Movies

Marvel’s losers-only spin-off ‘Thunderbolts*’ sets expectations low and meets them

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As a devoted movie critic, I must say that Marvel’s quirky, brooding, and moderately entertaining film “Thunderbolts” offers a return to the big screen for the blockbuster franchise, catering once again to the die-hard geeks among us. However, only those who have followed the Cinematic Universe’s extensive journey of 35 films (not to mention a dozen miniseries) will find themselves comfortably familiar with each enigmatic face in this freshly assembled supergroup of misfits. Each character has previously graced our screens as secondary players in the tales of more celebrated heroes, who, having cashed their paychecks and moved on, have left these newcomers to shine independently.

Under Jake Schreier’s (“Paper Towns”) direction, the following secondary characters are given more depth: Yelena, the witty and Slavic sibling of Black Widow (played by Florence Pugh), as well as her downcast father Alexei (David Harbour); Ava Starr, a troubled character from “Ant-Man and the Wasp” portrayed by Hannah John-Kamen; John Walker, a troubled soldier who used to be Captain America (Wyatt Russell); and Bucky Barnes, previously brainwashed comrade of Captain America, now serving as a freshman member of Congress (played by Sebastian Stan).

The movie doesn’t provide any background information, yet its storyline is straightforward enough that you can grasp it easily. Some eccentric side characters have been given their own mission: a joint operation against the corrupt CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who refers to them as “flawed failures.” Valentina aims to genetically alter human subjects to produce her own soldier, nicknamed the “Golden Guardian of Good,” a character idealized as white, male, and blonde.

Marvel intends to give their brand an edgy, rebellious vibe through shows like The Thunderbolts, where characters named after Yelena’s soccer team from childhood are given leeway for stronger language and violent acts beyond typical PG-13 limits. I often find issue with four-quadrant films that create villains who are not human, such as robots or aliens, so the heroes can engage in violence without grappling with moral dilemmas. However, even human conflict can be difficult to celebrate, and in this case, Yelena, a Russian assassin, coldly murders two seemingly innocent scientists within the first few minutes, commenting, “You guys can’t aim for crap.

Art films tend to receive R ratings due to less content, yet “Thunderbolts” seems to don armor-like unseriousness. It elicits hearty laughter by transforming Russell’s Walker, a troubled Afghanistan war veteran bewildered by government inconsistency regarding when he can kill, into a parody of bossy, authoritative privilege. For 17 years, Marvel films have ruled the box office, but this is the first one that feels authentically teenage. Chaotic, melancholic, and rebellious, it seems to have instructed the hair department to discard their combs altogether.

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The story primarily revolves around Pugh’s character, which is strategically effective since she delivers one of the most impressive performances in a superhero suit that I’ve encountered. Initially, her moody Yelena appears in casual attire, like a detention-room fashion style. To establish the overall vibe, she demolishes an entire medical facility in Kuala Lumpur while expressing her boredom. “Perhaps I’m just feeling restless,” she muses, leaping off the top of a skyscraper using a parachute.

With her witty deliveries and smudged blue eyeliner giving an air of apathy, Pugh outperforms everyone in this role; she’s captivating even without any visible passion. The film is predominantly gray-toned, mirroring Yelena’s emotional state. Her father comments, “Your inner light is almost nonexistent, even by Eastern European standards.” It’s unclear if Pugh performs most of her own stunts, but it would suit the mood if she winked at the camera and claimed she wasn’t doing any. The most striking fight sequence resembles abstract art: a stark black-and-white overhead view of Pugh’s shadow fighting enemies down a hallway. There will be other visually impressive moments, like a limousine standing on its nose, but only that one shot aspires to true beauty.

Through the years, the character of Valentina Dreyfus has occasionally appeared in the series and now sports a striking white hairstyle that recalls Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. In a twist of unintentional flattery, Gabbard herself showed up at her confirmation hearing dressed in a white suit reminiscent of teaser footage of Dreyfus, causing Reddit users to joke about a game of ‘find the difference’.

Valentina is a tough-talking political figure who instills fear and claims she alone can determine who is a criminal. The movie opens with her own impeachment hearing, where her assistant (Geraldine Viswanathan) is given the grim task of destroying any evidence damaging to Valentina, even employing freelance mercenaries like Yelena.

Valentina’s interrogator (Wendell Pierce) appears smug and ineffective, boasting about his ability to write a perfect memo, while congressman Bucky expresses concern to the media. It’s unclear whether he’s parodying Susan Collins or if he’s simply struggling to keep up.

The story unfolds across two days and primarily focuses on specific events. The beginning of the movie shows our motley crew uniting to break free from Valentina’s deadly trap, while the second half serves as an allegory for mental health struggles, with symbolism taking center stage over the narrative. Throughout the film, there are humorous moments, yet conversations about trust and past traumas also occur. Occasionally, these jokes themselves revolve around trauma, such as when Yelena offers dark advice to a fragile former meth addict named Bob (Lewis Pullman), suggesting he suppress his negative thoughts by pushing them deep down, a suggestion so dismal she laughs. The movie seems more influenced by the unsettling messages of after-school public service announcements rather than comic books, as demonstrated in a well-structured sequence where characters enter a labyrinthine chamber filled with their own distressing memories. Although it bears a striking resemblance to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there is still a possibility that a child might find this portrayal of overcoming personal despair moving and relatable.

Long-standing Marvel enthusiasts will recognize Bob under his alternate personas: the Sentry, a somewhat virtuous character, and the Void, a darkness that consumes him in ways he likens to bipolar disorder. In his overwhelming destructive power, he can annihilate everything nearby, reducing innocents to shadows as effortlessly as a windshield repels a moth. This portrayal of nothingness by Hasbro might seem bleak, but it resonates due to Pullman’s casual display of strength; he skillfully demonstrates that a damaged character like Bob requires therapy more than the capacity to deliver a nuclear punch.

In this film, the battles are straightforward, with no aerial combat; instead, the characters brawl and shoot. However, the dialogue is fast-paced and amusing, especially when it comes to Yelena and Alexei’s Russian accents. The movie “Thunderbolts” barely manages to win by its own unconventional rules, even making fun of itself before we can do so. An asterisk (*) in the title suggests that the filmmakers intended a more grandiose name but felt it wasn’t fitting. Essentially, the movie seems to be saying, “Don’t expect too much from me; I’m just filling time until next summer’s ‘Avengers: Doomsday.’

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2025-05-02 01:31

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