Black Widow Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

3. Cate Shortland's Uneven Direction

Cate Shortland was certainly an interesting choice to direct a Marvel movie, best known for her historical drama Lore and thriller Berlin Syndrome.

As such it's little surprise that Shortland fares best in the smaller, more intimate character moments - especially those involving Natasha and Yelena (Florence Pugh) - yet one suspects the more high-concept set-pieces were wrestled out of her hands and largely left to the pre-vis team.

Kevin Feige has a tendency to hire filmmakers with limited blockbuster experience, and while that often pays off with the likes of James Gunn and Taika Waititi, in Shortland's case she doesn't really do much to differentiate the film stylistically from feeling just like another overly grey MCU movie.

The action sequences certainly dazzle, but overall there's a lack of cohesion between the quieter character moments and the splashy demands of the set-pieces.

There are also tonal issues which the director wasn't able to iron out during editing: too often the film flings viewers from a deeply serious discussion about, say, female sterilisation, to a goofy comedy scene within a matter of moments.