The Teddies Review - Dec 2021

however, justifies its place in “Phase 4” in the introduction of Widow’s sleeper-cell Russian family: her parents Red Guardian and Iron Maiden, and her sister, played by Teddies alumna Florence Pugh, who debuts as Yelena Belova

2021 in Film: The Marvel Cinematic Universe After a year of delays, closures and quarantines, 2021 finally saw the return of cinema and film. And, in the world of pop culture, 2021 kicked off “Phase 4” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which introduces all-new characters, while familiar faces take up new identities after the events of Avengers: Endgame. By the end of the year, we will have seen the release of 4 Marvel films and 5 TV shows. While the TV shows have their fair share of exciting implications for the MCU, this piece will consider only the theatrical releases we’ve had thus far, and what’s to come. After a year of COVID-prompted delays, summer 2021 saw the long-anticipated arrival of Black Widow , a film starring the superhero of the same name. Black Widow kicked off Phase 4 with a relatively grounded character piece, as opposed to the upcoming havoc of dragons and kung-Fu (Shang-Chi), a race of god-like beings ( Eternals ), and the “multiverse” (Spiderman). While it does feel odd to describe a film in which the main protagonist is on the run from a skull-faced maniac with a giant tank as the “calm before the storm”, Black Widow is just that. The film takes place years before Black Widow ’s sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, filling in the gaps of the Marvel narrative rather than pushing it forward. The film, with a seemingly pointless narrative, takes a character with no future and gives her a past. Black Widow , There will be spoilers … Black Widow

The plot itself feels derived of a half-hearted James Bond film, featuring glowing red vials and an army of evil assassins. The film culminates in the familiar superhero trope of hero and villain dramatically fighting in mid-air as debris crashes to the ground. That isn’t to say, of course, that Black Widow doesn’t feature its fair share of creative fight scenes: there’s a skirmish in a Hungarian kitchen, a mid-avalanche brawl, and a showdown on a bridge with the movie’s key villain, the faceless Taskmaster. Nevertheless, Black Widow succeeds in being an entertaining spy thriller with stand-out performances by David Harbour and Florence Pugh, which alone go lengths in justifying why film was made.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings

Being the first of anything comes with a great deal of pressure and responsibility. Black Panther was Marvel’s first film to celebrate black and African culture. Captain Marvel was Marve l’s first female -led project. Now , Shang-