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Black Widow

Started by touchingcloth, July 08, 2021, 11:10:27 PM

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Magnum Valentino

That's right it was the first one.

Small Man Big Horse

I was feeling a bit exhausted and bored of superhero movies after the previous 741 that have been made this decade, but was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Scarlett Johansson's a decent lead but it's Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Rachel Weisz who make this so enjoyable, and though Ray Winstone's really shit as the villain the script is so strong and the big set pieces so fun and inventive that I found myself liking this much more than I expected to. 8.0/10

Dr Rock

Why didn't
Spoiler alert
BW just stuff plugs up her nose?
[close]

Butchers Blind

How come
Spoiler alert
SHIELD didn't know there was another flying ship in the air?
[close]

This was a fun romp, but hard to say how much of that was down to being back in an imax theatre for the first time in a long time.

Alberon

Quote from: Butchers Blind on July 11, 2021, 09:57:59 PM
How come
Spoiler alert
SHIELD didn't know there was another flying ship in the air?
[close]

It was
Spoiler alert
in a cloud where, as you know, radar doesn't work
[close]
.

Magnum Valentino

Also I don't think it was in America, isn't SHIELD an American peacekeeping force?

VelourSpirit

Quote from: colacentral on July 09, 2021, 12:26:27 AM
I thought it was pretty bad. The bad accents were distracting; it was poorly paced; poorly edited; filled wall to wall with inane exposition. It's hard to believe they had an extra year of post production and this is what they ended up with. Doesn't even reach the low bar of average tier Marvel.
They didn't have an extra year of post production since they completed the film when it was meant to be released, there's no real justification to add more to the budget - the man hours for VFX would have already been allocated.
Definitely noticed multiple jarring cuts where characters seem to teleport in. Film was okay, can't really remember it now.

Chedney Honks

Quote from: Steve Lampkins on July 11, 2021, 10:25:42 PM
This was a fun romp, but hard to say how much of that was down to being back in an imax theatre for the first time in a long time.

King Lampkins, we've missed you.

Great to see you round.

samadriel

Quote from: Magnum Valentino on July 11, 2021, 11:01:38 PM
Also I don't think it was in America, isn't SHIELD an American peacekeeping force?

I haven't seen this yet, but I'm pretty sure SHIELD is worldwide, albeit heavily American-leaning; Age of Ultron featured a helicarrier saving people in Sokovia, but that might have been rogue (it was captained by Nick Fury).

Magnum Valentino

Almost certain the H is for Homeland?

colacentral

Quote from: TwinPeaks on July 12, 2021, 03:08:13 AM
They didn't have an extra year of post production since they completed the film when it was meant to be released, there's no real justification to add more to the budget - the man hours for VFX would have already been allocated.
Definitely noticed multiple jarring cuts where characters seem to teleport in. Film was okay, can't really remember it now.

Films are often tinkered with right up until they actually release, so as it was pushed back a year, it's not unreasonable to expect the director to go back in to the editing suite at some point and mess around.

I'm not referring to VFX.
Spoiler alert
The exposition could have been trimmed. The decision to cut backwards and forwards in time during the third act to reveal plot details like a SyFy Channel movie could have been nixed. Or the decision to cut away from a climactic fight with Taskmaster as it's about to begin to go to a quiet five minutes of dialogue, before cutting back to the fight as it's ending.There were lots of bizarre editing and pacing choices like that.

Also, as BW is a non-super powered human, I find it hard to get past scenes of her being in car crashes and explosions multiple times and not even getting a scratch on her. She gets full unguarded punches to the face towards the end, and doesn't even have a bruise to show for it. I can accept the Mission Impossible gubbins of flying through the air and dodging thousands of bullets, but don't expect me to believe that a car can flip on its back and explode and the driver will climb out unfazed.

I also hated the Craig David looking bloke. Totally unnecessary and awkwardly stood out as nothing more than a plot device. What's the point of hinting at a relationship, for him to then only show up in that field a few times to give her some gadgets? A character we've never seen before and likely will never see again. He could have been cut out entirely.
[close]

touchingcloth

Quote from: Dr Rock on July 11, 2021, 09:30:44 PM
Why didn't
Spoiler alert
BW just stuff plugs up her nose?
[close]

I thought this as well, but it was drowned out by my wondering why the hell a giant floating fortress wouldn't have redundant engines. Even shitty propeller planes can fly on a single engine.

Quote from: Dr Rock on July 11, 2021, 09:30:44 PM
Why didn't
Spoiler alert
BW just stuff plugs up her nose?
[close]

She did say something like
Spoiler alert
can't I just hold my breath, but was told she has to break the nerve
[close]

Quote from: touchingcloth on July 12, 2021, 05:26:18 PM
I thought this as well, but it was drowned out by my wondering why the hell a giant floating fortress wouldn't have redundant engines.

I think it was more that engine exploding and setting everything else on fire?

My kid made us sit through the credits for post-credits scene, and it really is comical how many VFX companies work on these beasts.

Quote from: Chedney Honks on July 12, 2021, 07:13:30 AM
King Lampkins, we've missed you.

Great to see you round.

I'm a crackin' bunch of lads to be sure. I've dipped in and out enough to kind of know your previous account, la'.

touchingcloth

Quote from: Steve Lampkins on July 12, 2021, 10:40:52 PM
My kid made us sit through the credits for post-credits scene, and it really is comical how many VFX companies work on these beasts.

I'm never fully sure why they bother with putting the post-credit scenes in. My first thought is that it's to make people watch the entire run of credits, but then my second thought is that that's pointless - it's not like the credits are crammed with ads that would mean there's an incentive to keep people in their seats for.

Quote from: touchingcloth on July 12, 2021, 10:50:27 PM
I'm never fully sure why they bother with putting the post-credit scenes in.

I suppose it's become an "event". Loads of people waited with us. Seems it's typically a teaser (advert) for the next film in the series, sorry, universe.

The Culture Bunker

The post-credits scene was interesting in showing us
Spoiler alert
the further set up of the 'Dark Avengers' or whatever they will be called, following on from 'Falcon and the Winter Solider', and it did make me wonder whether they'll roll out Abomination again to be their version of the Hulk.
[close]

stonkers

Quote from: Steve Lampkins on July 12, 2021, 11:10:57 PM
I suppose it's become an "event". Loads of people waited with us. Seems it's typically a teaser (advert) for the next film in the series, sorry, universe.

The first one in Iron Man 1 was meant to be a fun little secret thing for people who knew the comics, though of course it immediately spread across the internet, I knew about it before I saw it in the cinema but the folk I was with didn't. It's just become a tradition now. It's a funny little relic that Incredible Hulk has one but sticks it before the credits, because they hadn't worked all this out at that point.

colacentral

Did I miss something, or did they
Spoiler alert
kill hundreds of prisoners and prison staff in that avalanche with no remorse?
[close]

Dr Rock

I think they all managed to run back inside to safety.

touchingcloth

Yeah they were probably fine.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: colacentral on July 13, 2021, 12:30:57 AM
Did I miss something, or did they
Spoiler alert
kill hundreds of prisoners and prison staff in that avalanche with no remorse?
[close]

There was definitely some murder going on, David Harbour and his rocket launcher without doubt blew up one bloke, but I'm sure others died too.

Alberon

Why would you build something in an avalanche zone anyway?

phantom_power

Quote from: Alberon on July 13, 2021, 03:03:37 PM
Why would you build something in an avalanche zone anyway?

Those crazy Russians

checkoutgirl

What a pointless excursion, even for Marvel. It's before all the team up films so presumably this is just a stand alone prequel like Rogue One? But what for? I can only thing of two reasons, keeping some sort of Marvel feature film in the public consciousness, and maybe keeping Scarlet Joeyjojojuiniorshabadoo happy.

But there are so many Marvel TV shows and god knows what else on the go at any one time that it seems unnecessary to release a film to keep people aware. Loads of stuff blowed up at the end, the cornerstone of any worthy film to teach us about the human condition. 5/10

Nice to see Craig David getting some acting work though. Keep him busy acting and he might be too distracted to release any more terrible music.

frajer

Quote from: Alberon on July 13, 2021, 03:03:37 PM
Why would you build something in an avalanche zone anyway?

In Soviet Russia, mountain climbs you.

elliszeroed

How much did this feel like a handover movie, rather than a Black Widow solo movie?

Florence Pugh really stole the show for me. I have only seen her previously in Midsommer, but even in scenes with Scarlett Johansson she felt like the focus.

David Harbor was excellent, as was Rachel Weisz- who was in the Bourne Legacy movie with Jeremy Renner, probably the closest we'll ever get to a Hawkeye movie (I'm looking forward to the TV show though!)

Maybe the movie loses something on the small screen, maybe it should have been released during "Phase 2", but this didn't feel like a BIG movie to me, more a TV Movie/ epilogue.

olliebean

Saw someone claim on Twitter that Black Widow is the best "first solo movie" of the MCU, and I don't think I could disagree more.

touchingcloth

Quote from: elliszeroed on July 13, 2021, 08:12:31 PM
How much did this feel like a handover movie, rather than a Black Widow solo movie?

Florence Pugh really stole the show for me. I have only seen her previously in Midsommer, but even in scenes with Scarlett Johansson she felt like the focus.

David Harbor was excellent, as was Rachel Weisz- who was in the Bourne Legacy movie with Jeremy Renner, probably the closest we'll ever get to a Hawkeye movie (I'm looking forward to the TV show though!)

Maybe the movie loses something on the small screen, maybe it should have been released during "Phase 2", but this didn't feel like a BIG movie to me, more a TV Movie/ epilogue.

I saw it in the cinema, and it felt pretty big in some ways. The most actiony (well, punchy) of the first solo movies I'd say, even compared with Captain America which was all punches.

Agreed that Pugh really stole the show. Johansson and Renner are easily my least favourite of the main cast, so a Pugh + different Hawkeye vehicle could actually be quite good.

Glebe

Saw this yesterday, the first time I've been to the cinema since before the 'New Normal', and before I give my two cents, here's one for the Your Worst Cinema Experiences thread, a couple of girls at the back decided to start talking loudly from the off, instead of having them turfed out I decided to just leave and, after a word with the ticket guy, exchanged my ticket for he next showing free of charge. Btw, was delighted to discover my Cineworld card (which I'd not used for over a year, obvs) had 40 quid left on it, yay.

I enjoyed it overall, although I kind of felt it was mid-tier Marvel. The trailers gave the impression that all the Red Guardian 'family' stuff would be a hoot, but there's actual a lot of dark, odd, disturbing stuff going on (although of course it had been previously been indicated that Natasha's experiences with the Red Room and all that were pretty unpleasant). There were quite a few gags though (a dig at Nat's annoying "Budaphesth" pronunciation and her 'superhero' landing pose, etc). Some decent action scenes too.

Agree with everyone about Florence Pugh, I'd only previously seen her in Midsommer she's just fucking great and is surely destined for megastardom.

I reckon Ray Winstone gets away with being a 'weak' Marvel villain by dint of the fact that he was supposed to be kind of 'background' player, and is quiet a nasty piece of work... just watched Thor: The Dark World again recently and Christopher Eccleston is completely wasted, as is Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 (both two of the weakest MCU movie IMHO).