego was... fine. He didn't suck but he wasn't great either.

It all comes down to personal opinion though, so no need for everyone to accept your conclusion

[Lochton]

Does anyone know when it comes off Disney+ Premium? Haha.

[Tietoso]

What's MY point? Did you even read what I wrote before your original response?

It all comes down to personal opinion though, so no need for everyone to accept your conclusion

We all get it, you liked this below than average movie. And that is fine. I also really like terrible movies like pearl harbor.
But don't try to make it seem as it is any good. The movie as I mentioned is average at best especially since its mostly an action movie and Natasha is a human but it seems like she has superpowers, surviving most of the hits she takes which is ridiculous, especially with movies like mission impossible or John wick out there.

On the subject. Very horrible how they keep genderbending or just mutilating characters for the sake of the woke bible. They did Taskmaster horrible, they might just invent a new character instead of butchering others, they basically deadpooled taskmaster, and its the Wolvering version of deadpool (ugh)

[GreyStriker]

Does anyone know when it comes off Disney+ Premium? Haha.

October 6 is what Disney+ said when I was buying Premier Access.

[Ihavewaffles]

We all get it, you liked this below than average movie. And that is fine. I also really like terrible movies like pearl harbor.
But don't try to make it seem as it is any good. The movie as I mentioned is average at best especially since its mostly an action movie and Natasha is a human but it seems like she has superpowers, surviving most of the hits she takes which is ridiculous, especially with movies like mission impossible or John wick out there.

On the subject. Very horrible how they keep genderbending or just mutilating characters for the sake of the woke bible. They did Taskmaster horrible, they might just invent a new character instead of butchering others, they basically deadpooled taskmaster, and its the Wolvering version of deadpool (ugh)

Eh, Nat has superhero serum-Light.

[Shadowferal]

At this point I really think we should just accept the fact that villains in the MCU are gonna suck...and hard.

Too late. Most have sucked. And worse, the MCU kills them off.

[Lochton]

October 6 is what Disney+ said when I was buying Premier Access.

*cries* Nooo! So long.. *sulks*