Black Widow

Scott Hardie: I think these aren't plot holes so much as me misunderstanding something because I missed a line of dialogue. Can someone inform me please? Maybe I should spin this off to a movie discussion but for now I'll try it like this.

* Why is General Ross trying to arrest Romanoff for not signing the accords? Aren't those for registering superhumans?

* Why does Romanoff not get on the jet at the end of the film with her family, instead of waiting to be arrested by Ross?

* How is Romanoff free to get her own jet two weeks later to bust her friends out of jail if she was arrested? Are we to think she flipped and became an agent for Ross?

* Didn't Steve Rogers, not Romanoff, bust them out of jail at the end of Civil War?

* Belova says that a widow created the aerosolized antidote to the mind control. How? Wouldn't the widow have been under mind control herself? If something else freed her, why not use that method?

* Why oh why did the filmmakers cast someone who looks like Olga Kurylenko to play the agent in Budapest? Let me explain: Kurylenko has been in a number of good movies; you might remember her as the female lead in A Quantum of Solace. I saw her name in the opening credits here and looked forward to her appearance. When Romanoff and Belova find each other in Budapest and are chased by widows there, one in particular gets close to them and falls into a puddle, breaking her leg, and she is forced via mind-control to exterminate herself with a weapon that scars half of her face. This actress looked very much like Kurylenko and I assumed it was her. So when Taskmaster is unmasked late in the film and turns out to be Kurylenko and half of her face is scarred (albeit the other half), my head started spinning with questions, like was that also her in Budapest or was that someone else, if it was then how did the scarring change sides and how did she survive apparent death, et cetera. I even looked it up afterwards and I couldn't find another actress in the credits who resembles Kurylenko, so I'm still not 100% sure that they were two different characters. I should not be this baffled by a minor detail but it nags at me.This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − July 10, 2021 • more by Scott

Evie Totty: * This was after the events of Civil War. Barton, Wilson, etc are cooling their heels in that water prison. It's probably for working with Steve.

* No idea.

* She apparently didn't get arrested. I guess it goes with the above. She didn't go with her family because she wanted to help get them out of prison. I can only assume she found Steve and the jet was how he showed up there at the end of Civil War.

* I'm assuming she was not under mind control (or I'm forgetting a line). She had already 'made it out' somehow, and started working on the antidote when she found out about the mind control. Huge suspension of disbelief here, though.

* Kurylenko played the daughter who was caught in the bombing as a little girl. She 'survived'. The one who killed herself was also African-American.This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − July 10, 2021 • more by Evie

Scott Hardie: Thanks, and OK, yes, checking it out on YouTube, I see it now: The widow forced to kill herself was African-American (albeit light-skinned), and Olga Kurylenko is Caucasian (albeit often tanned). The whole chase happened so fast that I didn't get a good look at her, but it was totally my mistake.

I thought that Nicole Holofcener was wise to address Age of Ultron's worst line.This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − July 18, 2021 • more by Scott

Evie Totty: Agreed. I had meant to link that article myself! − July 18, 2021 • more by Evie

Evie Totty: The 'It fits!' was a highlight for me. Please tell me everyone was flashing back to The Incredibles.

When her sister handed her the vest, I cried. That's when I realized she was wearing it all through Infinity War and Endgame.This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − July 10, 2021 • more by Evie

Scott Hardie: In hindsight, I overrated this. It should have been a notch lower. It's fun but I wouldn't say that it's good. − December 22, 2021 • more by Scott

Evie Totty: As time goes by (and seeing more movies in the theater) I have to agree with Scott. I have no desire to watch this again except to maybe "see things I missed the first time". − December 22, 2021 • more by Evie

Erik Bates: I went back and tried to watch it again after writing my review above. I actually found myself bored early on and didn't finish. − December 23, 2021 • more by Erik

Scott Hardie: Huh, weird. So it's not just me then. If we all experienced the same phenomenon, perhaps it was what Evie alluded to, some kind of excitement at seeing this kind of summer blockbuster action movie in theaters again that caused us to rate it too exuberantly? If Black Widow came out now, in the wake of much better and much worse titles, I think I'd have more clearly recognized its shortcomings. − December 26, 2021 • more by Scott