The latest Marvel film, THUNDERBOLTS, faced an unfortunate dilemma of coming out during a time of sheer unsteadiness for the brand, as the multiple recent mediocre releases have heavily watered down what used to be one of cinema’s biggest moneymaking franchises. Even if it were a 10/10 movie, it risked not being given a chance, with the unimpressive advertising and similarities to DC’s poorly reviewed anti-hero comic book team-up film, Suicide Squad, not helping its case, but Thunderbolts* actually proved to be a surprise win for Marvel, and one that did more than just calmly move the needle. With very strong word of mouth right out the gate, a box office opening that is set to be pretty great and is as of now the second highest rated MCU movie on Rotten Tomatoes behind Black Panther, Thunderbolts* turned out to be the hit no one was anticipating.
Yelena Belova (played again by Florence Pugh) has grown despondent with life while mindlessly performing grunt work for CIA director, Valentina de Fontaine (played again by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), with the traumatic weight of losing her sister finally catching up with her and throwing her into a lonely depression. After being told by Valentina to destroy incriminating evidence about her operations in an isolated facility (mainly because she is currently at the risk of being impeached), Yelena comes faces to face with other people working for Val, including recently disgraced Captain America replacement, John Walker (played again by Wyatt Russell), former ‘red room’ assassin, Taskmaster (played again by Olga Kurylenko), and the phase-shifting Ghost (played again by Hannah John-Kamen), who all quickly realize Val plans to dispose of them. After finding a seemingly harmless man named Bob (played by Lewis Pullman) in the bunker, they begrudgingly assist each other in order to escape, yet upon doing so, learn that Bob is far more powerful and dangerous than even he believed himself to be, which Val quickly picks up on in order to sway him to her side. After meeting up with Yelena’s adoptive father, Red Guardian (played again by David Harbour) and The Winter Solider/Bucky Barnes (played again by Sebastian Stan), the team learn that Val has convinced Bob to become Sentry, a being with unimaginable strength who could be the world’s newest savior, but due to his unstable mental state, he turns on everybody (including Val) and throws the surrounding city into a void-like state. Wanting to save her new friend, Yelena and her new crew need to snap out of their funk and prove that they can be heroes, while also coming to grips with their own psychological issues along the way.
THUNDERBOLTS is far better than many would’ve expected, which mainly comes from very capable direction, emotionally resonant performances and a mostly solid script, but to call it one of the greatest films from Marvel would be overlooking its messy narrative, occasionally scrambled pacing, underutilized supporting characters and ineffective humour.
Making a movie centred around the Thunderbolts (who in the comics were a team of villains led by Baron Zemo parading as heroes who eventually decided to be good for real) could’ve made for a fun time despite the formula being a bit overused, but considering it was announced when Marvel’s cinematic universe felt aimless and lacked a defined directive, it just seemed like another detour met for experimentation. What got people more onboard with the project was the talent attached, as even though the returning cast members looked perfectly manageable albeit sparse on variety, it was learning that Jake Schreier was set to direct that got people excited. This was due to Schreier’s recent work on the award-winning Netflix show, Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun (who was initially cast as Sentry but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts) and with him and several other creatives from the show involved, including editor Harry Yoon, production designer Grace Yun, and writers Lee Sung Jin and Joanna Calo (both of whom provided rewrites to the script although Jin wasn’t credited), it gave it more of a pedigree. Their involvement brings a new dimension to this film, as there is a heavy, genuinely effective emotional core to this narrative which provides a more grounded and introspective take on what looked like just another wacky, off-the-walls comedic endeavor. Most of the scenes involving grief and trauma are played pretty well, the dramatic moments feel legitimate thanks to some very raw-feeling performances, and while the first two acts can have some awkward moments of pacing, the third act is pretty solid overall and ends things on a very nice note.
With this in mind, while the film exceeded expectations, there are still apparent Marvel-isms present, and they do somewhat drag down what this story is hoping to achieve. While the topic of mental fatigue and depression is nicely visualized in a sense that highlights its super hero roots and makes this film feel like a gritty comic book brought to life, it doesn’t reach the depths other more dramatic bodies of work can achieve in the genre due to the general faults of this universe that can’t be easily scrubbed out. This film proves to be more of a showcase for a talented director and screenwriter, rather than a wholly formed project that’s nicely polished all around, as while the filmography of fellow screenwriter, Eric Pearson, isn’t terrible, with options like Thor: Ragnarök, Godzilla vs. Kong and Transformers One under his belt, it doesn’t in any way shape up to Calo’s, whose worked on shows like Beef, Hacks, BoJack Horseman and was even a co-showrunner on The Bear, clearly demonstrating the disparity present in the script and why things might feel uneven. The banter between characters is a little basic, the surrounding plot of Val’s impeachment doesn’t offer much, the film deserves credit for tackling the messy unpleasantness of mental health but the tone of the dialogue doesn’t really feel upgraded to effectively analyse something that intense, and while the emotional struggles of the characters are what make this film interesting and fresh, the actual plot doesn’t always support them and feels haphazardly pieced together just so that specific scenes can occur.
When the cast was first announced, people were disappointed to see a team which originally consisted of new villains with interesting powersets resorted down to a ragtag collection of pre-existing characters with all the same powerset. That mixed with them being from Disney+ content made the stakes of the story feel even lower, but the acting does go a long way to help them out. With a compact roster that are given ample time to interact since the film doesn’t contain much action, the actors do a good job selling these roles even if some feel a little underbaked. The character of Val has a solid basis, but her handling has been a little messy in past projects, but it feels like this movie uses her the best as her amoral and manipulative qualities flow pretty smoothly in this narrative and Dreyfuss is actually given effective scenes to work with, so it’s a positive sign of growth.
The two best characters in this film are Yelena and Sentry, as both feel like they are given the most time, effort and development and it results in a lot of great scenes between them. Yelena was already a fan favorite, but with this being the first time she’s led a film, she fits that title very nicely, as her struggle with dealing with her depression is played very well by Florence Pugh who really brings humanity and flavor to a character that could’ve very easily just felt like a sloppy replacement for Scarlett Johansson. Lewis Pullman is also very good as Sentry, pulling off the hapless dope in the earlier stages before switching to the more arrogant and disturbed persona very effectively, and while his mental anguish and split personality could’ve been better dissected, the brief moments that are explored are intriguing, and his darker identity is appropriately horrifying both in how he looks and what he represents. While the leads feel emboldened by the more emotional story and tone, the other characters feel like they’re just along for the ride and don’t offer too much in terms of value (Taskmaster is so irrelevant, she shouldn’t even be on the poster). Ghost and John Walker don’t have much personality, so their interactions with other characters aren’t very interesting, the dramatic moments with Red Guardian are done well enough but the comedy can be a bit much, and Bucky doesn’t contribute much to the plot or have any meaningful interactions even though he should fit very nicely in this premise.
Despite initially building themselves through movies which were known for strong comedic elements, humour has now become a hinderance for Marvel as it is commonly mocked for being basic, chattery, and disruptive. While this universe should always have a sense of light-heartedness as it helps keeps them apart from their much darker and broad-heavy rival in DC, its more prominent usage in movies that don’t require it is something that needs to be resolved in order for things to improve, and Thunderbolts* does suffer with this issue. Most of the jokes don’t get a laugh, the zingers aren’t written very well and can ramble for too long, and because the setting and atmosphere is able to feel appropriately grim and heavy without being soulless, it feels even more pointless and out-of-place when it does show up. You can tell from the visual design and attitude of this feature that it’s trying to take itself seriously and thanks to these ingredients and the people in charge of them, it is able to achieve what it sets out to do even in spite of the pointless humor. The production design by Grace Yun and costume design by Sanja Milkovic Hays definitely feels more washed-out and less vibrant than other Marvel outings, but because the subject matter and visuals feel better handled and actually work with the tone rather than conflict with it, it doesn’t feel distracting and strangely looks pretty okay. What also helps is that the cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo works with the harsher lighting and frequent use of shadows to create some nice eye-catching imagery. The more stationary positioning of the camera and less visual clutter allows the audience to actually take in what’s been showcased, and even if it never goes overboard, it still has some visuals that look ripped right out of a comic book (especially Sentry’s alter ego).
THUNDERBOLTS* is a step above what Marvel has been doing recently (especially in the film department), but to label it one of the MCU’s best feels a bit overboard, as the chinks in the studio’s armor haven’t been erased but rather overshadowed by more capable talent who were brought in to fix things. To call it ‘’back to form’’ would be to ignore how many of the film’s issues are ones that have plagued most Marvel films for years now, including poor humor, underwritten supporting characters, and plots that are spearheaded by conflicts not as engaging as the characters they’re spotlighting. This is a good, well-made movie led by talented people, houses good actors, and has some genuinely effective scenes, but if it weren’t for the rewrites later in production, it could’ve been just another mediocre add-on to the pile. A step in the right direction, but still only just a step, let’s see how Marvel continues on from this unexpected win.
