It’s been a while since comic book movies have guaranteed a billion dollar box office. The zeitgeist of all things super hero has gone dry. Audiences don’t buy their tickets early to the latest Marvel efforts. Instead, the past six years have created a era of apathy among the previously devout cape flick fans. Yet, that doesn’t stop the studios from wringing out a dirty rag till they get every drop out of the genre.
I say this because, outside of access media, the era of movie hype has disappeared. Marvel desperately wants to reverse this downward trend back to their glory days. Can they bring excitement back with Thunderbolts*?
In Thunderbolts*, we largely follow Yelena (Florence Pugh) as she is sent on her final mission before going clean. In the midst of this, she reluctantly joins together with a few other anti-heroes as they work together for their own survival and the eventual mental and physical survival of the world as a new unpredictable threat is unveiled.
The rest of the cast is largely made up of sidekicks from the movies or C-listers from Disney+ shows.
This is essentially the MCU’s answer to DC’s The Suicide Squad as a rag-tag team attempts to stop a major threat that they have no real chance of surviving.
None of the above elements should work or even be a good movie… So, why is it good?
Don’t get me wrong. There are some glaring flaws within this movie and I’ll get to them. But, I was pleasantly surprised by the 36th episode of the MCU.
Most importantly, this story felt so scaled back. It takes well-known action movie tropes from several 90s/00s movies and casseroles them into a snarky, and often dangerous, team up flick. There is no need for a meandering multiversal plot or forced set-ups to future franchise projects. Instead, its a C-list team who find themselves in way over their heads.
But what works for the team is the theme of the movie – Trauma. Some of the characters aren’t explored at all, but the ones that are, have clear trauma, which gives an indicator that anyone we meet has a mental demon in their past which still haunts them. The team’s trauma ends up being what bonds them together and ties them in perfectly with the main villain, The Sentry/Void.
To avoid spoilers I’ll avoid describing the third act, but it escapes the world-ending sky beam monotony of every other super flick. Instead, it takes risks to solve the climax. I don’t love the deus ex machina of it all, but the journey was enjoyable enough to watch.
On the negative side, there is a B-plot about impeachment that is excruciatingly boring to watch. Had the plot just focused on our anti-heroes instead of the minor plot, this would have gone up a half letter grade. It takes up far too much of the movie and should have been an email.
At just over two hours, this is a near breeze to watch. However, I wish they cut much of the first act, and added more crisis and backstories to the characters who get nothing to do, except have their superpower be their entire identity.
Typical popcorn movie fans may be let down by the lack of significant action here. There are a few scenes (one with noticeable CG movements) but it doesn’t seem to be the point of the movie.
Also, I know this is MCU blasphemy, but I would have cut Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) out of the movie entirely and just given his time to the scene stealing Red Guardian (David Harbour).
Thunderbolts* might be the shot in the arm that the ailing MCU needs. I worry about the immediate Avengers-laden future of the movies, but if they could focus on a simple watchable story combining somehow likable characters, they’d be better off. This flick far surpassed my low expectations. B-
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