Thunderbolts* – REVIEW

Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Sebastain Stan in Thunderbolts*


This one’s a little late too, I know, but during the last two weeks of stewing on Thunderbolts* and superhero movies in general, I’ve hit a small realization about comic book movies. There’s a good chance that the glory days are done. I know, just hear me out. Remember when westerns were so insanely popular, and the popularity of them just waned over time? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in the middle of that. Oddly enough, maybe that’s why I feel like Thunderbolts*, the 36th (!) film in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, is such a breath of fresh air. The closest thing to a relative comparison to the Thunderbolts team in other media is DC’s Suicide Squad, but even then, this team is pretty different, at least in Thunderbolts*. The main focus here is Yelena Belova, played excellently by Florence Pugh, a former Black Widow and mercenary who’s called in for one last job before her retirement. This last job rounds up a bunch of other MCU outcasts and villains like Ghost from Ant-Man and The Wasp, John Walker from the Falcon and Winter Soldier series, and Taskmaster from Black Widow to essentially kill each other so some shady government secrets can be swept under the rug. Throw in MCU veteran Bucky Barnes, the Russian super-soldier Red Guardian, and a guy named Bob, then boom, you’ve got a team. Let’s just rip the band-aid off: Thunderbolts* is a winner, but not in the way I initially thought it would be. What sets this apart from the other recent MCU movies (maybe outside of the last Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) is the script from Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, and Lee Sung Jin. While Pearson has worked in the MCU before, dating back all the way to Ant-Man in 2015, Calo and Jin have worked on shows like The Bear and BEEF. The latter is also where director Jake Schreier jumped from, which might be why Steven Yeun was originally cast in the “Bob” role (no spoilers) before he dropped out and Lewis Pullman took his place. The script is shockingly well-realized with its characters, diving into the more human elements of these larger-than-life characters. Using Yelena as the main character was an excellent choice too, and is just being elevated by Pugh’s performance. But what happens when the best part of a big action blockbuster is the writing? That being said, the one thing I couldn't stop thinking about is the action. What’s there is well choreographed, well shot, and just very solid across the board, but there’s just not a lot of it. It’s not a dealbreaker and that’s really not the goal of Thunderbolts* to be a cracking action movie, which is really refreshing for Marvel, but I have to at least get that off of my chest. Either way, I’m pretty happy with Thunderbolts* and it actually got me excited for the future of this franchise. If anything, that makes Thunderbolts* a win.


Ryan’s Grade: A-