I don’t know how to start reviews with the MCU, and Thunderbolts* is no different. There have been so many times where the conversation is about getting the MCU back on track or if the superhero movie is over. I think that the debate will be better served in July when both Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman are released.
With the Thunderbolts*, I find it interesting how it’s set up as a team of quirky characters who must learn to get along. It is like the many movies after Guardians of the Galaxy that use this setup and trope for a new movie. It’s new for Marvel, though, as they’ve had or have the Guardians. Still, with that group done, I guess they need something or someone else to bring some of that magic back to the MCU. This time, using a disparate team of characters, mostly from Disney+ projects, and a strong push for Florence Pugh as she tries to break into that very small group of actual young movie stars that the game surely needs in these waning times in Hollywood. Surrounded by a solid cast and a marketing campaign based around the resumes of the filmmakers, did Marvel succeed at resetting the tone again with this movie? Hmmm maybe.
Thunderbolts* is really about these characters who don’t know their place in the world. As I stated earlier, from the marketing, Pugh’s Yelena Belova, aka Black Widow, is going through the motions working for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), doing these secret missions. After a talk with her dad, Alexei (David Harbour), she decides to get out after one last mission. This mission brings her into a clash with other agents, U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), that’s a trap set to get rid of them all. In the fray, they meet Bob (Lewis Pullman), who doesn’t know what’s happening or where he is.
Pugh and Pullman play off each other very well, and the characters in the film quickly form a connection. They work well off each other in their scenes and are believable. Valentina has problems with all the machinations we’ve seen her doing over the past years coming back on her as Congress is having hearings to impeacher from her post; this is how Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) gets brought into the story as a freshman congressman working with Congressman Gary (Wendell Pierce) who brings in some solid humor that’s not overbearing and not sitcom like performance to his role.
A good portion of the film is the sarcasm-laced burgeoning friendship between Belova, Walker (U.S. Agent), and Ava Starr (Ghost), as these three seem to hate each other and are a solid trio by the movie’s halfway point. They feel believable as they grow closer and learn to trust each other, as each performance shows these characters are so alone and starving for human connection and a purpose.
Harbour is hilarious in his role and desires to get back in action and put his Red Guardian suit back on. He also fits with the other characters as Harbour brings this longing and desire, which is palpable on screen. He works well as this embarrassing dad for Yelena; their dynamic is perfect. As I’ve yet to watch Black Widow and am in no rush to do so, this being my first time seeing them interact was good to see.
A big core to this film besides Yelena is Pullman’s Bob. I don’t think this is a spoiler, but Bob is also a superpowered person called The Sentry. The Sentry is a complicated character to explain, and it raised some eyebrows about how they would fit him into this and the MCU as a whole.
In this film, director Jake Schreier and screenwriters Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo use Bob to personify the core problem with our heroes. He’s not the big bad per se, but what’s missing in their lives and themselves is what they must overcome, even Bob, no matter how much Valentina pushes and pulls them to.
There were moments in the film where Bob’s character, in the beginning, is very much influenced by Tetsuo from Akira, with him being a powerful being struggling with his demons while wandering around in hospital scrubs with all this power. It’s shown more as psychic-like powers or Neo in The Matrix than just another bad Superman analog, like he’s been in the past. Later, once a significant change happens, the effects on him and his powers, as shown by how it’s used on people, have a strong horror feel. The film’s tone shifts to a more supernatural horror feel to its superhero conflict.
The look of the film also does some nice stuff, like having outdoor shots and sets that are not blue screen. It’s very welcoming to see an MCU film feeling like a film again and not just shot in front of screens. Without the snark, the use of outdoor locations makes this MCU film feel very different from many of the previous entries of late. It makes it feel more cinematic and less like just another episode of the MCU television series; it feels like a lot of the time.
I think what I’m struggling with is that, at least for the movie side of the MCU, it feels like a lack of using supervillains. While “bad guys” exist in this movie, the final conflict is not about the good vs. the bad guys. It’s overcoming inner demons with Naruto’s Talk no Jutsu resolution method. At the same time, that’s a good message and is probably a healthier idea. Seeing The High Evolutionary get dealt with was so fulfilling in GOTG vol. 3 – they were fighting an irredeemable being. This doesn’t have that, and it has a pretty surprising resolution to the story that I think if you’re a Marvel Comics reader, you either think might happen or will figure out pretty quickly while watching.
Thunderbolts* has some outstanding fight choreography and scenes, a solid story, and a fun new team added to the MCU. This movie will be very rewatchable and is better than the last entry, Captain America: Brave New World. It should be way more satisfying for audiences and a good setup, appetite-wise, for Fantastic Four: First Steps later this summer.
Thunderbolts* did earn their Wheaties box.
