Thunderbolts
Very much in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy or Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts* offers the teaming up of lovable losers. In the case of Thunderbolts* (the name of which turns out to be one of the movie's better jokes), the group are all independent black-ops cleaners for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who, while under investigation from Congress about her illegal programs, has had each of them tying up any loose ends that would lead back to her.
And so Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) all find themselves at a secret facility in the middle of nowhere full of the last evidence Valentina needs destroyed... which includes them. This provides an early action sequence with the group fighting each other, in classic comic book style, showing off their skills and powers, before being forced to work together to escape.
The first thing the script by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo does right is make Yelena the central character who will tie the group together and act as the catalyst in bringing in Alexei Andreovitch Shostakov (David Harbour) who provides a bit of crazy energy that helps the the group dynamic work. Also involved are the man the group finds in the bunker (Lewis Pullman) who becomes central to Valentina's plans and Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who gets one big Winter Solder sequence before eventually joining the group.
Power-wise our group of Thunderbolts is definitely under-powered for the story they will be thrust into. There's also a huge overlap in the power-sets of Bucky, Alexei, and John who are varyingly effective super soldiers. Sebastian Stan adds some gravitas to events as the lder statesman, but this is a group of marginal, or at best secondary, characters. What that means, more so than a higher-tier Avengers, team, is the actors need get us to care about each of these characters, individually, and together in order for the film to work. And, for the most part, Thunderbolts* succeeds.
Pugh carries the film on her shoulders and if this film doesn't make Yelena a star it won't be from lack of effort. The script also rehabilitates Ghost providing Hannah John-Kamen more to do her second time around in a Marvel film while also making fun use of her power-set. Sadly, not all casting works. The script knows well-enough to dump Taskmaster (the worst aspect of Black Widow) at the earliest opportunity, but unfortunately we're stuck with Louis-Dreyfus, who appears to be acting in an entirely different movie.
With most of our heroes drastically underpowered compared to other Marvel team-up films, the addition of the uber-powered Sentry as both hero and villain provides the big bad of the film that Yelena is more invested in helping rather than stopping. Even if the movie ridiculously rushes Bob getting his powers under control, once unleashed his darker half provides a reason for the team to stay together and bond even further fighting through their darkest moments leading to a very un-Avenger-style climax that somehow works perfectly for this group of misfit toys.
Thunderbolts* isn't the best Marvel movie, but it's fun (especially for a film that deals so much with depression and struggling to find your place in the world). Even the end, revealing perhaps the worst kept secret in what the movie's asterisk means, works (although I think another film following up on that thread in any meaningful feels unlikely at this point). And, in a nice surprise, both of the end credit sequences, each featuring David Harbour, are worth staying around for not only as entertaining sequences but also leading us into Marvel's next big event.
Watch the trailer- Title: Thunderbolts*
- IMDb: link
