Scarlett's web: "Black Widow" delivers semi-venomous bite

I love Scarlett Johansson, and as a heterosexual male, I'm confident that I always will. Nonetheless, it's the YA fiction author in me that made me yearn for more of a storyline in the celebrity's stand-alone super-SHEro film.

While some scenes offered excellent cinematography and action sequences, I felt it was missing the in-depth story-telling that was given to us in earlier films like "Captain America: Winter Soldier" or "Doctor Strange" (despite the Hollywood version of the Sorcerer Supreme)- a different topic for a different day.

This is no shot to screenwriter Eric Pearson or renowned indie director Cate Shortland; both are great creators in their craft. However, "Black Widow" fell short of delivering the power-packed punch that many of us were waiting for. Perhaps, that can be attributed to the much-anticipated hype that came with it, coupled with the year-long delay from its original release date of May 1st, 2020.

I bear in mind that the film's timeline takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, so there was only so much that could occur. Yet, I felt that Taskmaster was such a formidable and extraordinary enemy that they could have done more with that character and story arc.

Character development and solid plots have been Marvel's strength over the last decade. It would have been great to see a young Natasha's red sparrow-like development in the Black Widow program and more back story to how Taskmaster developed "her" photographic reflexes, which allowed her to mirror her opponent's fighting style. In the comics, Taskmaster was a man named Tony Masters, who developed his unique skill set as a child.

I also admit that I am not a huge fan of prequels, which could be affecting my overall assessment of this film. I loved the prequels that George Lucas with Star Wars almost twenty years after episodes 4,5, and 6 came out, but there was room for more of a backstory there. We all wanted to see how little, adorable Anakin Skywalker became the most powerful, evil Sith Lord in the galaxy. With "Black Widow," there was only so much adventure that could have happened before Infinity War. Had her character not been killed off, I could have easily seen this as a 6-episode series on Disney Plus, just as the likes of "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "Loki" with a storyline that was set in the present day.

Make no mistake about my 6.5 rating of this film; I guess you can say I graded on a bell curve. This movie was not terrible, but compared to the many other exceptional films that Marvel has produced with other Avenger stand-alone missions, this one just missed the bar.

My prayer is that Marvel and DC will continue to produce female-led hero films and that we, the audience, will show up and support them. However, I hope that the quality of story-telling is up to par for those films. "Wonder Woman" was great with Gal Gadot but took a dive in part two due to subpar writing and a terrible plot.

Pearson admitted to Vanity Fair in an interview that it only took 11 days to write Black Widow. Though he said it had multiple rewrites, the short time in writing development could be the reason behind the quality of the plot. In my opinion, "Black Widow" was far better than "Wonder Woman II," but it could have been much better.

Scarlett's presence makes this film worth seeing because she's an amazing actress, and we adore her as an Avenger. It was also a respectful curtain-closer for a role and an actress who deserved her stand-alone a long time ago. Who knows? Maybe with everything we're learning about time travel in Marvel's "Loki," there could be a way to bring Black Widow back for a redemptive reprise with a better script.