Black Widow (Capsule review)

Black Widow (2021)

Composer: Lorne Balfe

Number of tracks: 26

Total time: 79:53

Review:

Out of all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Avenger's characters the one that has suspiciously never had her own solo film was Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow... until 2021. First introduced in Iron Man 2 (2010), a Black Widow solo film has been in various phases of "development hell" ever since until finally seeing the green light as the first part of Phase 4 for the MCU. The plot for Black Widow takes place immediately after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016) with Natasha on the run and ultimately reuniting with her estranged family to confront a conspiracy linked to her mysterious past. With Scarlett Johansson reprising her titular role as well as a strong supporting cast featuring Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, Olga Kurlenko, William Hurt and Ray Winstone, Black Widow was met with a largely favorable reception from critics and Marvel fans alike becoming one of the highest grossing films thus far in 2021. 

Handling the music for the film was Scottish composer and Remote Control Productions alumnus Lorne Balfe, a prolific talent in the 2010's perhaps best known for Mission: Impossible- Fallout and his continuing work on the His Dark Materials television series. For Black Widow, Balfe crafts two primary themes to anchor the score which are then deconstructed and reconfigured throughout the work in various guises with the end result being a surprisingly thematically cohesive MCU score. As to be expected, the heart of the work is the theme for Natasha herself, an appropriately melancholic idea based around rising and descending three-note phrases given the suite treatment in the opening "Natasha's Lullaby" that is frequently accompanied by mixed adult Russian choir for added gravitas. While the most commanding performances of the theme naturally appear in the myriad of action cues ("Latrodectus", "Yelena Belova", "Natasha Soars", etc.), Balfe also allows the theme to transition into more intimate applications such as "Fireflies", "You Don't Know Me", the gorgeous pair of "Natasha's Fragments"/"A Sister Says Goodbye" and the folksy closing track "A Calling".

As for the villains, Balfe crafts a single overarching theme for a trio of concepts namely The Red Room/Dreykov/The Taskmaster which is introduced in "Dreykov" as a slithering four-note identity accompanied by electronic percussion and menacing male chorus. The Dreykov theme returns frequently in Black Widow often distilled down to a descending four-note motif that sometimes sounds eerily close to Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel and The Dark Knight when in ostinato mode.

While this reviewers personal history with the works of Balfe have been... rocky, to say the least... his work on His Dark Materials has continued to impress with far richer orchestrations and thematic depth than prior efforts. Now, Black Widow can be added to the shortlist of Balfe scores of positive note. While the album presentation is unfortunately too long and there remains some obvious temp tracking in spots that suddenly bring to mind Zimmer, Giacchino and even Desplat, the tight thematic writing and far more varied orchestration palette at play make up for most shortcomings. In a franchise that is currently sitting at twenty-four cinematic installments (with ten more set for the next few years), Black Widow earns the honor of being one of the few scores to truly stand out amongst the "MCU sound". Ultimately, Black Widow is a very solid superhero action/thriller score that deserves exploration by all.

Score:

4 out of 5