Thunderbolts* is the newest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featuring some of the franchise’s best side characters. Photo: Disney/Marvel.
After some recent lacklustre outings, a lot of Marvel fans have been left wondering: has the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) lost the magic that made it a box office juggernaut in the 2010s?
With the likes of Iron Man, Captain America and the Guardians of the Galaxy now in the rearview mirror, Marvel has had to look to other characters to bring in viewers.
While for the most part, most of the new characters and teams have been bigger misses than hits e.g. Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Falcon and The Eternals, the MCU has slowly been building a team in the background, culminating in the new super squad, the Thunderbolts.
Thunderbolts* centres on a team of characters who, up until this point, were side performers in their respective movies or shows.
Yelana Belova (Florence Pugh), Winter Solider (Sebatian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbor), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and newcomer Bob (Lewis Pullman) are pulled into a secret location after being secretly tasked to take one another out by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louise Dreyfus), who is trying cover up loose ends before her upcoming impeachment trial.
After learning they’ve been betrayed by the very woman they’ve been working for, the former side characters join forces to get one back on the organisation that crossed them.
There are some twists and turns, reveals, and usual superhero shenanigans along the way, but that’s the gist.
You would be excused if, heading into this, you thought it was Marvel’s answer to the Suicide Squad. I did. But instead, you get a pretty well-rounded action flick with a bunch of likeable characters sharing similar motives.
There are a couple of typical superhero movie shortcomings. But for the most part, this is a unique spin for the MCU and a whole lot of fun.
The heart of this film centres on Yelana and her relationships with the other core cast. Thankfully, Ms Pugh is such a fantastic and relatable actress that you want to see her succeed as this character.
You’ve seen her story in previous films and shows, but it’s now time for her to shine and it is greatly deserved.
Ms Pugh, much like the rest of the cast, has so much fun with this film and that carries over to the tone of the movie. Funny moments are funny, tense moments are tense etc, mostly due to the actors. This can’t be said about some other MCU outings.
Bob is a particular standout, but I won’t dive too deep for spoiler’s sakes.
One of the biggest surprises is the number of real sets. There are real stunts and explosions, not just CGI backdrops or images filmed in The Volume (an on-set virtual production visual effects technology composed of a video wall ) for which Disney has grown accustomed.
It adds weight and stakes. If you believe what you are seeing is real, you feel more involved and engaged. That is much the case here.
The plot isn’t anything to write home about, but it serves the purpose of the characters well enough that you can look past its shortcomings. Some characters are there just to move the plot forward or explain the background. But at this point with Marvel, I’d take clunky dialogue in place of straight-out poor storytelling.
While I enjoyed Deadpool and Wolverine, it left a lot to be desired in the visual and script departments – and the less we talk about The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World, the better. With that said, I enjoyed my time with Thunderbolts*, a small return to form for Marvel.
Thunderbolts* is a new direction for Disney’s superhero studio with fun little peeks into future projects. If more films are like this in the future, I have no doubt fans will return to the cinema to see them.
Thunderbolts* is currently showing in cinemas across the country.
