A hideously underdeveloped script with a second and third act totally put together by committee, this isn’t the film Scarlett or Natasha was owed. Neither quite the Bond film it jokes about at the start, nor the sinister origin tie in that was promised, it still manages to be disarmingly fun, in large measure because of the rock solid anchoring performances by Johansson and Pugh. Together they’re electric, and in the action riddled first act, this film soars. When it goes overblown however and the narrative is lost it’s a pain, and the Red Room subplot, with Winstone even more unwatchable than in Indiana Jones 4, is delivered especially badly. There’s so much potential, but so much is wasted - the Waid/Samnee run is clearly drawn on, but the style, attitude and threat are all lost in a script heavy on exposition and increasingly flat direction. The buildups in both MCU and here only lead to a lesser and poorly envisioned threat than Redford’s Hydra in Winter Soldier, the similarities almost plagiarising the earlier film, which at least made attempts to allow suspension of disbelief. I’d love to see the director’s cut because there’s no way this is it. Despite the best efforts of a very likeable cast this film doesn’t have the impact it needs. It should have appeared 6-7 years ago, its impact is nullified by Natasha being dead in current continuity and worse Johansson’s falling out with Disney. As good as she is, after Act 1 the rapid tonal (and odd location) shifts undermine the strength of her performance, the theme of her wanting to clear her ledger and the potential of Yelena acting positively as her legacy. Johansson is asked to do too much work in her performance alone to come to terms with her past (the Taskmaster subplot is awful), and as fun as her interaction with Val is in the post credits sequence, Pugh’s potential only partly takes off, although it’ll be interesting to see how she’s used in Hawkeye S01 next month. David Harbour and especially Rachel Weisz contribute to the likability of the mess, but even they can’t raise this to essential viewing.