Out this week in cinemas is Marvel’s latest superhero entry, Thunderbolts*. Thunderbolts* stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman. along with several other notable actors. Thunderbolts* is about the shadier figures that are on the fringes of the MCU, and how these loners and misfits feel when they’re not doing battle with the good guys.
The film opens simple enough, Yelena (Pugh) is sent on a cleanup job for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). When she arrives, she is assaulted by a motley crew of other assassins and each of them try to kill the other, until they realise that de Fonatine has played them. As they sit in this grave that de Fontaine has prepared for them, they begin to form a kind of partnership. They also meet Bob (Pullman), a man who was weirdly placed deep underground. When they escape, these incredibly dangerous people, and Bob, decide to bring down de Fontaine for what she did to them and also perhaps for the betterment of the world.
The past doesn’t go away
It’s funny that there is now a subgenre within the comic book film genre. It began with Guardians of the Galaxy, and continued with the Suicide Squad, culminating with Thunderbolts*. I’m talking about the losers who no one likes, the knock-offs, the troubled kids. Thankfully, for me, the Thunderbolts, as they are affectionately named, lean closer to Guardians than the Suicide Squad. Each of their troubled backgrounds is explored well in their previous appearances, so in this film, they focus on the right aspects of each character to expand them. This allows for actors like Harbour and Pugh to give emotionally resonant performances that further explore the lives of their characters. The action set pieces are decent, giving each character their moment to shine. The third act, in particular, has some striking imagery.
Overall, I’d say the cast is amazing, with a familiar but charming dynamic. There are one or two outliers; Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) sadly left no impression. They insult each other almost constantly and point out the flaws of each of their gimmicks. As I said, it’s a trope of the subgenre. They start off as enemies, and slowly grow into something more substantial.
Then you add Bob into the mix, and that’s when the film becomes something truly memorable. The character of Bob represents so much. Not just to the state of the MCU and the comic book industry, but also as an exploration of depression. It’s startlingly heavy for an MCU film, and I found it refreshing. With Pullman’s performance, surrounded by the great ensemble cast, Thunderbolts* has some of the best storytelling in the MCU.
Thunderbolts* is maybe my favourite film of the year thus far. It’s not because of the action or even the superheroics. It’s because of the emotional and subversive third act of the film that resonated with me. These characters, for the most part, feel genuinely flawed and human, and it makes them all the more thrilling to watch.
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