Black Widow dialogue analysis, transcript and audio file for The Avengers (2012)
Because some of you might be dialogue obsessives the way I'm a dialogue obsessive...
Collected here are Natasha's most important lines of dialogue from the movie, as an aid to writers who want to write her. At less than 10% of the runtime of the movie, this counts as fair use for educational purposes. I think this counts as education.
Analysis:
Black Widow's dialogue is characterized by casual vernacular speech with light sarcasm and many contractions, but is completely without slang words or pop culture references. Natasha's speech pattern uses both long, complex, grammatically complete sentences and short sentences with implied verbs or subjects equally, with no preference between the two, but her speech rarely trails off into ellipsis or an implied conclusion except in emotional moments.
When in character and extracting information, Natasha tends to have moments of slight overacting just when she thinks she has her target where she wants him, possibly as an alternative to inappropriate laughter. See: "You really think I'm pretty?" "You're a monster!" Vocally, she defaults to a moderately expressive deadpan voice, except in moments of emotion.
And now, for your own analysis and convenience...
The Transcript:
I know how you wanted this evening to go. Believe me, this is better.
I thought General Soholob was in charge of the export business.
You really think I'm pretty?
Are you kidding? I'm working.
I'm in the middle of an interrogation with this moron who's giving me everything.
Look, you can't pull me out of this right now.
Let me put you on hold.
Where's Barton now?
But he's alive.
Coulson, you know Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me.
Bozhe moi.
You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle.
Then what is it, yoga?
Just you and me.
I did.
Natasha Romanoff.
No, no, of course not. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD.
We never lost you, Doctor. We kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent.
Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now I need you to come in.
I'll persuade you.
You've been more than a year without an incident, I don't think you want to break that streak.
Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe.
This is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet.
He wants you to find it. It emits a Gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows Gamma radation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be.
Not that he's told me.
Talk to Fury, he needs you on this.
No one's going to put you in a cage.
Stand down. We're good here.
Hi, they need you on the bridge, they're starting the face trace.
It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?
They're vintage, he's very proud.
Gentlemen? You might want to step inside in a minute, it's going to get a little hard to breathe.
You're gonna love it, Doc, we've got all the toys.
Loki, drop the weapon and stand down.
Where's this come from?
Another Asgardian?
I'd sit this one out, Cap.
These guys come from legend, they're basically gods.
Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours.
He killed eighty people in two days.
But you figured I'd come.
I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton.
And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to his mind?
Love is for children, I owe him a debt.
Before I worked for SHIELD, I, ah. Well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set, I didn't care who I used it for. Or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call.
Not let you out.
Regimes fall every day, I tend not to weep over that. I'm Russian, or I was.
It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out.
You're a monster.
So, Banner, that's your play. Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well. Thank you, for your cooperation.
You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?
Loki's manipulating you.
You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.
Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats.
We all are.
We're okay. We're okay, right?
Doctor? Bruce? You've got to fight it, this is just what Loki wants.
We're going to be okay, listen to me.
We're going to be okay. I swear, on my life, I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and you will never have to...
Clint, you're going to be all right.
You've got to level out, it's going to take time.
You know that I do.
Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard in the head.
Don't. Don't do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.
Don't suppose you know where?
We've got to stop him.
I don't know, whoever's left.
Now you sound like you.
He didn't, he just... I've been compromised. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out.
Starboard 3, headed northeast.
We've got this, it's good, go.
It's like Budapest all over again!
I've seen worse.
No, we could use... a little worse.
I, I don't see how that's a party.
Captain, none of this is going to mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal.
Well, maybe it's not about guns.
I got a ride - I could use a boost, though.
Yeah. It's gonna be fun.
Turn, turn, tu...
Uh, a little help!
Doctor.
It's not your fault, you didn't know what you were doing.
Loki's scepter.
I can close it! Can anyone copy? I can shut the portal down!
Come on, Stark...
The Audio File:
For your listening convenience, here's an audio file of her English dialogue transcribed here along with some dialogue from other characters for context. The sound quality isn't perfect, but was cleaned up as much as possible.
http://anonym.to/?http://www.sendspace.com/file/bm8fed
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)