Thunderbolts* (Movie Review)

The MCU is back, baby! Or at least that's what you'd be led to believe, going off of the buzz from those early Thunderbolts screenings. But being the skeptic that I am, I still had doubts the film could possibly right the ship for a franchise that seems to keep careening off course with every other entry. And it was with that same skepticism that I ultimately went into Thunderbolts, cautiously optimistic and hoping to be won over. So, is the MCU truly back on track, or is this merely another sign of greater things to come?

The film features a ragtag team of antiheroes, some of whom might be recognizable if you've been keeping up with the MCU over the years. But in the quite likely scenario that you haven't, the team is comprised of Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Yelena (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Each one is a secret operative working for the director of the CIA, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). But when her shady operations give rise to a new threat, the eponymous Thunderbolts are forced to work together for a shot at redemption.

As Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe winds to a close, concerns for what is to come next are understandably high. After all, we've been promised two new Avengers movies in the form of Doomsday and Secret Wars, and we've gotten very little indication of what those films could be about within the MCU itself. So it is indeed high time we start to see the results of all those behind-the-scenes shakeups following the pivot away from Kang's Dynasty and the announced return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

This is why I felt that Thunderbolts had its work cut out for it. But coming out of the movie, my initial reaction was perhaps more muted than I would have anticipated. This is not to say that the movie was not entertaining in its own right, or that it didn't deliver on the promise of its trailers. Far from it. In fact, it is easy to see why those early reactions were as gassed up as they were and how many would consider this a return to the glory days of the MCU. So while I did come out of it pleased overall, I still felt like it didn't hit as hard as I wanted. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In terms of the things that I liked, I really appreciated the fact that the film does what those early MCU films managed to do so well, namely, building off of what came before while also building towards what's to come next. Gone are the frustrations from disconnected events like the ones that made up a large part of Phase 4. This film, by contrast, feels like a logical follow-up to the events of Captain America: Brave New World, with more than a few references to that other movie, while also laying the groundwork for what we can expect in Phase 5.

I also like that the stupid asterisk at the end of the film's name is finally explained, although you'll have to wait till the very end of the movie for that explanation. But how you feel about that revelation probably hinges on how much faith you have in Marvel Studios and their ability to honor any drastic changes to the direction of the franchise beyond the confines of this particular movie. The skeptic in me suspects they wouldn't, at least not for very long, and a huge reset is probably already planned to bring things back to status quo.

I know I'm being a bit cagey with details here, but trust me, you'll know what I mean once you see the film. One thing I can reveal, though, is my thoughts on the story. The plot was fairly predictable, especially if you're the type who watches every single trailer. Some of it was also a bit too heavy-handed for my tastes, especially when characters act in contrived and uncharacteristic ways. It did offer a good blend between the usual MCU humor and some deeper adult themes, exploring mental health and how to overcome past traumas in ways you typically don't see in a superhero movie.

The problem is, I was quickly turned off by how overly sentimental and on-the-nose the handling of those themes got. It felt like something out of a Pixar animated movie, and I don't mean that in a good way. But your mileage may very well vary, and I still have to give the writers kudos for eschewing the typical third-act superhero slugfest for something more emotionally resonant, although how much of that was purely out of necessity, given the power discrepancies between our heroes and the threat at hand, is anyone's guess.

But perhaps my biggest issue with Thunderbolts was just how safe the whole thing felt. A part of me can't help but wonder what a movie like this would've looked like in the hands of a writer or director like James Gunn, with his knack for fleshing out and elevating B and C-tier characters, as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad. But in the absence of a James Gunn, it falls to reason that this is perhaps the next best thing, given the dire state of the overall MCU in recent years. And when I view things through that particular lens, the more I grow to appreciate the movie we got for the things it got right.

Thunderbolts is the soft reboot that the MCU desperately needs. The movie doesn't so much act as a course correction as it does a full-on retooling, and for the first time in a long time, it actually looks like the franchise is building up to something worthwhile. It remains to be seen how great that destination will turn out to be, but in the here and now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little more excited for what the future holds than I was before seeing the movie. So even though I still feel we are far away from Avengers: Endgame levels of hype, this is certainly another pivotal step in the right direction.