re: Black Widow finally comes out this week **SPOILERS**

Some friends came over Friday night and we streamed it on Disney+.

*****SPOILER ALERT******


Consensus: It wasn't bad, it definitely wasn't Wonder Woman 1984 bad but it wasn't all that great either and that latter part is sad since Black Widow has been around since the almost the beginning. She deserved a better send-off.

They did a great job of bridging the time between Civil War and Endgame but there were some things I would have rather seen changed.

1. The initial fight scene with her sister. It was fun and well done, but for the story it was telling it simply didn't make sense for it to last that long (or even happen, really).

2. Where the hell was the Red Room anyway? At one point they are in Russia, then they fly to the Red Room and then they are somewhere where a frickton of SHIELD are allowed to drive around freely (so probably not Russia).

2a. SHIELD's arrival reminded me of...



How long are they "almost there" before they actually arrive?

3. The troop transport ship that landed with all the freed Widows at the end. That would have been far better had it been Steve landing after having been "listening in on SHIELD chatter and heard you were here and that you might need a lift". They could have saved the scene with her and her sister bonding and have her introduce the sister to Nick Fury, thus bringing her in to set her up as the next Black Widow (or whatever they name her).

4. Fighting on falling debris. That was just a bit too much for me.

5. Deadpool.



I'm sorry, I meant Taskmaster.



No, not that one.



Nope, not that one either.



Sigh.

Yes, that one. The Power Ranger one.

I don't mind that they tweaked the origin a bit to make the character gain their abilities through some implanted computer chip (although I would have rathered a contracted hitman with the natural ability because... maybe he's a mutant!) but the daughter being Taskmaster was so cliché they could have just put up a neon sign about it halfway through the movie. This would have worked far better were it the wife (for betraying him) or if instead of a daughter he had had a son and done this to him to save his life. As it was he did it to his daughter simply because she was female and handy, thus making it a cheap gimmick to keep him as close to a one-dimensional misogynist as possible. They could have also given her some lines and personality, made her a bit of an a-hole like the comics character.

5a. They also missed the boat by not having a big final fight between Natasha and her sister versus Taskmaster (see: Cap & Bucky vs Iron Man) to really underscore how much of a badass Taskmaster is.

Other than that, I liked the overall story and that this was more of an action movie as well as how it bridged the gap between the two Avengers movies and the actors did a great job.

6/10.