Black Widow Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

Downs...

5. The Totally Mediocre Villains

Though it seemed like the MCU's much-lamented "villain problem" had gone away in recent years, Black Widow is yet another MCU movie that offers up a totally forgettable duo of antagonists.

First and foremost we have Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the leader of the Red Room who spends almost the entire first two acts of the movie off-screen.

Yet even when he gets a more significant showing in act three, his plan is so spectacularly silly, complete with a laughable attempt at a Russian accent by Winstone, that he ends up resembling a Bond villain parody. Aaptly, we see Natasha watching Moonraker earlier in the film.

But the real bummer here is Taskmaster. Without giving anything away, the character is given the MCU's prototypical secondary villain treatment, showing up periodically when the plot or action calls for it, but ultimately having little in the way of character or personality to make them worthwhile.

Fans of the much-loved comic book character will be disappointed to learn that they mostly feel like a tacked-on afterthought.