Thunderbolts*
Director: Jake Schreier
Writer: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo
Based on: Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley’s comics
Sequel to: Black Widow
Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce
Part of: Marvel movies
Seen on: 1.5.2025

Content Note: child abuse, drug addiction

Plot:
Yelena (Florence Pugh) is ready to quit the covert operations, but she has promised one last clean-up mission to Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Only that clean-up mission turns out to be a trap, not only for Yelena, but also for disgraced former Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost aka Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), Antonia aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and – for whatever reason – Bob (Lewis Pullman). They all have to think quick to get out alive, and then maybe even figure out what is going on and how to stop it.

I had a lot of fun with Thunderbolts* that feels a bit like a return to form for the increasingly stale Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is not flawless but it is a lot more entertaining and emotionally resonant than I’ve come to expect from the MCU.

Thunderbolts* main selling point is its cast and the way their characters relate to each other. While I often felt that the film uses humor a little too much to avoid thinking about actual implications of things the characters did in the past, they nevertheless get to a true emotional core when the movie needs it most, thanks in no small part to Pugh, who is always great, and Pullman who is excellent.

The second biggest selling point of the film is that it takes seriously a truth that should be self-evident but often isn’t in these kinds of films. Namely that you can’t solve everything by throwing punches and shooting bullets. You certainly can’t beat mental illness out of somebody, you need a different approach. I loved seeing that plot-line and it was really well executed overall.

This direction of the plot also meant that the showdown wasn’t a CGI action fest that lasts way too long, a welcome change considering a lot of the other MCU movies we have gotten in the past years. I mean, the film does have its fair share of action (not all of it, unfortunately, well directed) and CGI, but in the end, it was focused more on relationships and I appreciate that.

It might still be a little too long here and there, and I don’t know if it works at all if you don’t have at least a passing understanding of who all of the players are (except for Bob) and have been in the MCU, but then it isn’t a first film so that’s not strictly necessary. Not all jokes, nor all scenes land as they should, but most of them do, making the film a good movie experience for sure.

Summarizing: I was touched and entertained.