Thunderbolts* Review
Marvel Studios ‘Thunderbolts*’ is the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), The Winter Solider (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Bob (Lewis Pullman) forming a tense and uncomfortable team to stop Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in an enjoyable and cathartic thrill ride, with a strong emotional core with Yelena, a film that strikes a better balance with its comedy and gets away from the third act battle compulsion with an approach that’s more intimate.
The big achievement with ‘Thunderbolts*’ is that it injects surprise and wonder into the MCU again, with moments that will make the audience gasp. That alone is worth going to see the film for, as the MCU has been struggling to fill its world with reveals and shocks that land with impact. Bigger than this is selling the stakes of what’s happening, as audiences grow progressively more numb each time the world or New York is threatened. But The Void is threatening thanks to the foreshadowing, what he does and no prisoners takeover. This has to be the most dangerous threat in the MCU for quite some time.
Anchoring the film is Florence Pugh as Yelena, who starts the movie drifting from mission to mission, ranting at scared security guards about her loneliness because she truly has no one else. Pugh is able to give Yelena more depth because of this, and showcases what life can be like without a direction. Harbour’s Red Guardian is there to provide that direction, showing his adopted daughter that she should aspire for more while also providing a lot of the film’s comedy. Harbour is more restrained as Guardian, delivering fewer but more consistent jokes. This approach that the rest of the humour in the film takes. One of the biggest laughs was during the film’s first set of credits. But the absence of jokes all the time is greatly welcomed, as it lets the heavier and character moments land without ruthlessly undercutting them.
Russell steals the show though as U.S. Agent, who’s completely unable to get on with the rest of the team, even towards the end of the film. It’s a role that Russell revels in. Hannah John-Kamen gets a much more expanded role as Ghost, though Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster seems to have paid the price for that. Despite being promoted as a member of the ensemble, her role is efffectively a cameo.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus also revels in the role as de Fontaine, the CIA Director who is attempting to remove her ties to her shady dealings, without much success. She’s much different than the traditional MCU villain, as she can’t be punched to death to win, not for lack of trying on the parts of the Thunderbolts. Indeed, it’s debatable whether she was truly beaten at the end of the film, in a rare moment of ambiguity and complex showing from the MCU. Bob is of course a key part of the film, a meek, unassuming but unstable guy. But he’s hiding a dark secret that puts everyone in danger.
The decision to forgo a traditional MCU third act battle is a welcome change, and its replacement is something that fans will find just as interesting. It prioritises character connections over big flashy fighting, and how that can be used to bring people back from the brink, demonstrated in that third act. The Thunderbolts themselves actually go on a visible arc, with the misfits completely failing to work together at the start to trusting each other at the end. The script makes their coming together feel natural, which isn’t easy to do. It isn’t watertight though, as the motivator of the plot – a Congress investigation into de Fontaine’s sketchy experiments – is left unresolved by the end of the film as it moves onto other things, along with Bucky’ political career.
The visual effects for ‘Thunderbolts*’ are compelling, with what’s onscreen remaining consistent at all times. This is surprising already, but what’s on display, especially during the Void’s takeover, is great, and really sells his abilities. The action of the film is generally enjoyable, with one fight in particular demonstrating the all powerful nature of a particular chararcter, though could at times fall completely flat with a dull chase across the desert, or an opening that doesn’t inspire much feeling either just going through the motions, though maybe that’s part of the point. The action isn’t the flashiest.
Overall, ‘Thunderbolts*’ will reinvigorate audiences back into the MCU, as the journies characters go on, the arc of the team and the villains offer up something different from what fans are used to seeing. While the action doesn’t always offer much in the way of flair, it does still offer some enjoyment, and the script is generally good, especially with its inventive third act and strong team dynamics, though the latter is also down in no small part to the chemistry the actors brings. ‘Thunderbolts*’ is a good time.
