'Thunderbolts' Review: Florence Pugh and Crew Are the Glue Holding This Together
Though the beats are repetitive, for fans of "WandaVision" or "The Marvels," this is another fun diversion
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Since the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Disney, Marvel, and the characters within the universe have struggled to answer the question: what’s next?How, and who, do you replace the most iconic and powerful superheroes with after they’ve all said goodbye? (At least until the multiverse retconning that sees RDJ and Chris Evans return, of course). More importantly, how do you make any of that resonant in a world, and cinematic landscape, where superheroes seem so trite? Back in February, Captain America: Brave New World tried to lay some of the groundwork for that to mixed results.
What Thunderbolts* wants to do is hew towards what 2012’s Avengers did in bringing a group of disparate people together and forcing them to form a community, a family if you will (at least until Marvel’s first family finally arrives in a few months). There’s a similar tone and story beats found in the likes of WandaVision and The Marvels which, if you didn’t like those films, odds are you won’t care for this. But, if you thoroughly enjoyed those, as I did, then Thunderbolts* will give you something to enjoy for two hours.
We meet Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) at a crossroads in her life. She’s emotionally struggling in the wake of her sister’s death, believing she has no purpose in life. She’s determined to walk away from the black ops work she’s doing for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) but with Valentina under impeachment proceedings that’s harder than it looks. Valentina plans to kill Yelena, along with the other people she’s recruited. But when that goes south Yelena is forced to band together with the likes of John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), along with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and her own quasi-father Alexei (David Harbour) in order to survive.
Even when the Marvel formula wears thin, with the right script and actors it’s fun in the moments and that’s what Thunderbolts* is: fun. There’s a lot of humor mined from a group of characters who refuse to believe there’s power in community. The various flaws of the team are on display during their first meeting in a top-secret vault. Walker tries hard to dominate and mansplain everything, while Ava is the one routinely willing to walk away while Yelena tries to play peacemaker. The script never gets into the weeds about just how terrible these characters are, especially Walker who remains very eesh in today’s world, there’s an acknowledgement and understanding that these people aren’t gonna do a complete 180 degree change overnight.
Co-screenwriter Eric Pearson wrote the screenplay for Black Widow, another solid and underseen entry in the MCU, while Joanna Calo was a producer on the utterly charming Netflix series The Baby-Sitters Club so it’s understandable that Thunderbolts* has a lot of the familial drama and whimsy of something like The Marvels. Disney has mined the depths of generational trauma for a few years now, and while there is some of that in Thunderbolts*, at it’s core it’s a depression story. Yelena can’t find any meaning in life and sees the mild-mannered Bob (Lewis Pullman), a young man seemingly living in Valentina’s vault, as a kindred spirit.
I sound like a broken record but there’s certainly an awareness in the current cinematic landscape of where we are right now the benefit of Thunderbolts*. We’re all depressed these days, aren’t we? Thunderbolts* is at its best when it allows itself to go to that dark place, albeit that becomes a bit ridiculous when the film’s big bad finally makes himself known. We’ve seen the horrors of the Red Room a few times now, and yet Pugh is just able to sell the well of emotion that resides inside Yelena Belova. Whether that’s guilt at the things she was forced into doing as a child, or the hurt she feels at her surrogate father not talking to her for a year (on top of losing her sister whom she just reunited with), Pugh understands how to mine the depths of guilt and torment. She is the glue that holds the entire movie together.
And she has great chemistry with Pullman, specifically, as the innocent, doofy Bob. (Seriously, though, Pullman might want to mix it up or people are gonna be calling him Bob into eternity.) We’ve seen numerous characters like Pullman’s Bob, but those formulaic elements are nicely balanced by Yelena’s need for grief. Because of how dark Yelena’s story is there’s a need for a lot of humor which can be smothered a bit too heavily, particularly in the film’s first 30 minutes before it finds its groove. Thankfully, David Harbour understands the comedy he’s needed for and steals every scene. Harbour is a chameleon, able to bring the laughs and the heart. He’s just as note-perfect bemoaning how he’s not on a Wheaties box as he is apologizing for being a terrible dad to Yelena. Whatever you need, Harbour delivers.
The rest of the cast is stuck in perpetual B-mode, and though they get moments to shine as an ensemble there’s less depth to them as individuals. Sebastian Stan’s Bucky doesn’t have much purpose here, acting as a bridge between the Avengers and this new crew. He’s a fledgling Congressman who apparently can’t get any bills passed for reasons unknown. Honestly, where is the political drama about Bucky Barnes — Winter Soldier/assassin turned politician — trying to reform democracy? I’d watch that. Much like Brave New World, Bucky’s personal life is fairly non-existent and it’s a shame. Really, Stan is there to look damn cool thanks to cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo. Russell and John-Kamen are also good but the former gets one scene of backstory while John-Kamen is as ghostlike as her character.
For all its flaws, Thunderbolts* is one of the stronger Marvel entities to come out in awhile and certainly the best of the year so far. Pugh and Harbour keep things afloat, while the ensemble nature is a lot of fun. This ain’t winning any Oscars but it understands what’s ailing us. Sponsored by Shane’s Tires (iykyk).
Thunderbolts* is in theaters May 2.