Films for Breakfast

It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a bit of a dry-spell as of late – for every beloved Deadpool & Wolverine or Spider-Man: No Way Home we get, we also have a Secret Invasion or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with mixed reception at best. Even on a larger scale, it feels like these projects don’t quite connect with one-another the way they used to and the cohesion of stories has been cheapened by the Disney+ of it all. Thunderbolts*, while it won’t quite reinvent the wheel of what we know Marvel movies to be, feels like a refreshing change of pace in a few different areas. For starters, it feels like the first MCU entry in a while that feels like it’s actually building to something and pivotal to the movement of the overall story.

But more importantly, Thunderbolts* has a reliance and keen focus on its character dynamics and the central themes of the story its trying to tell above all else. Yes, it’s fun to connect the dots of how these characters and the events that transpire here will impact the larger universe, but what’s even more impressive to me is the fact that this film feels like a singular vision. It doesn’t feel like a byproduct of studio mandates or riddled with reshoots due to poor test screenings; it simply feels like everyone involved with the production made the movie that they wanted to make because they found it compelling. This feels like a low bar, and maybe it is – but I find it refreshing that we can still get a personal and emotional story in one of these.

The film picks up with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), sister to Natasha Romanoff, as she works for the mysterious and shady Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) doing classified clean-up missions. After some reflecting with her surrogate father Alexei/Red Guardian (David Harbour) Yelena decides she wants to make a change in her life and asks Val for an out from the clean-up game, leading her to a “final job” to tie up loose-ends. What at first seems like a simple mission quickly throws Yelena into the mix with other antiheroes such as John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Antonia/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman) who doesn’t remember how who he is or how he got entangled in this mess.

From the get-go, the film has a really solid set-up and it plays off of the mystery of the teams’ situation rather nicely and builds suspense off of it while developing the relationships between the characters in an organic way. The film embraces the fact that this is a team of side-characters, and I really enjoyed getting to spend more time with John Walker and Ava Starr, two fun characters that have never been the focus of the other projects they’ve appeared in. Bucky is a character we see pretty often, but I was still entertained by him being reluctantly being thrown into the ring with the rest of these characters.

I was particularly really impressed by Florence Pugh here, who once again shines as Yelena, and gets a legitimately effective and emotional journey here, and it broadens her dynamic with Alexei/Red Guardian pretty nicely – leading to another hilarious and heartfelt performance from David Harbour. However, my favorite character here is newcomer Bob (Lewis Pullman), who I won’t spoil who he is actually playing on the chance that you’ve avoided the marketing. Pullman gives a fairly complex and dark performance here with many layers to it, ranging from endearing to funny to terrifying; and his chemistry with Pugh solidifies itself as the heart of the film and what I was most moved by. He’s easily my favorite character the MCU has introduced sinced Endgame.

In terms of action, when the film goes for it, it’s quite satisfying and fun to watch – especially a really impressive car chase sequence featuring Bucky and the rest of the Thunderbolts halfway through the film. However, the film as a whole has significantly less-action than one would expect from an MCU film, though I don’t say that as a critique. By the end, I was really impressed by how much the film relies on its story and characters and only feels the need to have action sequences when it services the larger story the film is trying to tell.

On a technical front, the film looks and sounds better than a lot of the MCU’s recent output. The cinematography from DP Andrew Droz Palermo is particularly striking, adding depth to the action and all of the nightmare/flashback sequences have a really unique and surrealist quality to them. I was also pretty impressed by the score from band Son Lux, who previously did the score for Everything Everywhere All at Once, which has a unique and kinetic energy throughout the film, but also leans into being eery and haunting when the film explores its darker themes. All of these elements compliment the overall experience very nicely.

If I had to gripe, which I hardly even feel strongly about, is the fact that the film does feel like it cuts itself a bit short. It runs roughly at 127 minutes, with two post-credit sequences (the final one being one of the longest that the MCU has ever put out) and honestly flies by so fast. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but I could have sat through an additional 20-30 minutes with these characters and gone even deeper into their dynamics with one another/individual journeys, which I think would have made it an even richer experience. But I suppose if the worst thing I can say about your film is that I wanted more of it, then you’re doing something right!

By the end, I found myself really enjoying Thunderbolts* and the more I sit with it, the more I think it’s one of the Marvel’s latest outputs post-Endgame. In the scope of the entire MCU, I think the film still stands as an incredibly ambitious project and one of their darkest and most character-driven films to date; but it still remains incredibly entertaining and often amusing! Overall, Thunderbolts* is a wonderful balancing act that shines a new light on its central characters, while feeling both old-fashioned and fresh in its presentation all at once.