With the Avengers ensemble of superheroes temporarily in disarray, one of its members (Scarlett Johansson), from whose moniker the film takes its title, battles a Russian villain (Ray Winstone) bent on world domination.
She finds potential allies in the ostensible sister (Florence Pugh) and parents (David Harbour and Rachel Weisz) with whom she posed as a family in childhood while the grown-ups worked as sleeper agents in the United States.
Large-scale special effects and intrepid derring-do are wedded to themes of clan solidarity, compassion toward adversaries and contrition for past misdeeds in director Cate Shortland’s Marvel Comics-derived action adventure. But the former overshadow the latter, weakening the impact of the morally respectable points screenwriter Eric Pearson seeks to make.
Watch out for: Frequent stylized but sometimes harsh violence, a few mild oaths, about a half-dozen uses each of crude and crass language.
Rated: A-III, adults. MPAA: PG-13.
