After Captain America: Brave New World landed with a dud and with The Fantastic Four: First Steps on the horizon, Marvel Studios needs another win. And surprisingly, their latest entry, Thunderbolts*- why the asterisk, you’ll know when you see it- is one of the freshest takes on superheroes in the famed cinematic universe with its focus not on big budget spectacle, but characters, friendship and… mental health?
Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, who hasn’t missed a beat) is sent on a mission from her morally questionable employer, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), to erase evidence from a black site that could spell doom for the latter’s political future. Once onsite, however, Yelena finds herself ensnared in a trap set by Valentina to kill multiple birds with one stone, pitting her against John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and an unexpected third party simply known as Bob (Lewis Pullman), forcing the unlikely team of misfits to work together to survive.
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The greatest strength of Thunderbolts* is in the oft forgotten cast making up the roster. With the exception of Yelena, her father Alexei (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), most of the film’s cast is of the less savory and morally unclear variety, making this feel like Marvel’s equivalent of rival DC’s Suicide Squad. Especially when it comes to former MCU villains, namely Walker and Starr, who, in a pleasant surprise, are the ones we get to see more from in a big way; both of them leave a huge impression because we’re used to seeing them as full on bad guys, but the script humanizes them quickly and efficiently.
But it doesn’t stop at those two; Yelena, as always, is a delight to watch, but where the film truly shines is the journey her character goes on. For someone with the amount of baggage she has and the massive tragedy she’s gone through, putting her at the forefront of an unlikely team of quote-unquote heroes takes her, the film and the audience into a new territory- taking on mental health.
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It’s hard to explain without giving away crucial plot details that are best saved for the theater, but Thunderbolts* takes on the darkness we all have buried inside and how it can consume us and those around us, in this case figuratively and literally. After the sheer volumes of chaos the world has gone through the last several years, not to mention whatever personal problems we’re all dealing with, to see a big budget summer tentpole dealing with how best to handle those issues is not only extremely refreshing, but honestly productive. By the credits, you’ll feel like you’ve been through the best therapy session of your life, only you’ve spent two hours watching a Marvel movie.
That’s not to say that this film is all heavy, all the time; this is an action movie, after all. And director Jake Schreier, who up until now has dabbled in dramas and HAIM music videos, is more than happy to bring unique and thrilling action set pieces to the screen that still somehow keep the characters in focus. No two characters fight alike and some of the fight scenes could hold a candle to Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s epic brawls. Schreier handles these with ease and makes sure that the stakes are crystal clear and everyone gets a moment to shine.
Thunderbolts* melds big superhero action with a worthwhile and deep message to send expertly. This extremely entertaining and pleasantly accepting ride will wash out the bad taste left by the previous MCU entry and get you hyped up for the next one.
Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters.
