"Thunderbolts*" Review
A promising future for Marvel
LIGHT SPOILERS: If you’ve seen the trailer, there are no spoilers.
After so many disappointments, I had pretty much checked out of the MCU entirely, but the positive reviews and hype around Thunderbolts* became so loud I could not ignore them. And — shockingly — I’m glad I didn’t!
Thunderbolts* attempts to set up a new ragtag group of super-soldiers and assassins with Florence Pugh’s Yelena at its center. Yelena is searching for meaning after her sister’s and finds herself longing for community. She finds an unlikely community with other loners, her fake father Alexei, and the mysterious Bob. Thunderbolts* uses the usual quippy MCU tone and action set pieces, but the movie also has a beating heart at its center.
Pugh’s portrayal of Yelena deserves much of the credit. She manages to balance jokes and levity with a deeply wounded character in emotional turmoil. David Harbour contributes to that balance with his portrayal of Alexei. Harbour has fantastic chemistry with Pugh, creating emotional depth, and his delivery of Alexei’s humor is spot on. Although his part is small, Sebastian Stan also has a notable performance as Bucky. His inclusion gives the movie some authority and some frankly badass moments.
The other performances are perfectly adequate, but Pugh and Harbour are arguably the most important to the story. While Yelena and Alexei are not biological father and daughter, they are both lonely souls who have found a bond in each other. Both are damaged, but they can bring out the best in each other. That message is at the core of this movie. Most of the characters have done horrible things and have prickly personalities, but they can bring out the best in each other through their unique bond.
This message is underscored through the character Bob. He is an unlikely hero and may not be equipped to handle the responsibility, but he can be a hero by relying on others to carry some of the emotional burden.
The themes of this movie are some of the deepest and most raw that the MCU has dared grapple with in a long time. They let us feel attached to the characters and relate to their experiences — even though very few of us have been child assassins or super soldiers. That vulnerability is what turned the tide for me about the MCU. It gave me a reason to care.
While the emotional core was the most critical part of the movie, most people also come to the MCU for its action set pieces. Thunderbolts* had several sequences that left me holding my breath in anticipation. These sequences were very well-crafted and had real stakes for the characters. Even though we know that the main characters will almost certainly end up okay, the best action sequences make us question that assumption. Thunderbolts* had me questioning how the characters would get out of their messes, and it delivered with eye-catching visual effects and well-choreographed fights. If you come to the MCU for its action, you will not be disappointed.
However, certain aspects of the film continued to fall flat. The MCU continues to lack creativity with its editing and cinematography. The scenes are shot very conventionally with their classic gray-scale “color” palette. Thunderbolts* is lucky for its action; otherwise, looking at it would be completely uninteresting. Some of this darkness is baked into the movie’s tone, but some of it does not have to be. The movie’s final act hinges on a villain who turns Manhattan into a shadowy wasteland, but this would hit harder if it didn’t already resemble one. While I don’t expect the MCU to make interesting decisions, it is still disappointing when they go for the easiest and most obvious decision.
At the movie’s conclusion, our ragtag group has been renamed the “New Avengers.” This is not shocking, as the movie is clearly trying to set them up as the new center of the MCU. However, I found myself worried about the future of Florence Pugh as an actress. Balancing a starring MCU role and other acting projects has proved a task few can achieve. While this is a different era of the MCU, Pugh will have to choose her moves very carefully in order to continue her career outside of Yelena. Pugh is a great actress to build new stories around and could be a great asset to the franchise, but her value to the movie scene at large should not be overlooked. I just hope that Pugh can manage both.
Despite these critiques and trepidations, I am excited for what the MCU does next. This was the movie I needed to dip my toe back in the water. If they can continue this level of emotional development, genuine suspense, and meaningful characters, they may be able to build back from the past few years.
I recommend Thunderbolts* to Marvel fans, lapsed or current, but probably no one else.