logo
'Thunderbolts*' Is the First Great Marvel Movie in Years (Review)

'Thunderbolts*' Is the First Great Marvel Movie in Years (Review)

Yahoo03-05-2025
To quote Al Pacino in The Godfather III, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." Only in this case, instead of talking about the Italian mob, I'm referring to the powers that be over at Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's because the MCU has certainly been in its flop era post-Avengers: Endgame and the end of Phase Three. Phase Four brought fans a string of disappointments including Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder before Phase Five proved to be the true nadir with the Jonathan Majors debacle attached to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and the critical and box office disasters that were The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World. Sprinkle in a bunch of Disney+ TV shows that anecdotally no one watched (Agatha All Along being the one recent exception) and the MCU seemed to be as dead as Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man.
And then, bursting forth from the dregs of the MCU's garbled multiverse arose Thunderbolts*, a expertly crafted superhero film second only to Black Panther when it comes to the importance of its message. In spite of what appear to be numerous potential pitfalls on paper, Thunderbolts* manages to weave together a timely and personal examination of depression from the tattered remnants of previous failed Marvel projects.
The movie opens with Florence Pugh's mercenary Yelena Belova sitting atop Malaysia's Merdeka, the second tallest building in the world, contemplating the "emptiness" of her life despite a successful career. While the scene initially reads as a possible suicide attempt with her stepping off the edge, it's actually her mode of entry into the top secret laboratory she's been sent to destroy, but the discussion of the, often inexplicable, darkness we feel moving through life sets the stage for the probing of mental health to come.
🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬
Yelena, her mission complete, attempts to quit her job as an assassin, but is tasked by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to kill one more target before retiring. When Yelena arrives at an underground bunker to murder Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) she also finds both Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell), each there to murder one of the others in Valentina's attempt to tie-up loose ends. After the shocking death of Taskmaster (Kurylenko received fourth billing on the posters only to have her character killed instantly), the other three band together with a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) to escape. This rag tag crew is joined by now Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Yelena's adopted father Alexei aka Red Guardian (David Harbour) to create the Thunderbolts, named after Yelena's childhood soccer team.
Whereas the Avengers were formed from the top-billed A-listers of their respective films, the Thunderbolts are a real who's who of who cares. While Pugh's Yelena was the breakout star of Black Widow. John Walker arrived in the MCU via the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Ghost was the villain of the second Ant-Man film, and even Bucky Barnes has never helmed a Marvel film alone. The island-of-misfit-toys energy of the Thunderbolts, however, is the perfect backdrop on which to discuss depression and mental health. Whether that be Yelena's purposefully repressed trauma and purposelessness, John Walker's masculine entitlement and feeling that the world has passed him by or Alexei's longing for the successes of his past, every member of the Thunderbolts is suffering in loneliness.
These battles of mental health come to the forefront as Valentina reveals that Bob is actually her hand-crafted super-soldier Sentry. However, the bureaucratic baddy seemingly bites off more than she can chew when Bob's childhood traumas, substance abuse battles and depression (not to mention a bad blonde hair dye job), cause him to send New York into a state of oblivion, disappearing humans into shadows one-by-one.
Related: The 'Brutal' Filming of 'The Legend of Ochi' Involved Bear Attacks, a 7-Man Puppet and Rescuing a Nearly Dead Dog (Exclusive)
In one of Marvel's most inventive set pieces to date, the Thunderbolts, helmed by Yelena who has befriended Bob, chase him into the void, and in a clever metaphor for therapy, the hodge-podge group of anti-heroes help Bob charge his way forward through his most difficult memories rather than run away from them. In a final cathartic scene similar to something from Everything Everywhere All at Once, the Thunderbolts remind viewers of the healing power of chosen family and processing our darkest thoughts and memories with others rather than suffering with them in silence.
After a string of Marvel movies clogged by easter eggs, bad CGI and set up for future films, Thunderbolts* is a welcome reminder as to what a good superhero film can look like. It's a completely intact story even if there are certainly references to past MCU films and a post-credits scene pointing to things to come. Much of the credit must be given to the writing team of Eric Pearson (who wrote Black Widow) and newcomer Joanna Calo (who wrote on Hacks and The Bear), who steer the film in a more personal direction. Jake Schreier, the director and another Marvel rookie, also seems to have relieved the film from the drag of past lore and tacky visual effects.
It cannot be undersold, however, just how charismatic this cast is as well. While the MCU has certainly managed to nab a who's who of A-list talent over the years, the Thunderbolts* cast does seem unique in both the caliber of its actors and the fact that none of them seem to be signaling in each scene that they're there SOLELY for a paycheck (*cough* Harrison Ford *cough*). Florence Pugh is one of the greatest actors of her generation and commands empathy, while Harbour and Louis-Dreyfus turn in perfectly calibrated comedic performances and Geraldine Viswanathan delights as Valentina's assistant Mel. The breakout star, however, is Pullman who manages to wow as the doofy Bob, the vengeful Sentry and the apathetic Void.
Related:
Mostly though, Thunderbolts* succeeds because for the first time since Black Panther it is an MCU movie with something to say. In a world of screens and politics where isolation is growing stronger and darkness can be overpowering, a popular superhero movie focusing so unabashedly on mental health is a welcome revelation. It's a reminder that no matter how screw up you think you are, there are still people out there who will love and care for you if you just open up.
Rating: B+
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Ginger Twinsies' review: Campy off-Broadway ‘Parent Trap' parody is millennial catnip
‘Ginger Twinsies' review: Campy off-Broadway ‘Parent Trap' parody is millennial catnip

New York Post

time23 minutes ago

  • New York Post

‘Ginger Twinsies' review: Campy off-Broadway ‘Parent Trap' parody is millennial catnip

Theater review GINGER TWINSIES 80 minutes with no intermission. At the Orpheum Theatre, 126 Second Ave. Am I seeing double? If the answer is 'yes' at 'Ginger Twinsies,' you might be suffering from heatstroke. Because the funniest bit of writer-director Kevin Zak's stage parody of 'The Parent Trap' that opened Thursday night at the Orpheum Theatre in the East Village is the title characters' complete lack of resemblance. Advertisement The 11-year-old twin sisters, Hallie and Annie, both played by pasty, redheaded Lindsay Lohan in the 1998 film, are taken on here by a white guy, Russell Daniels, and a black woman, Aneesa Folds. They're a pair of hilarious adults, with Red Bull coursing through their veins, who couldn't look less alike. It's ludicrous that the girls' estranged parents, posh British fashion designer Elizabeth (Lakisha May) and salt-of-the-earth Napa Valley vintner Nick (Matthew Wilkas), can't tell these obviously different people apart. But we go along with it. And the result, stupid as it gets, is very funny. The entire off-its-rocker off-Broadway show, whose sole sin is occasionally trying too hard, is lovably loony. So, for that matter, is watching a room full of millennials, drunk on nostalgia, mouthing every word and knowing every beat of a 27-year-old kid's movie. Advertisement If you're 29 to 44 and fall into the 'Parent Trap' obsessive category, that would be a fruitful topic to bring up with your therapist next time. If you don't, well, congratulations. The Disney language barrier of 'Ginger Twinsies' will take a few minutes to ease into. But once you get the gist — and it ain't hard — the comedy amounts to an onslaught of wrecking-ball subtle jokes, barked so loud by the eight-person cast that the bowls of borscht a block away at Veselka vibrate. 4 Aneesa Folds and Russell Daniels star as Hallie and Annie in 'Ginger Twinsies.' Matthew Murphy 4 Lindsay Lohan's breakout role was as both twins in the 1998 film. Courtesy Everett Collection Advertisement Zak's smart realization is that 'The Parent Trap' actually functions as a solid stage farce. All the pieces are there: mistaken identities, a love triangle, English accents. Amping up the mischief, since the adult-aimed play can kick the cute movie's PG rating to the curb, plenty of sex humor is tossed in. As in the Nancy Meyers flick, after British Annie and American Hallie unexpectedly meet at summer camp and discover they're long-lost sisters, they decide to swap personas. Hallie jets to London and Annie heads to California to meet mom and dad and, eventually, force them back together. From there, 'Ginger Twinsies' takes fond childhood memories and stomps on them with ruthless mockery, a trivia night's worth of 1990s and aughts pop culture references, filthy humor and nuclear energy. Frankly, at times the show is too high-pitched; a Lindsay's Boot Camp at which even the slightest break is not permitted. So few breaths are taken, the actors' faces become redder than their wigs. Advertisement 4 The one-act comedy sends up Nancy Meyers' 1998 Disney movie. Matthew Murphy The octet runs like hamsters on a wheel on Beowulf Boritt's cabin set covered in kitschy cutouts. Think Big Ben hand-drawn in Crayola. But when the play confidently finds its groove in the middle, the Napa and London scenes, the ensemble's comedic skills knock us over like Lindsay Lohan was in that amnesia Christmas movie. Phillip Taratula is a scream as Meredith — Nick's viperous 26-year-old fiancée. The actor plays the misunderstood minx as a pantomime villain, who enters wearing an absurdly large hat only to take it off to reveal smaller and smaller versions of the same accessory. 4 As Meredith, Phillip Taratula enters wearing a gigantic hat. Matthew Murphy As the household help, Jimmy Ray Bennett sneeringly hops between upper-crust butler Martin and Annie's grandpa by barely lifting a hand-held mustache to his lip. And Grace Reiter plays vineyard worker Chessy like she's Roseanne Barr singing the National Anthem. In what could hardly be called a twist, Wilkas' Nick, the Dennis Quaid role in the movie, takes a sleeveless Village People turn. And May's Elizabeth goes on a hotel bender, making Whitney Houston cracks. The Orpheum's most famous tenant, 'Stomp,' opened years before 'The Parent Trap' hit theaters, and closed in 2023 after nearly three decades. Since then, the tricky venue has been something of a Goldilocks. Advertisement Some shows have proved too boffo. Others have been too amateurish or niche. While I don't suspect 'Ginger Twinsies' will find much of an audience beyond Disney+ subscriber millennials or curious St. Mark's bar-flies, it's the first tenant there in two years to strike me as just right.

How Many Of These 50 Boomers Things Have You Done?
How Many Of These 50 Boomers Things Have You Done?

Buzz Feed

time23 minutes ago

  • Buzz Feed

How Many Of These 50 Boomers Things Have You Done?

If you're a boomer, you're almost guaranteed to smash these quizzes. As for everyone else, welp, best of luck! There Is No Way Anyone Has Done More Than 25 Of These Things Unless They're Over 65 There's a chance someone under 65 has done these things, but it was almost certainly at your parents' or grandparents' house. Take the quiz here. No One Under 63 Years Old Can Pass This TV Star Trivia Quiz These are some of the most famous people on more than 50 years ago. Take the quiz here. This Is A Boomer And Gen X'er 1980s Quiz That No Gen Z'er Or Millennial Could Realistically Do Well At This is an '80s trivia quiz, but to have any hope of doing well at it you'd have to have been at least a teenager during that time. Or a major pop culture/history buff. Take the quiz here. I'm Sorry Youngsters, Only Boomers Will Get 14/16 On This Old School Disney Quiz Truthfully, a serious Disney fan of any age might do well on this quiz. But these questions are hyper-specific and the movies are all from before 1965. Take the quiz here. Unless You're A Literal Boomer, There's No Way You're Getting 100% On This Talk Show Trivia Quiz Anyone will be able to identify the first few hosts on this quiz, but boy, will it get harder. Take the quiz here.

This heartbreaking drama is an underrated Netflix movie to watch this weekend (July 25-27)
This heartbreaking drama is an underrated Netflix movie to watch this weekend (July 25-27)

Digital Trends

time23 minutes ago

  • Digital Trends

This heartbreaking drama is an underrated Netflix movie to watch this weekend (July 25-27)

Every time I open Netflix, I feel a mild sensation of both excitement and dread. There's plenty of stuff to check out, but I actually have to pick something in order to get started. This weekend, I've pulled together three movies that are all great whether you've seen them once or hundreds of times. They're also movies that, for one reason or another, are underrated at the moment. Give them a look. Recommended Videos We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on HBO Max, and the best movies on Disney+. Friday Night Lights (2004) One of the great football movies ever made, Friday Night Lights tells the story of a small Texas town where high school football is the only thing that matters. When the star tailback hurts himself and is out for the season, all hope of the team making it to the state championship seems lost. The team's coach must then push his kids and the town to remember how important it is to believe in themselves. As cheesy as that might sound, Billy Bob Thornton knows how to turn the material into something genuinely revelatory. There's a reason a whole show was based on the story at the center of this film. You can watch Friday Night Lights on Netflix. His Three Daughters (2024) A genuinely heartbreaking movie, His Three Daughters follows three sisters as they navigate the death of the father they all shared. Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen all delivered textured performances here, and part of the point of the movie is that their dad meant very different things to each of them. His Three Daughters is a movie about how easy it is to judge the people in your life and how hard it is to navigate difficult periods together without driving one another insane. Crucially, each actor receives plenty of breathing room. You can watch His Three Daughters on Netflix. Instant Family (2018) Family comedy has largely been relegated to Netflix, but Instant Family is a reminder of how great this genre can be. The film stars Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg as a couple who decide to foster children after agreeing to start a family. When they find themselves fostering three siblings, including a rebellious 15-year-old, they begin to realize how chaotic and complicated fostering children really is and how much they still have to learn. Byrne and Wahlberg are excellent and remarkably game. Instant Family is surprisingly sweet without losing any of its laughs. You can watch Instant Family on Netflix.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store