Thunderbolts*: Movie Review

Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Julia Louis Dreyfus
Director: Jake Schreier

After the somewhat underwhelming Captain America: Brave New World, the pressure's back on Marvel to deliver a cinematic tentpole worthy of their oeuvre.

Step forward Thunderbolts*, a movie about a ragtag bag of reformed villains looking to do the right thing. Less Avengers, more Suicide Squad - but with plenty of issues.

And the film largely lands, thanks to an incredible performance from Pugh as the damaged Yelena, still struggling with the loss of her sister Black Widow and searching for her meaning and purpose after hit after psychological hit.

Best experienced spoiler-free, loosely the plot of Thunderbolts* concerns itself with a ragtag group comprising Yelena, the first Captain America, Taskmaster, Ghost and Red Guardian. When Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina is threatened with impeachment by Congress, she decides to eliminate her dodgy past - which means literally burning her bridges with the operatives she's deployed in the past. 

However, when the gang is forced to team up for survival, they uncover a greater threat that needs addressing.

With trauma, suicide, depression and darkness swathing large parts of Thunderbolts*, the film can feel like the least Marvel-led outing for a long time. But in some ways, that's a good thing - particularly here where it gives Pugh the chance to bring some depth to her assassin; and while Harbour provides the comic relief as her father, there are plenty of moments that mine the humanity of the father-daughter relationship in ways that feel grounded and real.

Slices of visuals from The Boys and Homelander creep in, and there's a lot here that feels familiar (in ways too spoiler-heavy to mention) but if Thunderbolts* does anything, it goes a long way to prove that Marvel can pull together relevant films that feel both timely and timeless.

From dealing with toxic male behaviour to blatant fragility, the film does take some very wild swings, and tonally doesn't always quite match up. Yet it proves to be compelling enough to be enjoyable for its two hour pacing.

And given Marvel's relative uneven edges to Phase Five of its existence, that really does leave this one feeling like a Thunderbolt out of the blue.