Film review: Thunderbolts* introduces a new group of plucky heroes
Let's start with the nagging question of what that asterisk means in the title Thunderbolts*. Is it signalling that the movie is void where prohibited by law? That perhaps some animals WERE harmed in the making of it? Batteries not included? Results may vary?
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According to the studio behind the movie, it means 'the Avengers were not available' and that this will be yet another launch of a new group of plucky crime-fighting heroes, as we saw in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and the underwhelming 2021 movie Eternals, and again this summer in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
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But I like to think that it warns of homework. Google 'Marvel movies to watch before Thunderbolts' (with or without the damned asterisk) and you'll find sites that suggest — nay, demand — that you revisit anywhere between three and 16 films and TV shows. Google THOSE and you'll find even more prep work.
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I'll make it easy on you: If you've never seen a Marvel movie, just consider yourself lucky and stay home. Or go see Sinners, which is in theatres, excellent, original and free of research requirements: a rough awareness of vampires and the blues and you'll be just fine.
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For everyone else, you'll need to know that Yelena (Florence Pugh), sister of the late Avenger Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), is a mercenary and assassin who is getting tired of being bad. You'll want to remember that Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) was introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp as another villain who's more misunderstood than miscreant. And that John Walker (Wyatt Russell) is a knock-off Captain America with anger-management issues.
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The three of them are brought together by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who clearly had it in her contract that her character's name be even longer than her own.
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Valentina is a kind of Beltway triple agent, equal parts evil and stylish, although her right-hand woman Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) is more conflicted. She operates out of what used to be Avengers Tower in New York, which she bought from Iron Man, which you'd know if you did your homework and watched Spider-Man: Homecoming.
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Anyway, the three anti-heroes find themselves pitted against a guy named Bob, played by Lewis Pullman, who also played a guy named Bob in Top Gun: Maverick. This Bob's full name is Robert Reynolds, a double-initial moniker that should set your own spidey-senses tingling: There's more to him that meets the eye. Sebastian Stan's character Bucky Barnes (double initial!) is concerned. Yelena's dad (David Harbour, playing Russia's answer to Captain America) is excited.
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Marvel doesn't demand that critics be up to speed on its cinematic universe — full disclosure: I haven't yet seen Captain America: Brave New World, a.k.a. the one with Harrison Ford. But they do get a little shirty about leaks, telling reviewers: 'We respectfully ask that you as press refrain from revealing spoilers, cameos, character developments and detailed story points.'
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