The arrival of the Thunderbolts* is the brave new world we were promised.
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"Have you ever felt like nobody was there? Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere? Have you ever felt like you could disappear? Like you could fall, and no one would hear?"
Sometimes the biggest evil of all is the darkness within us, brought on by self-deprecation and loneliness. After countless films of featuring cosmic threats, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone back to basics (literally where the Battle of New York took place four phases ago), delivering a most harrowing villain we can truly resonate with plus gutpunching revelation of mental health issues plaguing its heroes in their latest offering, Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*. (Would've never had it on our Bingo cards for a Marvel film to resonate with Evan Hansen but here we are.)
The film, helmed by Jake Schreier (Paper Towns, Netflix’s Beef) from a screenplay by Eric Pearson (Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok and Black Widow) and Joanna Calo (Hacks, The Bear), stars an ensemble cast featuring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The logline is simple: A group of antiheroes are caught in a deadly trap by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Louis-Dreyfus) and are forced into a dangerous mission that could bring them redemption if they unite as a team – but the execution is layered with emotional depth that adds to the formulaic-sounding plot.
The antiheroes aka Thunderbolts* consists of former Black Widow assassin Yelena Belova (Pugh), Congressman Bucky Barnes formerly known as the Winter Soldier (Stan), John Walker aka US Agent (Russell), Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (Harbour), and Ava Starr aka Ghost (John-Kamen). Also, there's the amnesiac Bob (Pullman).
Now, the world no longer has the Avengers, so de Fontaine has taken it upon herself to create her own indestructable superhero to fill their void (sorry). Here’s when we discover Bob is no common civilian, but de Fontaine’s last surviving test subject for the Sentry project. He proves to be no match for the Thunderbolts* or de Fontaine’s control, causing him to be shut him down via a kill switch. Unwittingly, this unleashes Sentry's darker alter ego, the Void, with powers to spread darkness and turn people into shadows.
See, Bob was no ordinary test subject. He’s had a troubled childhood and was feeling all sorts of lost when he volunteered for the project. He’s definitely no saint like Steve Rogers. Pullman does a great job at giving us a meek yet endearing character we can empathise with, even while he’s out to dim the light on the earth we live in.
The Thunderbolts* themselves are flawed heroes with real world troubles. Before they assembled, each were lonely, unimportant individuals struggling to find their place in the world. (Being treated like soulless kill machines will do a number on anyone.) It’s usually hard to juggle large ensembles in epic superhero films like these but this one manages to carve out just the right amount of screentime for character exploration that lend to the film’s emotional beats – mainly Bob facing his inner demons, Yelena’s internal struggles with coping since Natasha’s death and Walker living in despair post The Falcon and the Winter Soldier miniseries. Ghost, unfortunately, gets the short end of the straw with barely any development other than highlighting her cool powers while Alexei serves as the film’s comedic relief for the most part with uproarious energy, without losing his paternal touch when its needed most.
Dark as it may be, Thunderbolts* is not short of exhilirating action sequences perfectly weaved in to drive the film forward. Just don’t expect anything show off-y with a cool distracting soundtrack though because what we get is the nitty gritty that rather showcases each character’s combat proficiency. One scene that stood out in particular utilises great shadow play – a beautifully shot hallway fight sequence that saw Yelena in combat, foreshadowing the darkness to come.
Thunderbolts* is the MCU’s boldest foray into the psychological genre, delivering one of the franchise's darkest and emotionally driven entries yet – a nuanced reminder that we are not alone (because "Even when the dark comes crashin' through, when you need a friend to carry you and when you’re broken on the ground, you will be found.") It is perhaps the franchise’s most grounded, no-nonsense film in a long while, for its deep human touch and vulnerability, making it one of the its best and most important films to date. This is the brave new world we were promised.
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