Marvel’s Black Widow review – I was blown away by the humour, fight scenes and Florence Pugh

Black Widow

12A, 134mins

★★★★★

FORGET about the long wait for Bond, there’s some other assassins in town and they have all the fighting power, gadgets, fast cars and good looks to make you think “double O who?”

The action-packed spy-thriller from Marvel Studios’ sees Natasha Romanoff – also known as ‘Black Widow’ confront her dark past, broken relationships and some of her not-so-great choices as an Avenger.

Having had very ropey relationships with her ‘family’, Natasha becomes aware that she needs to put in the work with Yelena (Florence Pugh) – but not before having a fight sequence in a shabby flat in Budapest that Jason Bourne would be proud of.

While most Marvel fans will expect the top-notch thrill of the stunts and special effects, the script and humour in this first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is second to none.

The fight sequences are breath-taking, with an army of bad-but-beautiful women getting their hands very dirty indeed.

Rachel Weisz and David Harbour bring their top-performing presence as Melina and Alexei – and many laugh out loud moments.

While Johannsson is faultless, it’s British star Pugh who you can’t take your eyes off, with a performance that makes you jump, cackle and even weep.

This is obviously comic book stuff, with quick fixes to the storyline and some very superficial formulas - but hey, it’s a comic book film.

Switch your brain to ‘entertain me’ mode and prepare to be blown away.

Black Widow is in cinemas from July 7 and on Disney+ with Premier Access from July 9.