GRIMSHAW'S ATTIC MEDIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People often say that when it comes to animated films, DC beats Marvel hands down. Part of this comes from the production department, who historically have brought on talent that have worked on superhero animation before (From voice actors to animators). The other part being that DC often adapt storylines from the comics that fans enjoyed. Sure, there are one or two weaker entries, but they haven't been able to make over twenty DC Universe Animated Original Movies for nothing (Though the fact that most of the entries have Batman in them probably helps).

 

Now compare this to Marvel's range. Marvel don't often adapt comic storylines, asides from origins and whatever the hell Ultimate Avengers was, and seem to more often than not create original stories, or even original characters as seen in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. And yet at best in the past, they have been nothing more than average at best, more often being as bland or simply serviceable to the point that you actually appreciate things like Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United just by them being so, so painfully bad.

 

So where does Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher fit into this spectrum? I think it's one of Marvel's better animated films, to the point that if they made more films of this quality, fans might have an animated film franchise from the company that actually rivals DCs.

 

Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher features the Punisher getting caught up in a SHIELD investigation that results in him having to team-up with the Black Widow to take down a terrorist group call Leviathan that's going around selling super-weapons to the highest bidder. Historically, the two heroes haven't teamed-up in the comics that often. Hell, the Punisher so very rarely appears in anything with the word "Avengers" in it that you have to almost to stare in amazement that such a thing exists. But the two title characters have a lot of common ground in terms of living in a more grey zone of the Marvel Universe than most heroes, even if their ideology and methods are different.

 

The Punisher is a silent force of nature, killing all those that have it coming while the Black Widow is more careful, more precise and less gun-happy than him. It gives the film a surprisingly good duo to bounce off each other that really should be mined for future potential in other forms, such as the comics.

 

And herein lies the film's greatest strength: The character work. The film reminds me a bit of DC's Batman: Under the Red Hood film. The action is there and frequently occurs in both films, and the plot isn't exactly groundbreaking (Though in Under the Red Hood's case, vastly superior to its source material), what helped both films is ultimately the fact that most of the time is spent exploring the two title characters and developing an interesting relationship between the two as well as the two characters themselves.

 

Out of the two title characters, the best is easily the Punisher. While receiving arguably the least character work out of the two, the Punisher's character is a perfect translation from comic to screen. He is the violent, cold and emotionally distant you expect, but the film gives him small, brief moments that show the human side to a character that has historically risked crossing the line into a "one-note badass action hero" stereotype. And Brian Bloom's voice work is perfect for the role, at least in my opinion. Punisher isn't one for loud emotions, but rather more quieter and subtitle ones, as demonstrated in his character development. That runs the risk of being a bit tone deaf, but strangely works for the whole of this film.

 

The same can't be said about Black Widow's voice, provided by Jennifer Carpenter. Now I want to make this clear, her voice work does improve later in the film, but in a lot of her early scenes... well, I wouldn't say terrible, but most of the time it feels like the most extreme form of phoning it in without actually being lazy. It feels stiff, wooden, which might work if this Black Widow was supposed to be a cold individual like the Punisher. But the way she is portrayed in animated form gives her more of a fun streak to her (While keeping true to the character's usual comic portrayal). As for the character's development, it's directly attached to one of the villain's character arc and while it's decently done, it never leaves quite as much impact as the Punisher's did.

 

Animation-wise, it's well-animated, even if there isn't that many cool visual moments and the CGI incorporation looks a bit tacky at times. And yes, in case you're wondering, the violence in this film is exactly what you would expect from a story involving the Punisher, i.e. there's a lot and it's brutal. Which is impressive considering the 12 slash PG-13 age rating this film has. The producers of this film don't tone down the violence or the impact it has, but thanks to some careful editing, you don't actually see it.

 

However, I do have to bring up one issue I had with the film, which was its climax. The film is obviously called Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher, and that means having to feature the Avengers at some point in order to sell it. Now, I doubt this film would have been made without the Avengers tie-in, but just because your film is set in the Marvel Universe, doesn't mean you need to feature some constant reminder of it.

 

Take the Avengers and all the villains making cameos so they can serve as cannon fodder for a fight, and I believe you would have had a much stronger conclusion to film than what we got, which feels out of place when compared to the hour or so that came before it.

 

But despite this, I still believe Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher to be the best Marvel animated film I've seen to date. While not up to the same level as the previously aforementioned Batman: Under the Red Hood, and having an Avengers appearance that feels completely out of place for it, I do believe the character work more than makes up for it, taking a strangely unusual team-up and mining it for all the potential it can find. I would highly recommended it for fans of these characters everywhere.