Movie Review: Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher
Posted By Dan Yun on March 17, 2014
Not gonna lie. When Marvel first announced they were throwing their hat into the Anime genre, I was on the fence. I was willing to give them a chance as soon as I heard Madhouse was involved. I don’t know about you, but I enjoyed their version of X-Men. Iron Man: Rise Of Technovore was ok, with the Japanese influence being heavily felt. However, when I heard of the pairing of Black Widow and Punisher, I was again on the fence. Marvel and Madhouse have proved me wrong.
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher kicks almost as much butt as the characters are portrayed doing in the film. Here’s the spoiler-free story in a nutshell: Punisher, while doing his “job”, runs into a S.H.I.E.L.D. operation and is “recruited” by Nick Fury, in the only way that Nick Fury does things, to “help” find and take down the big bad who is responsible for the mess that they are trying to bring to an end. Punisher is partnered with Black Widow for this operation, but complications arise when someone from the past appears. Simple enough, right? Now, for the “goodies”.
This film version of Punisher is the way Punisher should be! No nonsense, full-on, total BAMF. I think many people forget that before he became Punisher, Frank Castle was a certified military badass and the death of his family made him even more so. The closest version to this Punisher was in Punisher: War Zone, starring Ray Stevenson. (Before I get any hate, yes I did enjoy that film. No, it is not the best film, but I take it for what it is, a violent comic book film.) I enjoyed this animated take on the Punisher. The character design screams real world functionality.
No offense to Scarlett Johansson, but this animated version of Black Widow makes her version look like a Girl Scout. Talk about a strong female lead. I enjoyed the fact that they didn’t make Black Widow play second chair to Punisher. Honestly, Black Widow is not one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe, but if she is as badass as this film makes her out to be then I might have just become a fan. Since Punisher is the cold emotionless one, that makes Black Widow the one with a heart. Any emotion felt in this film is through her eyes.
Overall, this was a fun action-packed animated film. There are some cameos blatantly thrown into this film, but I don’t think it takes away or adds anything to the overall film. For me, it was more like the “you bought a box of cereal so here’s the surprise in every box” kind of feel. Marvel’s animated films have always been hit-or-miss with more films being misses compared to their live-action films which, for the most part, have been big hits. Comparatively, DC has a better track record with their animated films, while their live-action films are starting to take shape. If Marvel keeps this up, they may take over both genres.
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