‘Thunderbolts*’: A Much-Appreciated Shock to the System – Film Review
- Kieran O'Brien
- May 2
- 4 min read
Updated: May 3
No Avengers? No Problem.
In Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, Yelena Belova—the lead character played by Florence Pugh—is depressed. Honestly, she’s borderline suicidal. No, they don’t ever say that aloud—they do want kids to see this movie after all—but from the opening moments of the film, the combination of themes and imagery make it pretty obvious.
This stunned me maybe more than it should have. I think the last time Marvel had a lead character actually grapple with personal issues was Guardians Vol. 3. Before that… maybe Spider-Man: No Way Home? Marvel’s characters have been seriously lacking in recent years. It’s not like the movies have been insultingly bad, but their characters had stopped feeling real.
I think after Captain America: Brave New World failed to do anything interesting with Sam Wilson and after The Marvels failed to do anything interesting with Carol Danvers and after Quantumania failed to do anything interesting with Ant-Man and after Love and Thunder failed to do anything interesting with Thor… well, maybe you can understand a little how I felt when Thunderbolts* opened with Yelena talking about how empty and meaningless her life was right before she jumped off a skyscraper. No jokes. No quips.
Just the void.
Why Don't You Come On Over?
When Val de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus ), the conniving and human-rights-violating director of the CIA, faces impeachment, she moves to scrub all evidence of her illegal operations from the face of the earth—including the existence of her multiple black-ops agents. Hunted by Val, Yelena (Pugh) must throw her lot in with her maverick, morally dubious colleagues if she’s to survive.
The Thunderbolts are a team, but this movie understands the importance of having a central character to latch onto. This is Yelena’s story, and that strong, grounded character gives Thunderbolts* a sense of identity that many recent MCU films have been lacking. Florence Pugh is really great here; so great that her Russian accent doesn’t even feel silly. There’s one incredibly affecting scene where she’s failing to hold back tears while telling someone about how the sleep/wake/work/drink/doomscroll/do-it-all-again-tomorrow cycle has hollowed her out that will blow you away.
Despite that, Thunderbolts* is genuinely funny at times. This is mostly thanks to Yelena’s new ‘teammates’. Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, and Sebastian Stan are all great here, as is MCU newbie Lewis Pullman as Bob. Ah, Bob. What a fantastic character. I shan’t reveal too much about Bob, but the consensus is this: We Love Bob. In many ways he’s a dark reflection of Yelena and the conduit for her self-actualisation. Thematically, he fits into this story so well.
Agents of C.I.A.
Something I loved about Thunderbolts* that maybe not everybody will, is the movie’s relatively small scale. Without getting into specifics, a decent chunk of this movie revolves around these essentially being stuck in a really deep hole that they have to figure their way out of. What makes this sequence so enjoyable isn’t its life-or-death stakes, but the dynamics between these characters.
Red Guardian (Harbour), U.S. Agent (Russel), Bob—even Ava/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen; the least developed of the lot with the least personal connection to Yelena)—all manage to feel real and distinct. This is a team I’d gladly watch more of in the future. None are as rotten and irredeemable as DC’s mirror group, The Suicide Squad, which makes for a more wholesome experience than one might expect.
There are also some really delicious action scenes, too. Keep your eyes peeled for a great hallway scene early on and some really impactful superpowered fights between the Thunderbolts later. Not only do the fights make great showcases for these characters’ powers and progress the story too, but they also look great. Continuous tracking shots and precision camera-work really let the stunt-team show off and put the audience right the middle of things.
White Russian
To point out a couple of lacking areas, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) comes preloaded into the story with a lot of history and love from the fans, and while he is enjoyable in this is an action hero, his ‘alter ego’ as a congressman feels a little odd. We’re never given any reason why Bucky would want to be a congressman, nor are we treated to any substantive fish-out-of-water scenes in which this once-mute super-soldier is put in a position where his diplomacy might save the day. Him being a congressman never has any real impact on the story leading me to wonder why this choice was made at all.
Similarly, Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel—Val’s assistant—receives a lot of screen time for a character who mostly exists to speak plot points aloud for the audience. The narrative goes as far as to attempt to give her a small arc… and then forgets about her for the last act of the movie entirely rendering the purpose of that arc somewhat meaningless. Viswanathan adds a lot of charm to this minor character, but Mel just wasn’t an interesting enough character to be given so much screen time.
That’s really it, though. Thunderbolts* is a great movie. It puts Yelena’s personal crisis to the forefront and doesn’t offer easy answers to her problems. It has two actors from The Wire (Chris Bauer and Wendell Pierce). It has a ‘found family’ element. It has Sebastian Stan on a motorbike. Most importantly, it has Bob.
Thanks for reading my Thunderbolts* review. If you liked it, consider checking out my wishlist or buying me a cup of coffee at https://ko-fi.com/kieranobrien or below.
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