Thunderbolts* is Marvel's best film in a long time, and it also benefits from a committed performance by Florence Pugh, who leads a group of misfits who could give the Avengers a run for their money.
It's not always clear who the good guys and bad guys are in this film. As one character (paraphrasing) says, "You grow up with the idea that there's good and evil. But there comes a time when you realize there's evil, and something even worse. And that's it."
Director: Jake Schreier
Writers: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, Kurt Busiek
Stars: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
I'm not sure I agree with that statement, but in terms of the film, it works. Our heroes are a bunch of antiheroes and even villains. The bad guys are something else.
Let's start with the Thunderbolts. (If that sounds like a sports reference, well, it's in the movie.) First, there's the troubled Yelena (Pugh), whom we remember as Scarlett Johansson's sister in Black Widow, and her odious but strangely funny father, Red Guardian (David Habour), the quintessential Russian hero.
There's also Walker (Wyatt Russell), who played Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier before quickly falling from grace. There's good old Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is famous as the Winter Soldier. And there's Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), aka Ghost, from the Ant-Man franchise.
They're a group of brothers and sisters who don't much like each other, but are forced to coexist in their battle against the great villain, CIA Director Valentina de Fontaine (Julia-Louis Dreyfus), who wants (reminiscent of Donald Trump) to be above reproach and dispense justice as she pleases.
Geraldine Viswanathan has an interesting supporting role as Mel, Valentina's troubled assistant. And then there's Robert Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), who could be in another league as the typical unhinged character who seems to have come straight out of an A24 movie (I know it's advertising, but it's also true).
The last Captain America movie didn't bother me as much as some, but I enjoyed this one much more. It has a decent script (by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo), solid direction (by Jake Schreier), a bunch of great actors who seem to be having fun, and good special effects, or at least pretty good ones.
For Florence Pugh, who shines in every scene, this could be the movie that turns her from star into superstar. It's also proof that making a great Marvel movie doesn't have to hurt your career, as long as it's the right one. Thunderbolts* won't win any Oscars, but this movie isn't a waste of time either. You could say that all the trauma the characters carry, all that psychological baggage, is only superficial, but it's probably also good to remember that this is an action-adventure, first, second, and last. And yet it gives the actors a little more substance to sink their teeth into.
And as for comparisons, it's not The Suicide Squad or Guardians of the Galaxy; it has a spirit all its own.
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