‘Black Widow,’ ‘Stillwater’ both compelling though different
When the opportunity arose to get a second viewing of “Black Widow,” I took it. Although the showings were only two weeks apart, I found “Black Widow” just as entertaining on repeat.
Originally slated for May 2020, the studio pushed back the release date about half a dozen times because of the pandemic. Any worry that such a gap between Marvel movies (two years since “Spider-Man: Far From Home”) would disrupt continuity can be put aside since “Black Widow” takes place in 2016.
The film is set after the calamitous events of “Captain America: Civil War.” The Avengers are at odds with each other: Some are in jail, while others, including Black Widow, are on the run. Scarlett Johansson expertly jumps back into a role she has inhabited for more than a decade.
Content on just hiding out, she is drawn back in when she realizes her younger sister Yelena has been trying to make contact. Adopted and raised partially in Ohio, both girls were destined to become brainwashed assassins, or widows. Their reunion with each other and their adoptive parents is both funny and moving. Despite their years away from each other, they band together to try to take down those responsible for turning orphan girls into widows.
Relatively unknown director Cate Shortland hits all the notes of the best MCU movies. It does not reach “Civil War” or “Thor: Ragnarok” levels, but it is a good bit of fun. B+
Stillwater
Matt Damon is great at escaping into roles, and his portrayal as proud Middle American Bill Baker in “Stillwater” is no exception.
Baker lives a lonely, blue-collar life interrupted only by visits with his mother-in-law and two-week trips to Marseille, France. We later learn these visits are to see his incarcerated daughter (Abigail Breslin), who is halfway through a sentence for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. New evidence has come her way, and Baker is determined to see it through.
Along the way, he meets Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her adorable daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Damon makes Baker easy to root for; we really want him to turn things around and make this new life in France work. But there is an undercurrent of well-placed trepidation that something might inevitably gum up the works.
Long stretches go by that seem to discard the murder plot and focus on Baker’s family life. This extends the film a bit longer than necessary. However, when both storylines collide, the poignancy is palpable.
Director Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”) made a laudable effort with “Stillwater.” B
Summer TV
“Gangs of London.” AMC imported this slick, brutal tale of what a sudden power vacuum does to those in the British underworld. With top-notch cinematography and the best shootouts and fight scenes I have seen in a TV show, this is well worth seeking out.
“Black Summer” (Netflix). Season two continues the breakneck pace established by season one. The premise is this: What if “Walking Dead” was non-stop action with only brief looks into a handful of characters?
Jeff Mellinger
Jeff Mellinger is a screen writer and film buff. He holds a BA in Film Studies and an MFA in film production. He lives in Concord.