by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Intro:
... crowd-pleasing entertainment, with plenty of laughs and banter and slightly generic action.
It’s fair to say that, of late, Marvel films have somewhat lost their lustre to the filmgoing public at large. What was once an unsinkable cinematic juggernaut has in recent times slowed right down, resembling more of a Puffing Billy that could probably use some time in a back paddock. Oh sure, flicks like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 were still critical and commercial hits, but we also had to endure The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in that same year! That’s to say nothing of the limp performance of Captain America: Brave New World a few months back. Long story short, expectations were not super high that Thunderbolts*, the latest bit of comic book cinema from the Marvel content mill, would right the ship. The good and surprising news is, that while Thunderbolts* isn’t a perfect film, it’s a big step in the right direction and a pretty bloody entertaining time at the cinema.
Thunderbolts* reunites some of the losers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We have Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the existential sister of Black Widow, who is starting to wonder what the point of it all is. There’s disgraced Captain America wannabe John Walker / U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), who is in deep denial about his place in society. There’s Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), who is trying to make amends for a dark past. And there’s Red Guardian (David Harbour), who is Yelena’s father and yearns to be a hero again. This disparate group of messy mercs is sent on a mission by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), during which they manage to unleash a secret, experimental project that might plunge society into everlasting darkness. It’s up to these dodgy antiheroes to band together, if they can stop cracking the shits and getting into blues with one another.
On paper, Thunderbolts* is a pretty standard Guardians of the Galaxy/Suicide Squad riff. And look, this doesn’t exactly break the mould, but it feels like director Jake Schreier (Beef) is a little more willing to embrace some of the darkness, emotional and literal, inherent to the premise. This is most effectively seen with the character of Bob (Lewis Pullman), a comparative innocent who is dragged into the main plot with unexpected consequences. See, Bob, despite being a decent human being, has issues. Mental health issues, substance abuse issues and a depth of depression and self loathing that really isn’t often explored with any substance in modern blockbusters. This isn’t Requiem for a Dream, mind you, but it’s nice to see a Marvel flick with a little more on its mind.
That said, this is still crowd-pleasing entertainment, with plenty of laughs and banter and slightly generic action. Florence Pugh is terrific as Yelena and sparks nicely with a delightful David Harbour. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is clearly having a hoot as a deeply cynical political animal (shades of alternate reality Veep here) and Lewis Pullman (son of Bill!) delivers an utterly compelling turn here, at turns both sympathetic and menacing.
On the downside, there is a lot of homework required for this movie. Like, to fully understand who these people are you’re best off having watched Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Avengers: Endgame, Black Widow and Captain America: Brave New World. This is not newbie-friendly, in other words. It is, however, an entertaining action flick with a little more subtext than we’ve come to expect, a capable cast and fun sequences. It doesn’t quite scale the heights of the original Guardians of the Galaxy or Iron Man, but you certainly won’t regret spending a couple of hours with the misfits known as the Thunderbolts.
