Josh Reviews Thunderbolts*!

I’ve been (and continue to be) a defender of the post-Endgame MCU projects, even as public opinion has somewhat soured on the once undefeatable Marvel.  But even I can admit that The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World were both wobbly.  (I did thoroughly enjoy Deadpool & Wolverine, which we shouldn’t ignore, even though that was as much a Fox franchise film as an MCU film.)  So I’m happy and relieved that Thunderbolts* feels like a strong return to form for the MCU.  Despite the revelation of what the asterisk in the title means (which I won’t spoil at this point in the review, even though I thought it was obvious beforehand and Marvel has made this public in their post-opening weekend publicity), this isn’t a huge epic film in the manner of an Avengers film, or even post-Endgame films like Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.  This is a smaller-scale film, so moderate your expectations accordingly.  But I thought it was terrific!  The film was exactly what I’d hoped it would be.

My first reaction upon seeing Thunderbolts (I’m not gonna add the asterisk every time I write Thunderbolts in this review; I hope everyone is OK with that) was relief at how smoothly the story unfolded.  Both The Marvels and Brave New World seemed to show obvious seams of a rocky production and/or post-production process.  I gave more details in my reviews; but basically it seems that both films were reworked significantly on the way to release, and that was obvious to me watching the finished products, which I felt were filled with janky editing and hard-to-follow story beats and under-served character arcs.  But here in Thunderbolts, I was so happy that the story unfolded smoothly and clearly.  There weren’t lots of moments in which I was confused about where we were or what was happening or why we were cutting from one sequence to another.  It helps that Thunderbolts has a relatively linear structure.  Once the characters meet up in Valentina’s vault in the beginning of the movie, we basically stick with them as they move through the story, only cutting away to periodically check in on what Valentina and her assistant are up to.  I like this structure!  It keeps the film nicely focused on the main Thunderbolts characters.

Speaking of the characters, I love that Thunderbolts is a crossover film, pulling together a bunch of supporting characters from other MCU films and shows!  Some “fans” like to complain on the internet that the MCU films are too confusing and you have to watch multiple films to understand each new film.  But I think the crossovers are the best part of the MCU, and that the films have more resonance when you’ve been watching characters and storylines play out over multiple films.  (And I think the biggest weakness of MCU phases four and five is that there hasn’t been nearly ENOUGH crossing over!  Why haven’t we seen Shang-Chi or any of the Eternals again?  Fans would feel more connected to those films if those characters had popped up again in other movies.  Without that happening, those films become forgettable.  It’s like what happened to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk movie, until the post-Endgame projects finally acknowledged that movie and its characters.)

And so I loved how Thunderbolts brought together a fun bunch of characters from various other projects.  I think the film does stand on its own; I think it is understandable and enjoyable even if you haven’t seen or don’t remember the movies and shows where we saw these characters last.  But if you DO know the backstory, I think the film works even better.  These are fun characters, and I think the film’s cast does great work with them all.  I like this team!  (OK, maybe the film could do a better job explaining John Walker’s history, or explaining that Natasha/Black Widow was Yelena’s sister… would newbies understand that?  I’m not sure.  But I think the film still works even if you don’t know that backstory.)

Let’s start with Florence Pugh, who is once again magnificent as Yelena Belova, returning after her introduction in Black Widow and her appearance in Hawkeye.  Ms. Pugh is a spectacular actress, and she’s so great in this role.  Yelena has the strongest character arc in this film; when the movie opens, she’s in a dark place, killing people for Valentina and feeling like she’s lost.  It’s not exactly a shock to me, as someone who has seen a lot of movies, that Yelena finds herself when she’s pushed into a place of having to be a public-facing hero (the same way her sister did), but Ms. Pugh brings such emotion to the performance that I found myself quite taken with her journey, even if the story-beats might feel a bit familiar.  I also love how funny Ms. Pugh is able to be, without ever losing the emotional truth of this character.  This is a great performance, and I hope we get to see a lot more of Ms. Pugh in the MCU going forward.  Same goes for David Harbour, reprising his role as Alexei/Red Guardian from Black Widow.  Mr. Harbour is so, so funny in this role!!  Because I like the character, I was a little bummed that they seem to have gone back on the nice ending we saw for his character in Black Widow, but it makes sense that he, like Yelena, would start this movie in a dark place.  I like how Mr. Harbour brings such a gentle sweetness to Alexei, in contrast to how physically imposing he is.  And he hits the comedy right out of the park.

The biggest MCU name in the film is Sebastian Stan, returning as Bucky/The Winter Soldier after his recent appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier show and Captain America: Brave New World.  I understand Bucky’s inclusion in this team, though I wish the film had dug a little more deeply into this character.  Bucky is a Congressman now (picking up on the out-of-left-field scene in Brave New World that told us he was running for Congress), but I wish I better understood why Bucky decided to run for Congress, how that played out (with his very dark past as a brainwashed Soviet assassin — how much does the public know about all that??), and what he felt about it.  Is he happy in his new role?  The film sort of suggests that maybe he’s itching to get back to his days punching people, but we don’t really get clarity on that.  Bucky’s joining the Thunderbolts feels like a regression for him (he’s even back in his weird long hair hair-cut, which I didn’t love).  If that’s not what the filmmakers intended, I wish that had been better explained.  (And I’d have liked to have known if Bucky was able to step back into his job as a Congressman after the events of this film, or if instead his saving the day with the Thunderbolts cost him that job.)

I thought Wyatt Russell was perfectly cast as John Walker/U.S. Agent in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, though I was disappointed that I felt that show bungled the end of his storyline.  So I was thrilled to see Mr. Russell back as Walker here, to move this character forward.  It makes perfect sense to me that Walker is a mess when we meet him at the start of this movie; he’s also been stuck doing black-ops work for Valentina, and we see his family left him after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  I like the way Mr. Russell plays Walker; with an “I know better” arrogance balanced with a genuine desire to do good and be a hero.  He’s great.  I liked Hannah John-Kamen’s work as Ava/Ghost back in Ant Man and the Wasp, but this isn’t a character I ever expected to see again.  I’m happy to have been wrong; she was a good addition to the team.  I was also happy to see Olga Kurylenko back as Taskmaster (another character I’d never expected to see again), though she’s not given much to do in the film.

Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale) is wonderful as Bob/the Sentry, the one new character introduced for the Thunderbolts team.  First off, I’m delighted that the Sentry (created by Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee) has been brought into the MCU!!  I never thought we’d get to see this great character on screen.  That made me so happy.  Mr. Pullman is perfect in the part.  He’s funny and winning as the goofy, in-over-his-head, every-man “Bob”.  When he’s in the full Sentry outfit (with curly blonde hair), he looks perfect.  And he’s also menacing and sad as the awful Void, the depressive side of Bob’s personality made manifest.  This is a terrific performance.

After popping up in short scenes in various MCU movies and shows over the past few years, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss finally gets to step into center stage as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.  It’s fun to finally see the pay-off of Valentina’s work collecting these various anti-heroes.  Ms. Louis-Dreyfuss is a dynamite on-screen presence.  She brings a funny sparkle to all of her line readings.  She’s a great choice to play this anti-Nick Fury.  I just wish they showed Valentina being a little smarter, a little more dangerous in this movie.  Valentina frankly seems kind of dumb here, starting with her goofy plan to just have all the Thunderbolts characters kill one another in the opening.  I’d like to feel more real menace from her.  I’d also like to better understand whether Valentina truly believes she’s doing the right think (it’s not crazy for her to feel like someone needs to put together a group of super-powered people to replace the absent Avengers) or whether she’s just in this for her own power.

I loved Geraldine Viswanathan’s work in Drive-Away Dolls, and she’s great here as Valentina’s assistant Mel.  Ms. Viswanathan is able to be both mousy and spunky at the same time; she’s great!  I was thrilled to see Wendell Pierce (The Wire; Treme; Jack Ryan) join the MCU as a Congressman investigating Valentina.  (I wish we’d gotten one more scene with Mr. Pierce’s character at the end of the movie, to check in on the status of those investigations.)  I was also happy to see another veteran of The Wire, Chris Bauer (For All Mankind, Reacher season two), as Holt, Val’s head security guy; though Mr. Bauer doesn’t have much to do in the film.

Director Jake Schreier and screenwriters Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo have done a strong job with this film.  I had a lot of fun watching it all the way through!  If you’ve skipped some of the recent MCU films and are wondering whether this one is worth your time, I recommend it.

I have a few more things to say, but we’re going to dip into some SPOILERS ahead, so please beware.  If you haven’t yet seen Thunderbolts, I suggest you stop here!

If you have seen the film, then feel free to keep reading:

I started to get excited in the film’s third act, when the action moved to the site of what used to be Avengers tower (I loved that we finally found out who bought Avengers Tower from Tony Stark, as seen back in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming!).  The all-black Void looked awesome and scary, and we got a few gorgeous visual effects shows of the scaffolding around Avengers Tower crashing down into the street.  Would we be getting another big epic New York-set action sequence, like the battle of New York from the first Avengers movie??  Then it became clear that we weren’t.  I was disappointed at first, but in the end I was totally satisfied by the film’s choice to have an emotional and psychological climax — exploring Bob’s “shame rooms” — rather than a huge super-powered super-fight.  I really love that this film ends with a hug instead of a fight!  That was a smart choice, and it helps differentiate this movie from the many other super-hero films we’ve seen over the years.

I was not surprised that Taskmaster didn’t make it out of this film alive, because Olga Kurylenko’s name was conspicuously missing from the big Avengers: Doomsday cast reveal last month.  But I was shocked that she was killed so quickly and brutally.  I’d have loved to have seen more done with this character, but I also like the choice to shake the audience and kill someone off early in this movie, to establish a sense of danger and threat to the proceedings.

I thought the film’s making the Thunderbolts name a jokey reference to Yelena’s kiddie soccer team was funny, though I’m bummed that Marvel missed what I saw as a golden opportunity to connect the Thunderbolts name to Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross.  I’ve read that this movie was originally supposed to have been released before Captain America: Brave New World, in which Thunderbolt Ross was President.  I thought that would have made it simple to have the Thunderbolts named after him, as what was supposed to be a government-controlled squad of super-heroes.  Instead, it’s just a coincidence that we have a character and a team both nicknamed Thunderbolts.  Oh well.

The Thunderbolts characters and premise in this film are very different from the original Thunderbolts comic book series by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley from the late nineties.  I loved that series, which had the fantastic surprise hook that this team of super-heroes was actually made up of super-villains pretending to be heroes.  I can understand why that premise would be hard to adapt into a movie (how could you hide the identify of all the main characters?), though it’s such a potent concept that I’d have loved to have seen them try this in the MCU.  That being said, I also like this version, where the team are all anti-hero types trying to be good.  The main down-side of this approach is that it feels derivative of DC’s Suicide Squad, which is basically the same idea.  (I’ll also admit that I was hoping Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo would have appeared in this film, because Zemo led the Thunderbolts in the comics.  Zemo was previously seen in Captain America: Civil War and then again in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — where he put on the classic purple Zemo mask!! — so I do hope the MCU brings him back at some point.)  (Apparently there was an earlier idea to have included Zemo in a post-credits scene, which would have been fun.)

The premise of this movie reminded me a lot of the Dark Avengers comic book series written by Brian Michael Bendis.  I’d long ago guessed that the asterisk in the title meant that Valentina was going to call the group the Avengers.  I was very close, as the end of the movie switches the title from Thunderbolts to The New Avengers.  I like this development, though I wonder if it’d have landed better had they not added the asterisk to the title.  Then fans wouldn’t have been guessing and the title switch would have been more of a surprise, which I think might have been more effective.

I like that the end of the movie kept Valentina in play as a MCU character, though I’d have appreciated another scene or two, or even a few headlines during the credits, giving us a little more info on the status-quo at the end of the movie.  Was Valentina able to stay in power despite the committee investigating her?  Did she exert control over the Thunderbolts team?  Did the team go on to keep doing heroic super-hero stuff?

I did quite enjoy the credits sequence, giving us lots of funny and interesting headlines and magazine covers about the Thunderbolts/New Avengers.  And I enjoyed both the mid-credits scene (more comedy with David Harbour’s Red Guardian, who was delighted to see the Thunderbolts on the cover of a Wheaties box), and the end-credits scene. which feels like the most interesting MCU end-credits scene in years.  That scene was apparently directed by The Russo Brothers (who are directing the next two Avengers movies), which makes me wonder whether this scene will actually be in Avengers: Doomsday?  Or is it just setting up what we’ll see in Doomsday?  We learn of a schism between the Thunderbolts/New Avengers team and an Avengers team that Sam Wilson is (finally!) putting together.  Sam and Bucky’s being at odds feels like a surprise to me, given how close they were at the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (and in Bucky’s cameo in Captain America: Brave New World), though I can understand Sam’s not trusting any team connected to Valentina.  (This is one of many reasons I wish the end of the movie had clarified how involved Valentina was/wasn’t — I hope Doomsday gives us some more info on what’s going on here.)  That, plus more silliness with Red Guardian, would have been enough for me, but then we also got the great tease of the Fantastic Four’s ship entering Earth’s orbit.  Yay!  Are the FF going to enter the main MCU universe at the end of their movie, or will that not happen until Doomsday??  I can’t wait to find out.  This was a great tease of what’s coming in the MCU, which is what these post-credits scenes were originally designed to do.  Right on.

I enjoyed Thunderbolts!  As I wrote at the top; moderate your expectations.  This is a relatively small-scale MCU movie (smaller even than the first Avengers film).  But I liked these characters, and I liked this story.  It’s a fun movie on it’s own, and it left me very excited for what’s next in the MCU, with Fantastic Four: First Steps later this summer and Avengers: Doomsday next year.  I hope those two films are both as good as I want them to be.  I’m excited.