Black Widow (4½ Stars)

This year's Amazon Prime Day has come and gone. Usually I'm excited about it. I don't buy things at random. I have a shopping list that I've been preparing for months, and when Prime Day comes I go through my list to see what's on offer. Usually I buy a lot. This year I didn't. The selection of films on Blu-ray was very meagre. The only items on offer from my shopping list were Marvel Blu-rays: Buy two, get one free. Better than nothing.

I clicked around the web site to see what else was on offer. I could have bought an Echo device or a Kindle, if I hadn't got them already. There were 55-inch televisions for less than 300 Euros. Very nice, if I'd needed one. Then I found that Clarks shoes were on sale. I don't know if any of my friends have noticed, but I always wear the same shoes. I have very wide and very high feet, so it's difficult to find shoes that fit me. I've been buying identical shoes for the last 20 years, the Clarks Recline Free. In England I bought them from the Clarks shop in New Street. In Germany I buy them from Amazon. The Prime day offer was 33% off Clarks shoes. I already had two pairs which I wear alternately, but I ordered another pair while they were still cheap.

The Clarks Recline Free are beautiful shoes with a leather lining and leather inner material. Best of all, they're very wide, wider than the "extra wide" varieties of other shoe brands. I can strongly recommend them to any of my readers who have awkward feet. My feet have been a curse all my adult life. My feet are size 9 (EU size 43), but for years I bought size 10 in order to get my feet into the shoes. Then I discovered the Clarks Recline Free shoes, and I can finally wear the correct size.

So the only items I bought on Prime Day were a pair of shoes and three Marvel Blu-rays. I'll watch the other two soon. "Black Widow" is the first film.

When "Black Widow" was made in 2021 the character was already dead. She sacrificed herself in "Avengers Endgame" (2019). Chronologically, "Black Widow" takes place shortly after "Captain America: Civil War" (2016). Natasha Romanoff is a fugitive, because she refuses to accept the Sokovia Accords that regulate the activities of superheroes.

Natasha is sent a package by her younger sister, who she hasn't seen for 20 years. It's a collection of vials which contain a gas capable of undoing the brainwashing carried out in the Red Room. A Russian general called Dreykov has gathered hundreds of young women that he calls widows, an army which he'll use to conquer the world. They're beautiful and they're deadly, and most importantly of all, they've been brainwashed to obey Dreykov unconditionally. 

Is Natasha's sister Yelena intended to be her replacement as the new Black Widow in the upcoming Marvel films? That would be good. Florence Pugh is a beautiful actress with poise and charisma. I just hope she'll drop the fake Russian accent. It sounds silly.

Their father is the Russian super-soldier called the Red Guardian. In the original comics he's terrifying, but the film shows him as inept and overweight. No, I don't want to see him again.

The Black Widow that we see in the film is far removed from the comic book character, so I have to watch the film in its own right. It's a top notch spy thriller, not a superhero film. It's one of the better Marvel films made in recent years. Let's hope Marvel returns to its former glory.

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