Check Out Our Thoughts on Marvel’s Thunderbolts! All photos provided by Marvel Studios/Disney Studios PR.
Hey All!
We got to attend a early screening of Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts. It is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Universe is growing. This is the first “assembly” film since Avengers Endgame. By “assembly” film, I mean a group of previously established characters, from previous films, assembling as a team and that is no coincidence.
Academy Award Nominee Florence Pugh reprises her role of Yelena Belova from Marvel’s Black Widow and Disney Plus’s Hawkeye. Academy Award Nominee Sebastian Stan reprises his role of James Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier for his eighth MCU project as the only character and actor in the film who has been in the MCU since the first phase and is still going strong.
David Harbor reprises his role as Alexei Shostakov/The Red Guardian from Black Widow. Julia Louis-Dreyfus reprises her role as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine from The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Black Panther Wakanda Forever. Wyatt Russell reprises his role as John Walker/U.S.
Agent from The Falcon and Winter Soldier. Hannah John-Kamen reprises her role as Ava Starr/Ghost from Ant-Man and The Wasp. Olga Kurylenko reprises her role as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster from Black Widow. Lewis Pullman (The Strangers: Prey at Night, Bad Times at the El Royale) is the newest addition to the MCU family as Bob/Robert Reynolds who gets another alias as time progresses in the film, but, as a running gag, no one’s name is said more than Bob in this movie.
Though the film is billed and built as an ensemble, Florence Pugh’s star power and talent centers her as the real leader in terms of the story. Her dynamic with every single character is very specific to the character themselves and it changes depending on the situation. Yelena loves her “dad” Alexi, she protects Bob, she trusts Ghost, she respects Taskmaster, and she understands John Walker.
It’s that relationship with each character which makes the film continue to be engaging as it progresses. Major highlights include all the interactions between Pugh and Harbor as Yelena and Alexi; their interactions range from the most hilarious to the most heartfelt within the movie.
On a technical level, Thunderbolts hit a lot of MCU tropes as well. The fight choreography is really solid and for a team of people who “shoot, kick, punch,” that is very important. Highlights of the fight choreography include an overhead hallway scene and a four-way fight between Yelena, Taskmaster, Ghost, and Walker.
There are no spaceships or giant monsters so while a film like this does have visual effects, the focus of the effects is to make the situations more real and not have the focus be spectacle. There is spectacle, but the moments of triumph are more human based. There is a moment in which five characters must lift a large piece of a wall: a feat easily accomplished by a Hulk, Thor, or even Iron Man, but less easy for five members of The Thunderbolts.
In the greater scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thunderbolts accomplishes a lot of things. Every film after Avengers Endgame asks the question of what to do to fill the void of the absence of The Avengers. This is both an in-universe question and filmmaking question. In that way, the absences felt by the individual characters in the story echoes the feeling of audiences.
Then, the film finds ways to answer that question within the story with the hope that it satisfies the audience. It also mocks their own answer in a fun and funny way as the film and filmmakers recognize they will not be able to replicate exactly what they had with the previous Avengers films.
Unlike most action or superhero themed films, Thunderbolts, much like the also recent Captain America Brave New World, does not try to make the heroes the biggest and strongest but focuses on something new and something they can do within the limitations of their skills and experience. The focus is talking to, understanding, and settling things in a way that meaningfully resolves a conflict.
That is a great message to illustrate to the world from heroes. Thunderbolts is fun, dramatic, funny, and has a lot of heart for a movie about people that “punch, shoot, and kill” as their way of solving problems but anyone under 13, may find some moments disturbing as they involve young kids’ lives being threatened and disregarded.
Check out Marvel Studios’ “THUNDERBOLTS*” in theaters May 2nd!
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