Thunderbolts Review: Best Marvel Film since No Way Home

Thunderbolts breaks away from recent forgettable MCU entries, delivering a gripping, emotionally grounded story that explores mental health through a darker lens. Florence Pugh gives the MCU’s best performance since Tom Holland in No Way Home, elevating this team of anti-heroes to near All-Star status.

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Thunderbolts Overview

The name Thunderbolts implies that it’s a team-up movie similar to Avengers or Justice League. While there’s a team dynamic at play in Thunderbolts, this is a Yelena Belova and, by extension, Pugh movie. In just three appearances, Pugh has established a Black Widow character that rivals, if not surpasses, Scarlett Johansson. That isn’t a slight at Johansson, but is a testament to Pugh’s performance.

Thunderbolts, written by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, explores mental health issues, especially the notion of feeling like a failure.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is under investigation by Congress. Valentina wants to burn down her more illicit operations, which include documentation and people. She creates a scenario designed to take out Yelena, U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Bob (Lewis Pullman). This unlikely team works together to escape and overcome their shortcomings.

Director Jake Schreier does a great job balancing the film’s tone with the right amount of humor. The action sequences are excellent. In a lesser director, Thunderbolts could almost be too dour, but the addition of Red Guardian (David Harbour) adds the perfect mix of humor and empathy.

Pugh’s ability to forge chemistry with everyone is incredible. Yelena’s scenes, especially opposite her father, are incredibly moving. The other standout in Thuderbolts is Pulllman as Bob. There’s a magnetism to his performance that pulls you in, not unlike his void persona. It’s Bob’s depression linked to the experiments he endured that dives deep into the group’s past and present traumas.

By the end of Thunderbolts, I couldn’t wait to see this team again. It’s the same feeling after the first Guardians of the Galaxy film.

The only issue with the film is Bucky’s initial role as a Congressman seems too far fetched and is an unnatural fil, but once he joins up with Yelena and the rest of the team, Sebastian Stan shines as he usually does.

Overall, Thunderbolts may not be a top-10 MCU film, but it’s a film with heart, good action, and a moving exploration of mental health issues.

Control Issues

After several appearances on the sidelines, Dreyfus finally gets to sink her teeth into Valentina. Dreyfus is great here. She’s channeling some of the Selina Meyer hubris from Veep. However, given the dark subject matter in Thunderbolts, she gives Valentina a bit more menace.

The MCU has had a mixed bag of political storylines. The peak was Robert Redford in Winter Soldier, and the worst was Secret Invasion. Thunderbolts is much closer to the former.

In Thunderbolts, Valentina is under investigation and forced to answer to Congress. Gary is the man leading the charge against her. Wendell Pierce is a terrific character actor who brings a ton of charisma to what could be a toothless congressperson who isn’t at Valentina’s level. The scenes between Dreyfus and Pierce are great.

Gary’s pressure forces Valentina to change plans and eliminate the unremarkable people she’s used to doing her dirty work.

From Failures to Thunderbolts

Yelena, Ghost, U.S. Agent, Taskmaster and Bob meet at a location set up by Valentina. Each person believes they’re there to take out the other. Yelena is tracking Ghost. U.S. Agent is tracking Yelena. Taskmaster is looking for US Agent. Ghost is hunting Taskmaster. Then, there’s Bob already at the facility.

Bob is captured by Valentina, allowing the others to escape. Once they leave, Yelena’s father and Bucky arrive. Bucky wants to coerce them into turning on Valentina, but they’re already on the same track.

The best part about each of these characters is that they are all failures, at least that’s how they perceive themselves. Yelena feels isolated and alone and is going through the motions of life. The U.S. Agent has lost his wife and daughter because he couldn’t accept his failures in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The darkest of all is Bob. His inability to protect his mother from his father’s abuse led him down a dark, drug-induced path.

However, the highlight of these mental health journeys is Alexei, aka Red Guardian. When Yelena pays him a visit at his house, it’s their first time seeing each other in a year. Yelena confronts her father about his distance. It turns out he simply didn’t think she wanted him around. It’s a touching scene between a father and daughter trying to cope with losing Natasha. They both feel like they’re never good enough, which makes them such great characters to believe in.

Sentry

Thunderbolts makes some interesting antagonist choices. Valentina is initially positioned as the villain, but this is replaced by a darker threat from an underestimated source.

Bob, the former meth addict, agreed to participate in the Sentry program years ago. The program is another super-soldier serum. Valentina believes the program was eliminated, but Bob’s arrival proves that the program has a successful candidate.

Bob’s first act is to save the other Thunderbolts. Yelena and Bob forge a connection almost immediately. They each have poor feelings of self-worth. Bob distracts Valentina’s forces, allowing Yelena and the others to escape. Valentina captures Bob.

After deducing Bob’s mother’s issues, she takes on a maternal role and tries to control Bob. When Yelena, Bucky, and the others encounter Bob, he’s sporting a new look and frightening powers. As bad as things get for The Thunderbolts, the movie takes a darker turn.

Sentry becomes an even darker entity that forces the group to embrace a unique solution to defeat him.

Thunderbolts Final Thoughts

Thunderbolts is an excellent film. Its serious, consistent tone makes it a better film than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Overall, Thunderbolts is the best Phase 5 MCU film.