This movie to me is exactly average. To be completely honest I was excited at first at the prospect of delving deeper into the origins of Black Widow. As a fan of the MCU, however, I was thoroughly unimpressed. The movie struggled for many reasons, not the least of which was the acting. Even Florence Pugh, who has proven to be a phenomenal young actress, was at least in this instance bad. I don't think any of the characters were able to keep their accents consistent throughout the course of the movie. On top of that this movie suffered from the same disease that any "prequel" has to manage. This disease being that there aren't really any stakes when it comes to the outcome of the main character. We essentially already know her future. We know that she isn't going to die and that no serious harm is going to become her seeing as she is doing just fine in the next film chronologically. I guess the only real question this film answers in regards to Black Widow is how did she dye her hair before Infinity War.
Pacing, content, acting, cinematography. This film has it all. There are very few flaws, if any, in this film. Ideal films should act like a dream, where the viewer is pulled from the world in which they exist and completely trans fixed with the fictional world in which they find themselves. Shutter Island does just that. Someone who is actively watching this movie will find themselves engrossed in the story and invested in the advancement of the plot. As far as the genre of psychological thrillers goes, this is just about as good as it gets. I will always recommend this movie to lovers of cinema.
The idea behind this film was a fantastic one. It sought to do what no previous film had ever attempted, that being filming the actors over several years as they grew rather than trying to cast others who looked similar at various ages. That in and of itself is a remarkable feat. However, like many films that try to accurately emulate what real life is like, this story didn't have much of a plot. It is understandably difficult to have an overarching theme when trying portray the life and struggles of an adolescent boy. That is perhaps why this particular film seemed to wander significantly. There were a couple of really good scenes and a few powerful lessons that one could take away from this motion picture, but simply good scenes, unfortunately, do not make a good movie.
