Posted by I’ve largely checked out of Marvel movies and the MCU, but there was just something about Thunderbolts* that really compelled me to go see it. Thunderbolts* is the first Marvel movie I’ve seen since Deadpool and Wolverine, and the first one I’ve seen in theaters since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. And frankly, I was pleasantly surprised with it. Maybe it’s because I’m so far removed from the MCU at this point, but Thunderbolts* felt refreshing and different from the tired old formula I had grown used to and fed up with.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The story of Thunderbolts* follows Yelena, John Walker, and Ghost as they’re initially pit against each other by their former employer, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, because as director of the CIA, she’s being impeached due to abuses of power and having her hands in other cookie jars, in this case O.X.E. and its experiments. Taskmaster is also briefly there before getting unceremoniously executed by Ghost, and it’s a mixed bag decision. On the one hand, Taskmaster is removed so early that the character does nothing interesting or noteworthy. On the other hand, the character’s introduction was so incredibly botched from the get-go in Black Widow that removing her will hopefully allow them to reimplement the real, or at least a more accurate, Taskmaster down the line. After the trio realize what happened, they are joined by a mysterious man named Bob, and they all have to work together to escape. It’s incredibly dysfunctional, as you would expect, but they eventually do it. All the while, Bucky, now a government official, is working to turn Valentina’s assistant against her and hand over valuable evidence for the impeachment hearings. Once Valentina learns of the group’s survival, she prepares armed forces to deal with them. Bob sacrifices himself, allowing the trio to escape. It’s then revealed that Bob is actually the only surviving test subject of Project Sentry, which was basically O.X.E.’s attempt at making a ridiculously powerful superhero. Red Guardian arrives and picks up the group, who have now sort of adopted the name “Thunderbolts” after Yelena’s bad soccer team she played on as a kid. Some of Valentina’s goons find them, and a chase ensues before Bucky arrives and defeats the armored trucks chasing them. He apprehends the group so that they can testify in the impeachment, but he’s interrupted by a phone call from the assistant warning him about Bob and how Valentina is grooming him and using him. Bucky frees the group, and they head to New York to put a stop to Valentina and Sentry. During that confrontation, Sentry completely dominates the Thunderbolts. They’re able to escape, which prompts a confrontation between Sentry and Valentina that ends with her assistant activating the kill switch to neutralize Sentry. Down on the streets of New York, the Thunderbolts argue before everyone angrily storms off. That is, until a revived Sentry appears in the sky and begins banishing people to the Void. The Thunderbolts band together to help save the citizens from falling debris and danger until Sentry/The Void begins directly “voiding” people. A wave of shadows begins to wash over all of New York. Yelena is the first to enter the Void, and she finds herself in a room that endlessly replays one of her worst memories. She travels from room to room until she finally finds Bob, who’s just trying to wait out the bad episode he’s having. The other Thunderbolts join them, and the group moves through more rooms until they find the source of the Void. Bob confronts it, initially giving in to his anger before the rest of the team remind him that they’re there for him as friends, and they understand what he’s going through. The heroes then find themselves back on the streets of New York with everything back to normal. They are about to confront Valentina when she tricks them into stepping into a press release where she triumphantly introduces them as “The New Avengers.”
First and foremost, the plot feels fresh and different from a lot of previous Marvel projects. Sure there’s action and explosions and all of that, but it’s not necessarily this climactic battle of plucky heroes trying to save the world from this overwhelming force that wants to destroy/subjugate everything with an army and/or generic skybeam. The movie’s a lot more introspective than that, surprisingly. While there is external conflict, the central conflict is more internal and focused on mental health, especially depression. Bob is a deeply flawed, hurt individual who entered the Project Sentry because someone told him it might help him. The end result is a godlike being with delusions of grandeur and deep depression. The Void is the darkness he stuffs down inside himself, the feelings that he’s worthless and the world is meaningless. That is the central conflict. Yelena and John in particular find themselves in similar ruts, with Yelena still grappling with the death of her sister and a growing ennui with her work and life, while John puts on the brave face of having a loving family when in reality, his wife left him and took their son because he was so wrapped up in his own ego that he couldn’t find the time to care about them. The Thunderbolts are bad people and deeply flawed characters, and that’s the point. It was refreshing seeing mental health be the antagonist in a superhero film.
Thunderbolts* placed more of a focus on the characters and their developments and challenges as a result, and for the most part I think it worked. Yelena, John, and Bob are the stand outs, though I can’t deny that John’s development and internal struggles are a bit less developed. Yelena is generally the POV character, so her inner struggles are the most highlighted until Bob’s issues take center stage. Bucky’s already gone through his character development, so there’s not much to say there. Red Guardian falls into the comic relief niche, and it’s ok. I do like him, and David Harbour in general, so I’m ok with it to an extent, but he’s also just kind of a bumbling joke character. Hopefully later movies fix this and give him a little more depth than “loud USSR Captain America.” He still does have some nice moments, but they’re few and far between. Ghost is the weakest character (not counting Taskmaster) in the movie. She’s just kind of there and along for the ride. The music, acting, cinematography, and effects were all fine. They were fairly typical for your big budget Marvel movie. However, one thing I did really like was how The Void was a completely black, shadowy Sentry with small white eyes peering out at everything. His design and the effects when he sent people to the Void were fantastic and some of my favorite parts.
SPOILERS END
Overall, I enjoyed Thunderbolts*. Between being removed enough from the MCU now to come back and enjoy a movie here and there and liking the cast of characters, Thunderbolts* felt fresh and fairly different from other MCU movies I’ve seen. And since I’m very behind on my MCU projects, I didn’t feel like I was missing much necessary context to enjoy the movie. There were allusions to the most recent Captain America movie, but nothing that the marketing for that movie hadn’t already told me. As a result, I’d say Thunderbolts* is definitely a solid Marvel movie worth giving a watch, and it’s definitely piqued my interest on what’s going to happen next for these heroes.
Broad Scope Entertainment 