I am happy to report that by the end of Thunderbolts*, you will know why the title has an asterisk. (No, I’m not going to spoil it here.) But when that big reveal comes, it lands with more of an “oh, okay” than any sort of catharsis.
That’s the overall vibe to this latest entry in the never-ending parade of Marvel films and television series. Thunderbolts* serves two purposes — the good news is that it’s further proof that Florence Pugh is a dynamic screen talent. She’s funny, charismatic, sympathetic, and believable (inasmuch as anyone is) doing those slo-mo superhero twirls across a room filled with shattered glass.
The less exciting news is that this movie feels like connective tissue in the enormous Marvel enterprise — something to keep the franchise motor running before Fantastic Four later this summer and a new Avengers movie next year. You know, the ones with superheroes everyone has heard of.
At least the lesser-tier element here is something the characters are aware of. I can’t recall ever seeing a franchise film with this much self-criticism. Our leader, Pugh’s Yelena Belova, has more than one moment of declaring “we suck!” — which is amusing, until it isn’t. Unfortunately, the movie decides to follow the now played-out trend of “actually being about trauma,” which was novel when The Babadook came out in 2014 but is now pretty much a punchline.
John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in ‘Thunderbolts*’. Courtesy of Marvel Studios
So, who are the Thunderbolts? Well, they are a ragtag team of assassins with dark pasts who have all been in the employ of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the head of the CIA, who is facing impeachment hearings. Her resume of nefarious deals and an association with the not-so-good O.X.E group have caught up with her. We know O.X.E. is bad because they have a giant Iron Mountain-esque bunker out in the desert filled with matériel that needs to be disappeared before it gets Valentina in trouble.
And among the things that need to be destroyed? Those aforementioned assassins, who are lured into Valentina’s high-tech vault. It’s not just Yelena, whom you hopefully remember from Black Widow, but “U.S. Agent” John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a one-time Captain America who isn’t quite as noble as Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson; Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a gal who can pass through walls thanks to a weird phase-shifting suit; and Bob (Lewis Pullman), who has a kind of amnesia and seems, at first, just to be some dopey guy, but later reveals himself to be something else.
The gang escapes Valentia’s trap, but I need to warn you, it takes a strange amount of time for them to do so. I checked my watch about an hour into this movie with one thought on my mind: So, uh, when is this movie going to actually start?
Luckily, things pick up once everyone climbs back to the surface, and that’s when our little band of morally gray heroes are joined by Yelena’s father, the Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who did in fact win the election that was alluded to in Captain America: Brave New World, and is now serving Brooklyn in the House of Representatives.
Valentina’s looming impeachment pushes her into true villain mode, and that’s when we learn about The Sentry Project. Without giving too much away, this is like a revived Captain America super serum thing, but a thousand times more powerful. Naturally, this blows up in her face and unleashes a terrible threat into the world.
In a nice nod to the first Avengers film, our heroes must face a nasty villain right outside Grand Central Terminal — the spot where Earth’s Mightiest Heroes once battled the invading Chitauri aliens.
The Void (Lewis Pullman) in ‘Thunderbolts*’. Marvel Entertainment/Youtube
However, this time they are not fighting beasts from a distant star, but the abstract concept of gloom, depression, and the pull of the void. This is manifested as a creeping darkness that turns innocent New Yorkers into shadows, which is a rather effective visual. (Some gasped in the audience!) To combat this threat, our team members, particularly Yelena, must also face the painful memories of the past.
This means flopping through different symbolic rooms of an imaginary house — a schtick that Danielle Deadwyler also had to do for the same reason in The Woman in the Yard, a movie that might still be playing when Thunderbolts* hits the cineplex.
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A lot of what works in the movie does so due to the talent of the performers. There aren’t a lot of jokes or killer lines in this, but little bits of business that Pugh and Russell, in particular, make work. Harbour’s loud, boorish Russian bear is funny at first, but alas, gets tiresome in a short amount of time.
Put bluntly, some scenes come together nicely, but many others don’t. The fights are just okay. Harbour and Pugh barking at one another about clinical depression with over-the-top “must catch Moose and Squirrel” accents is a true WTF moment. The good news is that things end on an up note, so you’ll walk out of the theater with some pep.
As far as being a nice lead-in to Fantastic Four: First Steps is concerned, it’s fair to call this a success. But if, for some reason, you miss this before July, it won’t leave any lasting trauma. Grade: B
