Thunderbolts*

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Thunderbolts* is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It continues the stories told in Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Within this film, several anti-heroes must break ties with their employer, Valentina, as they are confronted with a new superhuman threat: The Sentry Project.

Thunderbolts* is quite a new step for Marvel in terms of tone, a completely dysfunctional and dark motley crew hounding after the big bad they all used to work for. The first scene that draws these heroes together tells you this isn't the light and fun MCU of Thor: Love and Thunder or The Marvels. In this scene, we have four of the mercenary characters pushed into one room intending to kill one another. The stakes are immediately raised when one succeeds in performing an execution before they realise they have all been betrayed. These are the asshole heroes of the superhero world, no one is going to hold these characters up as the pillars of morality. Yet across the narrative, the rough edges on this team of unlikelies start to smooth, and characters who shouldn't be good together bring out the best version of themselves. The main characters aren't good people or they don't have good faith in themselves, and their journey evolves them into something more. It is a film about underdogs who become heroes through lifting one another up. I also loved the use of The Sentry in this film, this isn't as simple as describing an antagonist role. The Sentry, or Bob, starts as an awkward and mentally unstable figure who stands as the best mystery of the Thunderbolts*. Watching his vulnerability and the way it is preyed upon as he becomes the strongest character we have seen in a long time is a very impressive juxtaposition. Seeing all of this power and greatness corrupted into a shadowy figure known as The Void, is a thrill and even a little horrifying. The things Thunderbolts* does right are always the moments that try to be a little more creative and fresh from what we have seen before.

The visual style here has some nice flow to it, action just glides across the screen and when it holds still for a second the framing is brilliant. Thunderbolts* is quite striking with its use of light and dark contrast, bold in how a scene is captured and evoking what emotion we should feel. I was also very impressed with the special effects on display here. The fight scene with Sentry is one of the cleanest fight scenes I have seen this year, a really well-choreographed and designed moment. The design for The Void is also quite grim, with his ability to turn people into shadows quite a fearful touch. Son Lux's score is also a real boiling point, it leaves you feeling like tensions are just waiting to burst into full-blown conflict. The soundtrack isn't much to speak of but it fits neatly with the theme or plays well into the film's sense of comedic timing.

Florence Pugh, who played Yelena Belova, is more than capable of leading a major film production like this; Pugh does a good job of grounding Yelena right down into her core emotional state. Lewis Pullman, who played Robert Reynolds, really just runs away and steals so much of the show; Pullman can make young Bob quite charming in one scene and then shape him into one of the most threatening roles we have seen in the MCU the next. Wyatt Russell, who played John Walker, has a mean edge and a lot of snark to him; Russell presents a man who is angry at the world and reluctant to accept his own failings which makes for quite the journey. Wendell Pierce, who played Congressman Gary, really comes to bat as this politician hounding after injustice; Pierce plays a man who knows how to work the system and stand by it.

However, the best performance came from David Harbour, who played Alexei Shostakov. I did not expect to have missed this washed-out Soviet super-soldier as much as I did. Harbour yearning after his glory days, both past and future is a bit that never really gets old. I loved his enormous joy at any slight silver lining, even if it is one he has fabricated. Harbour carries the comedic weight of the film on his back with great talent, he knows how to draw the best possible laugh out of a scene. I loved his chemistry with Pugh, their genuine father/daughter connection props their characters up quite well. The scene where Harbour draws Pugh back into the fight before the final battle is one of the most heartfelt moments of the film. Harbour gives his absolute all to this character and his energy is infectious. This is a performance that does not stop and I wouldn't want it to.

Thunderbolts* is the sort of film that bounds with creativity and wants to blaze the trail with something new. So it is disappointing when it folds down into the classic formulaic beats. The film has a very impressive second act but the final act is patched with holes. These characters don't really brawl or engage in a conflict that feels satisfying. The Void is an antagonist that just devolves into all of Bob's 'bad feelings', a figure with supreme power who should not be permitted to wield it. On the cusp of Bob overthrowing The Void, it threatens to consume him and all of the team rushes forward to embrace him so that he knows he is safe. It's a nice sentiment but an underwhelming end to a film that previously held some worthy stakes. The film ends with a shared embrace and the end of all troubles, the sense that everything was all in our heroes' heads is disappointing. The film's opening is sluggish; it opens with a very monotonous voice-over from Yelena as she paces through a slow opening and action sequence. More disappointing than that is the political subplot peppered throughout Thunderbolts*. This loose sense of Valentina needing to be impeached and the committee railing against her is just another example that the MCU hasn't managed a sense of its political world to any great success since Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It also drags Bucky Barnes down into the murk that is this political landscape, which is a puzzling place to present such a character. The film ends with a convoluted 'big shock' moment that barely feels earned and left me leaving the cinema wondering what happened to that feeling I had in the second act.

Sebastian Stan, who played Bucky Barnes, regresses completely into a stoic beat 'em up sort of role; Stan feels outside the core cast of this which leaves him sticking out like a sore thumb. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, is the sort of performer who just hams it up in their superhero film antagonist role; Louis-Dreyfus plays this role for comedy more than she ever tries to play it for a dramatic read. Hannah John-Kamen, who played Ava Starr, is such an intriguing role to add to this mix; but I just felt like she was wasted and not really explored throughout the narrative. Olga Kurylenko, who played Antonia Dreykov, might as well have not been used for this film; this character was propped up for little more than a death scene. Geraldine Viswanathan, who played Mel, just awkwardly sits in more scenes than this character really deserves or needs; Viswanathan's whole betrayal storyline feels pretty predictable and makes for a dull role to watch.

A film that can be creatively fresh while also diverting down the easy road at times. I would give Thunderbolts* a 7.5/10.