YouTuber Nerdrotic Savages Marvel’s Black Widow, Says It’s The Second Worst Marvel Movie Ever

Taskmaster in Marvel Studios' BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

YouTuber Nerdrotic aka Gary Buechler recently uploaded his review for Black Widow and he takes the movie to the wood shed describing it as the second worst Marvel movie ever.

Nerdrotic begins his review stating, “Somewhere out there, there is a great Black Widow film waiting to be made. One that is violent, bloody, sexy, maybe a hard rated R. Or maybe with guest appearances by Spider-Man, Daredevil, Bullseye, or Kingpin.”

“But instead we got patchwork, lazy, make up Black Widow that ends up making Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow less special. Is this the worst MCU film? Maybe, it’s close. It’s nowhere near good. And unfortunately for Disney/Marvel you can tell this is storytelling from inexperienced writers including Jac “I Don’t Know How To Read A Comic Book” Schaeffer,” he asserts.

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Buechler does note there were some good things in the film, “Now, there were some good moments, and you can tell in the more quiet moments that’s where Cate Shortland was the most comfortable.”

He specifically highlighted the cast, “And there was a great cast that was completely misused. Maybe if somewhere in the film they explained that David Harbour’s Red Guardian had personality disorder it would make sense.”

(L-R): Yelena (Florence Pugh), Alexei (David Harbour) and Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

He continues, “When it comes to reviews, it seems I’m saying this a lot these days. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Black Widow is part Winter Soldier, part X2, part Age of Ultron with that trademark Marvel humor and Marvel morality.

“This movie is not as bad as Captain Marvel and it actually started out decent despite a horrific theme song. But then it devolved into one of the worst third acts in any Marvel film,” Buechler says.

Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW
L to R: Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Director Cate Shortland, Yelena (Florence Pugh) and Alexei (David Harbour)
Photo: Jay Maidment
©Marvel Studios 2020

Nerdrotic goes on to point that the film should have been made 5 to 7 years ago as a number of critics and fans have astutely pointed out.

From there he states, “Black Widow ends up being exactly what it is, an apology to Scarlett Johansson for making this film after Captain Marvel. And it plays off like an apology from a husband to his future ex-wife after he cheated on her. 

He continued, “ScarJo deserved better despite taking part in some of the worst marketing I have seen since Termiantor: Dark Fate. And I don’t know if this is going to be a staple of Marvel storytelling from here on out, but there is some of that weird WandaVision and Wonder Woman 1984 morality, where, as a female, you can do horrendous things, and by the end of the film if you are sorry for them then it’s okay.”

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Buechler then begins to break the film down chronologically.

While discussing the beginning of the film he notes, “The films seems like it was written by committee, directed by committee, and produced by committee.”

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh as Yelena in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2020. All Rights Reserved.

While discussing the first meeting between Red Guardian, Yelena, and Black Widow, Buechler blasts Marvel’s creativity and writers. He notes that fans actually come up with better ideas and stories than the current crop of writers at Marvel Studios.

He explains, “In my livestreams on a consistent basis, the audience comes up with better stories than the current Marvel writers do in comics and in the films. And I’m not the only one to point this out and that makes it even worse. They missed a giant opportunity for some real drama here.

“Instead we get a cheap gag and writing on the level of your average CW show. This is what happens when you hire wine moms to write for Marvel,” he adds.

Taskmaster in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Discussing the Taskmaster reveal, Buechler states, “This is the lowest efforts even for Disney. This is cheap. This is lazy. And Marvel how the mighty have fallen, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“Nothing against the stuntman or the actress, they took a job, but they are just flaunting it in your face at this point. They are just whipping it out and you are going to take whatever you give you, Buechler continued.

He later adds, “This one takes the cake because it was so predictable. Everyone who pays attention to this kind of stuff on the planet saw this miles away.”

(L-R): Melina (Rachel Weisz), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena (Florence Pugh) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Buechler then goes to explain why he believes Marvel made the decision to gender swap Taskmaster. He says, “It had nothing to do with benefitting the narrative or the story and everything to do with #MeToo, Time’s Up, intersectional feminist Hollywood.”

He continued, “Just more proof that the source material is always superior and more proof that Kevin Feige is a sell out. The comic book accurate Taskmaster would have been much better storytelling wise because you would have had Black Widow kicking a** on the Taskmaster and you would have finally given Scarlett Johansson and Black Widow that one moment to shine.”

“Instead you wasted a villain for a reveal that didn’t go over very well and another opportunity to show the victimization of women. Because it had been at least three minutes since the last you had shown the victimization of women,” Nerdrotic declared.

Taskmaster in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Adrienn Szabo. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

Towards the end of the review, Buechler provides a summary, “This isn’t a good film. The directing was awful. The editing was terrible. The only thing that held it together was a very competent cast with some horrific writing.”

Buechler then addresses whether the film is woke. He asks, “Is the film woke? No. Is it filled with intersectional feminism? Absolutely. It overshadows the entire movie and every decision they make.”

Nerdrotic concludes his review stating, “In reality, it was just a cheap, lazy remake of Winter Soldier with some X2 and Age of Ultron mixed in.”

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) in Marvel Studios’ BLACK WIDOW, in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access. Photo by Jay Maidment. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.

What do you make of Nerdrotic’s review? Do you agree with him? What did you think of Black Widow?

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