Black Widow (2021)

While this movie got decent reviews, and may have grabbed even more headlines when Scarlet Johannsen sued Disney related to the release of the movie, I did not care for it. Maybe I just do not get the Marvel universe, that is entirely possible. The movie revolves around family and loyalty. Natasha Romanoff is on the run from one makeshift family when she’s thrust back into the arms of another. The film opens with a scene right out of “The Americans” as it’s revealed that a young Natasha and her sister Yelena (played by Florence Pugh) had a brief life in Ohio under parental figures Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz). They seemed like a normal family, but ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ were really Russian spies, and the girls were only being prepped for their coming induction in a super soldier program back in the homeland. Yelena becomes and elite killing machine while Natasha becomes an Avenger, but they get together again with a mission to destroy the program they were part of as well as the brains behind it. There is a lot of girl power on display here, but for me, it wasn't enough.