Written by Eric Pearson And Joanna Calo
Directed by Jake Schreier
Yelena: "Bucky, you have the wrong people. We have all done bad things."
Bucky: "Look, I've been where you are. The past doesn't go away. So you can either live with it forever, or do something about it."
Who would've thought that burying your lead would derail your movie? Well, this will be a lesson for Kevin Feige going forward in how not to overestimate your audience. This happened to be a good movie but it's not hard to see why it's lagging at the box office at the moment.
Nearly a decade ago, DC actually had the jump on Marvel by releasing Suicide Squad. A group that since then had a spiritual sequel, various spin offs and an anime show in a different continuity. That movie also did well by having some recognisable characters in the mix.
With Thunderbolts*, you have some recognition with both Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and it's not surprising that the two have been front and centre in terms of marketing. Throw in the likes of Red Guardian (David Harbour), US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and you've got a mostly powerless bunch of anti-heroes/former villains.
Then there's Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). She's got this team mostly in the palm of her hand and it's her need to avoid impeachment and cover her tracks in the Sentry project that had this band of misfits come together. Saying that, there was some initial clashing and if you were hoping for more Taskmaster, you're going to be disappointed by this movie. Then again, someone had to die quickly in the film.
Speaking of Sentry, there was a loose end in the shape of a seemingly innocuous man named Bob (Lewis Pullman). He couldn't be killed, he nearly bonded with the team and then Valentina gave him a bit of a upgrade. Well, a modest costume and blond hair and this, Sentry was born as a character.
Given how powerful Bob/Sentry/Void was as a character, this movie was caught between a rock and a hard place. Announcing all of these characters imminent return in Avengers: Doomsday might have also killed the tension as well. Yes, he survived and before Valentina could get her comeuppance, she pulled one hell of a rug pull to save herself.
Yes, because Marvel couldn't wait a week to confirm it themselves, the Thunderbolts are actually The New Avengers or Avengerz. I mean, that's going to be interesting to see unfold within the next year during a certain two part event but maybe they should've just called this movie The New Avengers to begin with.
- There's a supporting role from Geraldine Viswanathan as Valentina's assistant, Mel. In the comics she's Songbird. There's a flirty vibe between her and Bucky here too.
- The credit sequences included Red Guardian at the supermarket interacting with an unimpressed civilian and a look at a symbol of a certain family group.
- We saw various character flashbacks, including one for Valentina as well. She seemed to be aware of Mel betraying her.
- Wendell Pierce, who'll be Perry White in Superman (2025) also appeared as a congressman in the movie.
- Standout music: Ginuwine's Pony and Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.
- Chronology: Present day Malaysia and America. The end of the movie also forwarded to fourteen months later.
I liked Thunderbolts* more than the previous movie. It's a Black Widow sequel, the MCU take on Suicide Squad, a debut for The New Avengers and among all of that, there's a decent conversation about mental health with various characters but specifically with Bob. It's a better movie than I expected it to be.
Rating: 7 out of 10
