Marvels Thunderbolts* breathes new life into Marvel with an action packed, and emotional team of once-villains-turned-heroes. Thunderbolts* stays grounded in the story with complex characters, and a very linear story that does not vear off too much with easter eggs from previous movies.
The film features a star-studded cast including David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and many others. All reprising their respective roles in the movie, they knock it out of the park with great chemistry together and the raw emotions they give to the movie.
The movie focuses on Bucky Barnes, Yelena Belova, Ghost, Red Guardian, John Walker and Bob. The team grapples with the nightmares of their dark pasts as they find a way to work together in hopes to become better and improve in the world.
This unconventional team has no shortage of comedic moments with good laughs in just the right moments that never feels too forced. The film does this all while staying true to their characters and focused on the mission.
Most of these characters never had the chance to be fully fleshed out in the other movies they were in. This movie shows who these characters really are and why. It illuminates the mental health effects of going through scary times as both a child and an adult, tackling their regrets and fears in an unexpected way . While it is still an action pack Marvel movie, it also held the message of reaching out when you need to and not pushing down your feelings.
Many Marvel movies of late have caused people to complain about the overreliance on CGI and greenscreens, like in Ant Man Quatumania. There was not a single time as I was watching this movie that I felt this way. Many scenes were shot on site with little to no CGI. While it is not the most beautifully shot movie, it definitely all feels very real and not fake.
My main gripe with though is the final act. While the final act wraps up the movie well in a way that does not leave any loose ends and capitalizes on the growth each character has made, it feels rushed. Much of the movie is spent building up to this final act, however, it falls a little flat. Certain characters were almost forgotten about, no longer touching on their complex backgrounds after the rest of the film established that tone.
The movie spends a lot of time building this team’s relationships with each other and showing glimpses of what they can be, individually and as a team. But the final act just shows all of this growth within a few short minutes.
Overall I felt Thunderbolts* was a fantastic movie that felt like Marvel from 2014. It is grounded, scrappy and sends a strong message while keeping the MCU timeline moving forward toward Avengers Doomsday. If you are wondering what the asterisk means in the title, go watch the movie.
“Thunderbolts*” is currently showing at Cinemark.
Owen Daniels can be reached at [email protected].
