Thunderbolts* (dir. Jake Schreier)
Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 127 mins
UK Distributor: Marvel Studios
UK Release Date: 1 May 2025
WHO’S IN THUNDERBOLTS*?
Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Jake Schreier (director), Joanna Calo and Eric Pearson (writers), Kevin Feige (producer), Son Lux (composer), Andrew Droz Palermo (cinematographer), Angela M. Catanzaro and Harry Yoon (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A group of outcasts unite to take on a deadly foe…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THUNDERBOLTS*?
A common criticism of many post-Endgame Marvel movies has been a noticeable reliance on the familiar formula, with the main heroes engaging in effects-heavy combat with an out-of-place quip to offset the tension, and little else beyond that tried-and-tested structure. It’s gotten to a point where even fans who are more willing to forgive the Marvel Cinematic Universe for some of its more recent underperformers are growing tired of the familiarity, with some begging the franchise for a radical new direction before the universe is plunged into multiversal chaos in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday.
Enter Thunderbolts*, the first Marvel movie in a long while that not only steps up its game to deliver something bold and refreshing within this universe, but also does what some of the best entries tend to do by placing a greater focus on the dynamic between the main characters and how they respond to the action surrounding them. It’s a strong back-to-basics moment for the MCU that is different from what you’re expecting from the Marvel formula, and that’s a very good thing indeed.
The film begins with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the former Black Widow assassin and adoptive sister of the long-gone Natasha Romanoff, growing bored and cynical of her duties as a lethal fixer for shady CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who gives Yelena a new mission to destroy evidence of her less-than-ethical activities, and to kill anyone who stands in her way. Turns out, however, that Yelena isn’t the only one with this exact mission and these exact orders: disgraced former Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the metaphysically powered Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and the highly skilled assassin Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are also there waiting for her… as is a seemingly random guy named Bob (Lewis Pullman), whose own abilities are yet to be unveiled. Realising they’ve all been played, the group forms an uneasy alliance – also bringing on board Yelena’s adoptive father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), aka the Russian super soldier Red Guardian, and even former Winter Soldier turned budding politician Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) – to confront Valentina before she unveils her destructive plan, which may very well involve Bob.
Almost immediately, Thunderbolts* – and yes, that asterisk is explained – feels different to what we’ve seen in recent years from Marvel. Director Jake Schreier adopts a more grounded aesthetic where even the typical superhero action is relatively muted, as is the overall colour palette of Andrew Droz Palermo’s cinematography which at times gets to levels of grey previously reserved for the now-defunct DC Extended Universe. On the surface, it may seem as though the film is not as exciting or as interesting as what we’ve been conditioned to expect from the MCU, but the stripped-back nature of the production more than serves the narrative, as Joanna Calo and Eric Pearson’s screenplay takes a deeper dive than usual into the troubled psyche of its characters, touching upon their mental health and more complex psychology in ways that you genuinely don’t see that often in modern superhero cinema. Such an exploration leads to some genuinely powerful moments of pure, raw emotion that remind you of how, despite the clear inconsistency in overall quality as of late, Marvel still has the capacity to produce strong writing that gives audiences people to care about beyond their powers.
The depths to which these characters are written are almost as fascinating as simply watching them in action. It’s an intriguing line-up of people who have done and are still capable of doing things which make them far from heroic, and their lack of tactical planning and rather dick-ish attitudes toward one another creates some refreshingly hostile banter as they try to put their individual skills to good use whilst reluctantly working together. Though each member gets a moment of their own to shine – except for one of them who bows out extremely quickly, to where you wonder why they were even there in the first place – it is Florence Pugh’s Yelena who truly drives the film, as the actor’s natural screen presence adds several more layers to a character who’s clearly going through a dark time and is barely doing anything to hide it. She leads a team who, despite their competing egos, you do find yourself rooting for as they are written and performed well enough to feel like actual people with genuine struggles, which is how we came to love the likes of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers back in the day.
Those expecting Thunderbolts* to be more of the same won’t exactly get that here, even though there are still a handful of inescapable Marvel traits such as some questionable CGI and awkwardly-timed moments of comedy, but they are still handled with more care and consideration than we’ve seen lately. It really feels like a neat bit of course-correction that, after numerous films and shows trying and not always succeeding at expanding the lore of this and several other Marvel universes, returns to what made the initial movies in the MCU stand out, that being an eclectic bunch of characters dealing with their own and each other’s personal issues whilst every now and then saving the day.
The fact that it also happens to be a well-written and emotionally engaging movie in its own right is just a healthy bonus, especially as we’re about to plunge into a whole new world of “fantastic” superhero chaos.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Thunderbolts* is a strong back-to-basics moment for Marvel as it focuses more on the psychologically complex and refreshingly hostile nature of its characters than much of the superhero action, which more often than not creates some emotionally resonant moments that recall the finest character-driven moments of past MCU highs.
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