Thunderbolts*
Wait, this wasn’t…..bad? Am I dreaming? Is the MCU back? OK, I might not go THAT far.
Hello!
I figured since this is a new Marvel movie, I should write a solo post about it. However, I’m starting to question that because given the cultural resonance of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, an excellent film that I reviewed just recently for my April Roundup, I’m already questioning this decision entirely.
But I’m already writing the post damnit, so I’m going to go forward with my thoughts on Thunderbolts*! (I still don’t get why there is an asterisk)
Thunderbolts*
Director: Jake Schreier
B
Since the conclusion of the Infinity saga, many Marvel and movie fans are wondering how the hell the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Kevin Feige are going to follow it up. The results have been mixed to put it kindly. Sure, there have been modest successes (relative to the MCU of course) like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But there have been SO MANY stinkers. I don’t have to mention the trainwreck known as Captain America: Brave New World to be proven right. Even movies that made tons of money like Deadpool & Wolverine felt hollow and soulless.
There was nothing to indicate that Marvel truly had a follow-up to the Avengers. And yet, here come the Thunderbolts to save the day. The new film, directed by indie director Jake Schreier, takes on the knowledge that this group of lonely losers, hemmed by Black Widow’s sister Yelena (Florence Pugh), Captain America’s buddy Bucky (Sebastian Stan) and a rando named Bob (Lewis Pullman), will probably never be enough to be exactly like the Avengers.
Of course, as renowned critic David Ehrlich pointed out in his review of the film on IndieWire, every Marvel film these days can feel like some form of meta-commentary on the MCU itself. But CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) bluntly references the Avengers throughout the film. So Thunderbolts*, while nothing like the 2012 movie or the superhero team in terms of quality, becomes a genuinely intriguing entry in the MCU and makes me interested in the future.
This group of castoffs from the lesser MCU entries like Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is much more likeable and feel like goddamn human beings. I love the connections between Yelena and her father the Red Guardian (David Harbour). Additionally, the right-wing coded snark/loserdom of John Walker (Wyatt Russell) serves to be another wrinkle in this team.
But what makes Thunderbolts* stand apart is how it portrays mental health and depression. Plenty of “prestige movies and shows” artificially try to tackle it, and this movie is no different in how simple its portrayal of this state of mind is. From Yelena’s opening monologue, where she describes her feelings of emptiness, to Bob’s desires to be some grand savior, the film wants to show how superhero movies can have feelings too. The third act even has Bob literally become a black void that the team must defeat/acknowledging that the void will never go away. All of this is to say, Thunderbolts* isn’t very subtle in that department.
Still, this storyline only goes to show how tortured and unremarkable this group really is. They know they’ll never be the Avengers, and if the cast listing in Avengers Doomsday is any indication, they won’t be alone and will need all the help they can get. But I was struck by how this film really never aspired to be The Avengers. They know they’ll never reach those heights again. And that’s OK.
Summary: Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker—embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.