Black Widow

MOORDER

Black Widow
USA  2021
Directed by Cate Shortland
UK cinema release print.

Okay... here we go.

I have two enduring childhood memories of the Black Widow character, aka Natasha Romanoff, which have always stayed with me. One is of the sticker I used to gaze at on the cupboard opposite my bed in the early 1970s. Along with dozens of other Marvel stickers which I wish I’d kept and never removed from their backing when I was a youngster, this one depicted Black Widow in a heroic pose and with a comic book bubble coming out of her mouth saying, “I’m Natasha, fly me to Miami!” The other thing I remember her most  from is the grim and depressing tale “And To All A Good Night...” which was reprinted in the 1974 inaugural edition of Marvel’s Giant Super Hero Holiday Grab Bag (which is where I originally read it and which I reviewed here). It showed a tragic figure who was unable to successfully save the life of the innocent teenager who came to warn her of an attack on her. It was a grim tale to include in a Christmas special and it really helped set the cold war tone of the character.

Of course, when the Marvel Cinematic Universe reworked the character for her debut in Iron Man 2 (reviewed here), as played by Scarlett Johansson (as she is in this one), a lot of the darkness and cold war was taken out of the character. Some of it was briefly touched upon in both Captain America - The Winter Soldier (reviewed here) and Avengers - Age Of Ultron (reviewed here) but, like pretty much all of the characters in their cinematic incarnation of the Marvel universe, she was a severely compromised character.

In this one, she is even more ‘altered’ from her comic book origins in that David Harbour, who plays the Russian super soldier Red Guardian, has been ‘re-cast’ as a father(ish) figure to her, whereas in the comics he was her husband. So, yeah, while it’s true that no card carrying member of the MMMS* would probably be all that happy with this and the former films in the series, I’m kinda getting over the fact that they have compromised the characters so much and am able to just enjoy the films as an entity unto themselves. Which is good because, as it happens and, certainly against my expectations, Black Widow is one of the much better entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It’s a fun and deadly romp which is kind of a supercharged, adrenalised version of the fisticuffs heavy espionage that Marvel does so well and, I had very few problems with it. It also stars Florence Pugh as Natasha’s sister(ish), Rachel Weisz as her mother(ish) and Ray Winstone as the evil Russian bad guy who mind controls agents out of the sinister Red Room. In addition we have William Hurt returning to the franchise as Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross and also actress Olga Kurylenko in a slight twist of a role which... I won’t reveal here.

And it’s business as usual in terms of the Marvel action and I had a really good time with this one. The action comes hard and fast and not always when you are expecting it, so that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. And it kinda links into the Marvel movies which are set both before and after it. It’s also got a nice score by Lorne Balfe which I would have liked to have bought but which, sadly, continues the trend of a studio not releasing a real CD soundtrack of the thing so we can hear the music properly... instead it’s locked up in the dungeon and only a low quality digital approximation has been released in the form of the dreaded ‘electronic download’, which is an absolutely awful thing to do to music, people!

I do have a few issues with it though. The first of which is... why should I care? The time setting for the film is somewhere between the end of Captain America -Civil War (reviewed here) and Avengers - Infinity War (reviewed here). We already know Black Widow sacrifices herself for humanity in Avengers Endgame (reviewed here). Marvel fridged** her already so I a) know she is in no real danger at all in this movie and b) know that she’s effectively dead in the current films so, honestly, nothing is really at stake in this movie. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot but, sadly, that character is already dead to me and it looks like she’ll never be coming back.

Secondly, Natasha does something really cool which allows her to overcome some mental re-programming near the end of the picture. I’m not saying what it is but, honestly, I’m not sure the human brain’s survival mechanisms would actually allow a person to do that. I’m not sure, mind you, but... well, it makes for a great little moment in the movie so, what do I care?

Thirdly, there’s a scene near to the end where Natasha is about to have a meeting with Ross and then we cut to a couple of weeks later. The following scene sets up where the jet plane Captain America is using at the start of Infinity War came from but, surely makes absolutely no sense as a credible follow on from the previous scene. They did what now? Again, I’m not spoiling it here but you’ll surely know what I’m talking about when you get there.

Other than this though... good job Marvel. You’ve made another great film and, as I said earlier, one of the better entires in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which also manages to usher in another important character for future MCU movies. Most fans of the series will know enough to stay put in their seats while the end titles run because, as usual, there’s a post credits scene. The scene brings back another character and, without saying who that is, if this film had been released when it was supposed to have been (rather than being delayed by the pandemic) then I’m sure we would all have been a lot more wary of that person when they turned up in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier TV show (reviewed here). Still, I’m amazed Black Widow hit cinemas at all... although I’m glad it did because, with the coronavirus restrictions due to be lifted in a week, I wouldn’t have braved a cinema to see it after then (although, even before I managed to see it, it’s freely available in HD on a load of sites on the internet... this is the world we live in now, I guess). So, yeah, great film in the series and happy I got to see it in 3D on a large screen. Definitely worth a look.

*The Merry Marvel Marching Society, a Marvel fan club started in
the 1960s which was a forerunner of FOOM (Friends Of Ol’ Marvel).

**A term named after a 1994 Green Lantern comic where the main character’s girlfriend is killed
and left stuffed in his fridge, thus empowering him in his rage and motivating the rest of his story arc.

The Sweeney (2012)

Nick Of Time

The Sweeney 2012 UK 
Directed by Nick Love
Playing at UK cinemas now

Warning: Very slight spoilers coming at you 
full pelt screaming out, “you’re nicked”. 

Hmmm. Yeah, okay. The Sweeney. Wasn’t going to bother seeing this one.

Especially after those dire tie-in Orange trailers in the cinema.

But then somebody on the Film Score Monthly message boards (where I sometimes lurk) spoke very highly of the score and, since I knew it was available to buy on CD (at least, in the UK it is), I thought I’d go and check it out before it finishes its run, after all. As you may have gathered, if you’ve read a handful of my reviews in the past, I’m a sucker for a good score.

I never really used to watch The Sweeney much when I was a kid. It was on in the background I think... but I’m pretty sure it started up around about bedtime and I never got to see too much of it. I remember the theme tune, obviously. One of those highly charged pieces of TV scoring that the British used to do so well in the 60s and 70s.

I seem to remember seeing a bit of one of the two movies they made in the mid to late 70s. It was a specific piece of cinematic violence where a policeman was talking to someone and a sniper shot him through his helmet and a blood squib went off from said helmet as he went down. I remember it having a fairly visceral effect on me and thought, at the time, how well done it was. I think I did catch up to the movies properly again sometime in the 80s, but really don’t remember much about them. So bear in mind when you read this review that I really don’t have a lot invested in the characters and can’t tell you whether it’s a respectful adaptation or not.

What I can tell you is that it’s a very curious blend of a movie. The whole attitude seems to be mid-70s complete non-political correctness gone mad (which is fine) and I firmly believe that without the popularity of the BBC shows Life on Mars and the follow up series Ashes To Ashes, this movie might never have got greenlit. It wouldn’t surprise me if Philip Glenister, the star of both those shows, was approached for the role of Regan in this film version at one point... since his character in those is such a parody of that kind of role.

What we have instead is an actor I don’t know very much about, called Ray Winstone, in the role. Now I usually tend to steer clear of this actor, not so much because of his particular style but, mostly because he plays gangland criminal types... and I really don’t like those kinds of characters. They frighten me. Saw too much of that rubbish for real at school as a kid. In fact, a quick check of the International Movie Database reveals that this is only the third movie I’ve actually seen him in... the other two being Scorcese’s Hugo and Spielberg and Lucas’ much maligned Indiana jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Although, I do believe this movie is kinda coming full circle for him, since he apparently had a role in the original TV series of The Sweeney playing, again according to the IMDB... “second youth”.

As it happens, and most people already reading here probably know this already, the man in question is a pretty good actor... one of those who can combine a love and flair for their craft with a certain charismatic presence and gravitas which makes them stand out from a good deal of their colleagues. He gives the character of Regan a lot... I am just not in a position to be able to tell you whether he is faithful to John Thaw’s interpretation of the role. But he’s pretty likeable and watchable in this... which is all I personally have a stake in, to be fair.

And the guy they have playing Regan’s right arm is some kind of singer apparently. From a group called Plan B? Or maybe he is Plan B, I don’t know. Anyway, his name is Ben Drew and, frankly, he looks really young. He’s 29 but he does look like a bit of a kid. No worries though because, I have to say, I was blown away with his performance too. It’s credible and for an actor who, by the looks of things, hasn’t had a great deal of experience, he more than holds his own against Winstone and the two do have a certain chemistry between them. Again, I’ve no idea how much of a match this is to the original character as played by Dennis Waterman but... well, it is what it is.

The Sweeney is a tough film and its a strange mix because, while the macho, non-politically correct attitude and style of speaking of a 70s cop drama is very much on display... the film is actually set in the present day. I had a little problem adjusting to this because, honestly, there’s no way I can imagine the police these days getting away with harvesting and nurturing some of the values they do in this movie and staying in the force for longer than 5 minutes. Maybe in the 70s, but not now. So while the film is quite hard hitting, which gives it a little traction and credibility (or at least the illusion of credibility), it’s already, right from the word go, entered a kind of “copper’s fairyland” in its setting and, I think it would be true to say that the events which go down in this film would really not leave the main characters to get away at the end comparatively unscathed as they do here. This is completely unreal.

But so what? It’s art. Art is allowed to be unreal.

Another slight problem you might want to level at it is that it’s full of clichés in the various story set-ups, which you will just be waiting to come to fruition later in the movie. For example, Carter’s girlfriend is pregnant and young. Regan’s girlfriend is someone he’s having an affair with in the squad (Sweeney Todd, Flying Squad... geddit?) who is the wife of the head of internal affairs who is investigating the squad's “methods”. You get the picture. At least one of these gals is going to get either hurt or blown away... just to make things a bit more personal. You see it all coming a mile off but... oh well, it’s an old formula but it kinda works.

One of the reasons it all kinda works, though, is because the scenes are nicely shot and smoothly edited with big, dynamic, action set pieces, including a full on shoot out in Trafalgar Square, which transport you along with them. Big shout out to the people behind the sound design (a company called Sound Disposition) on this one. It’s noisy and has a lot of presence in the mix without stepping to heavily on the musical score and, as a result, everything comes alive and gets right in your face... err... right in your ears, when it needs too. That’s good.

Oh yeah... and about that score. By a guy named Lorne Balfe? It’s fantastic. Very close to the sound of the kind of thing Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard have been doing in their Batman/Dark Knight movies of late and it’s definitely a style that’s on the upswing. I honestly don’t think we could have arrived at this particular kind of modern day sound without the influence of both Bernard Herrmann and Philip Glass on the genre, but those are two pretty good influences to have and I’ve noticed a lot of the old school composers, like Johnny Williams for example, have started lapsing into this repeat cell motif thing of late. Balfe’s score for this is like... one step up from The Dark Knight Rises. It’s almost operatic in tone (with maybe a touch of techno in it’s chemical make-up) and you would expect a film dealing with a small, British cops n’ robbers plot to almost fall apart under the weight of such a score... but it doesn’t and the score is so skillfully mixed in with the rest of the sound work, that it also really helps support the on screen action and drama. Powerful stuff which, incidentally, works really well away from the movie as a stand alone listen.

So there you have it. Don’t expect anything original from the story in The Sweeney (I think there may even be a revelation about one of the characters which has got lost in the final cut somewhere too, because I think there was more going on with the story than what we got on the surface) and if macho posturing and tough guy politics is not something you feel tolerable, probably give it a miss. However, if you want a pulse-pounding, ballsy Brit-flick* with lots of shooting and a simplistic but welcome subtext about camaraderie and redemption, then you’ll be alright for a couple of hours with this one.

*How’s that for matching the movie, cliché by cliché? :-)