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Geek Girl Authority
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Girl Authority
THUNDERBOLTS* Spoiler Review
Major spoilers ahead for Thunderbolts*. You've been warned. * * Does the mention of the word ' Marvel' make you sigh with exhaustion anymore? I must admit, as much of a fan as I am of the MCU, I'm getting a bit weary. The MCU doesn't elicit the same excitement that it used to, back when The Infinity Saga was in full swing. But now, Thunderbolts* is stepping up to the plate to give us the last piece in the Multiverse Saga puzzle. Does it bring the fun? Or does it make us let out another tired sigh? Read on to find out. RELATED: Drop Spoiler Review Thunderbolts* begins with former Black Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sitting on the roof of a really tall building. We hear her voice talking about the 'void' she feels inside, especially after her 'sister' Natasha's death. Yelena talks about how lonely and sad she is, with a lack of purpose. She says she thought throwing herself into work would solve the problem, but it hasn't. Yelena then dives off the roof, her parachute opening, landing her on the roof of a different building. It's a laboratory facility, and we then see Yelena inside with one of the disarmed guards. Turns out that's who she's talking to. Florence Pugh in Thunderbolts* A scientist comes in and pulls a gun on her, talking about something called Project Sentry. In the ensuing fight with Yelena, the scientist accidentally shoots himself in the face, ruining any chance of her getting past the facial recognition feature guarding the work. Then, we see Yelena walking away from the building (with a guinea pig she rescued), and the lab blowing up while she's on the phone reporting the job done. Meanwhile, in D.C., there's a Congressional hearing underway, targeting the CIA Director, Valentina Allegra DeFontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss). While the lead Congressman, Gary (Wendell Pierce), talks about Valentina's experimental and highly illegal black ops work (known as OXE Group), Valentina makes a big speech about how the Avengers aren't around to save the world anymore, and the work she's doing is vital to national security. RELATED: Captain America: Brave New World Spoiler Review Yelena goes to visit her 'dad,' Alexei (David Harbour), aka Red Guardian, whom she hasn't seen in a year. He pretends that he's been busy with work and is definitely feeling fulfilled – 'so full, so filled.' But in reality, he hasn't been doing anything except driving a cruddy limo and sitting around watching TV. Yelena tells him how she's been feeling, and after talking with him, calls Valentina to get another assignment. However, she tells her that after this next job, she wants something less covert and more in the public eye. Valentina tasks Yelena with entering another of the OXE vaults. The job is to destroy the vault and everything in it. But when Yelena gets there, she's confronted by Ava Starr, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Yelena's shocked by her ability to phase in and out of time/space. Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman in Thunderbolts* So, they fight, but then, suddenly, Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), joins the melee. Yelena's surprised to see her, but Taskmaster says she's not there for her. Turns out she's there for John Walker, aka US Agent (I'm so glad they just call him 'Walker' here because US Agent is a really stupid name), who's also been tasked with the same job. A crazy fight ensues, during which Ghost ends up fatally shooting Taskmaster. The remaining three realize that Valentina's sold them all out. Given the hearings, Valentina needs to get rid of all evidence of her OXE Group work, including all of them. Then, they discover a guy lurking, a dorky civilian named Bob (Lewis Pullman). Bob tells them he can't remember anything and woke up there in the vault. RELATED: Kraven The Hunter Spoiler Review Trapped inside, Ghost tries to phase through the door, but then is stopped by a machine that uses noise to stop her. When Yelena touches Bob's hand, she suddenly finds herself inside a memory. She sees herself as a kid (Violet McGraw) in a forest, luring one of her friends, Anya (Alexa Swinton), into a trap where she's killed, which was part of the Red Room training. Yelena and Bob end up having a surprisingly meaningful conversation. Bob, having tapped into her psyche, knows how she feels. He tells her he feels the same and asks how she deals with it. Yelena says she just pushes it all down. Meanwhile, Walker finds the power source of the sonic machine and smashes it, so Ghost can get outside the doors. For a moment, they think Ghost has ghosted them, but just as the incinerator turns on, the doors open, and they get out. Florence Pugh, Lewis Pullman in Thunderbolts* Trouble is, the vault is down at the bottom of a seemingly endless hole. Bob comes up with the idea of all of them linking arms and walking up the walls. When they finally get to an opening, Walker grabs one of Yelena's batons to pull himself up, which, of course, sends the rest of them falling. But he saves them all. When Walker touches Bob's hand, he sees a memory of himself, so wrapped up in reading a news article about his failed run as Captain America, that he ignores his crying son. Back in D.C., Valentina hosts a gala featuring artifacts from the Battle of New York. Now-Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is in attendance, and he meets with Congressman Gary about taking Valentina down. Bucky decides to go after Valentina's assistant, Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan), trying to get her to help him. He gives her his contact information, but she acts like she's not interested. RELATED: Art Book Review: Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Guardians of the Galaxy: The Art of the Movie Then, Mel sees surveillance footage from the vault and tells Valentina that it looks like Yelena, Ghost and Walker have formed an alliance along with Bob. Mel contacts Bucky and tells him to have her phone tracked. Valentina and Mel ride off in a limo driven by none other than Alexei, who overhears information about Yelena and the others. Valentina and Mel then head out to the vault, where Valentina's gathered more mercenaries to take out Yelena, Ghost and Walker, but she wants Bob alive. However, Yelena, Ghost, Walker and Bob manage to escape in a vehicle. When the mercs try to stop them, Bob jumps out of the back and makes a commotion to draw attention to himself so they can get away. Valentina's mercs open fire on Bob, but it has no effect on him. Then, he launches himself way up in the air – yep, he can fly – and he passes out. And when Bob falls back down to the ground, he hits with such force that it causes a huge shockwave. And even some distance away, Yelena, Ghost and Walker's vehicle gets caught in it and crashes. Geraldine Visnawathan, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in Thunderbolts* As Yelena, Ghost and Walker trek through the desert, who should show up in his cruddy limo but Alexei. Valentina's mercs give chase, and Alexei's cruddy limo can barely get up to freeway speed. The mercs start shooting, and Walker protects them by holding his shield up. Then, suddenly, the mercs' vehicles get taken out by none other than Bucky. But then Bucky takes the cruddy limo out as well. When Bob wakes up, Valentina reminds him of who he is (he always has some amnesia after his 'episodes'). She tells him how special he is, having survived the procedure that gave him powers, and how he's the face of her new Sentry program. When she touches his hand, Valentina sees a memory of herself as a kid (Chiara Stella), hiding from a hitman who comes and kills her father. RELATED: Art Book Review: Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Avengers: Age of Ultron: Art of the Movie Meanwhile, Bucky's got Yelena, Alexei, Ghost and Walker captive, thinking they're on Valentina's side. They try to tell him about Valentina's plans, but he doesn't believe them until Mel calls him and basically tells him the same thing: it's all about Bob. Unfortunately for Mel, Valentina figures out what she's doing and tells her it's like this: there are no good guys. There are only bad guys – and worse guys. And even though she may be a bad guy, Valentina's determined to save everyone from the worse guys. Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts* So, Bucky, Yelena, Alexei, Ghost and Walker drive into Manhattan to Valentina's HQ, which turns out to be the old Avengers Tower. They drive right into the lobby, but Valentina tells them she wants them to come up. When they get there, they see Bob's been given a superhero makeover, with a new outfit and blonde hair. The gang ends up fighting Bob/Sentry, but they're no match for him. They manage to escape back down to ground level, at which point, they all agree that they're not heroes. They're all awful people who don't have what it takes, and they might as well give up. Alexei chases after Yelena, who has a bit of a breakdown and yells at him for being gone so long. Alexei apologizes and tells her he's basically in the same place she is. RELATED: Art Book Review: Marvel Studios' The Infinity Saga – Captain America: The Winter Soldier: The Art of the Movie They comfort each other, but then there's a commotion. They look up to see Bob/Sentry, who's now gone totally, literally and figuratively dark and become The Void, a godlike super who can turn everyone and everything into one giant shadow. The gang comes back together to save civilians caught in the ensuing destruction. But The Void's covering the whole of Manhattan in darkness. Yelena bravely steps into the darkness and finds herself back in that memory in the woods. Then, she escapes that memory and falls into another one – and another, and another. David Harbour in Thunderbolts* She finally finds Bob sitting alone in a room. He's stuck in his memory, where Yelena learns about his abusive father. His mother would blame him for intervening, telling him he made things worse. Yelena tells Bob that what she said about pushing everything down doesn't work. They all must deal with that sadness, or it will eventually consume them. The rest of the gang enters the Void and finds them, but The Void taunts Bob, getting Bob angry enough to attack. He punches The Void over and over, but that anger is exactly what The Void wants. Yelena runs to Bob and hugs him, telling him he's not alone. The rest of the gang joins in, and their support is enough to calm Bob down. RELATED: The Woman in The Yard Spoiler Review Bob returns to normal, and The Void disappears, as does the giant, city-sized shadow. All the civilians applaud the gang for saving them. Then, they all decide to go after Valentina, who runs away, luring them into a press conference that she's set up. She tells the reporters that she foresaw this near-catastrophe and assembled a team of New Avengers. And while the crowd cheers the new team, Yelena quietly says to Valentina that they own her now. Oh, and the Thunderbolts name? Turns out that was the name of Yelena's soccer team when she was a kid. They never won a game. And the gang never quite agrees to adopt the name. David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Florence Pugh in Thunderbolts* In the mid-credits scene, we see Alexei in a supermarket with another lady looking at the cereal. He points out the Wheaties box with their photo on it. He tries convincing the lady that he's on the box, but she walks away, totally weirded out. And lastly, the post-credits scene: The New Avengers gather in their new lair, where they're all kinda bummed about not really being accepted as heroes. Alexei's gotten everyone shirts with 'The Avengerz' on them (and lots of corporate logos), but that doesn't really help the gang's morale. Worst of all, Bucky's talked to Sam Wilson/New Cap, and he doesn't want to be involved with them. In fact, he's suing for the rights to the Avengers name. Ouch. RELATED: Top 10 Badass Marvel Female Characters Bob's there with them, but he can't do much given that if he lets The Void out again, it'll destroy everything. But he has done the dishes. Then, they get word of an object entering Earth's orbit. When they pull up the video feed, they see a strange, Jetsons -looking spacecraft with a giant '4' painted on the side. Fantastic Four: First Steps, here we come. *** The main thing I loved about Thunderbolts* is that it's a surprisingly – and refreshingly – emotional flick, which harkens back to what made the MCU so awesome during the Avengers' original run. It's all about Yelena here, and that's not a bad thing at all. Florence Pugh's performance is spot on, balancing Yelena's classic dry wit with fatigue and a deep sadness. In a big way, Yelena is us. We all feel that (no pun intended) void left by the ending of the original Avengers team. And like her, we're searching for something to fill that emptiness. Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell in Thunderbolts* Thankfully, the bond that's built between the members of the Thunderbolts* is immediate and believable. And that's all due to the strength of the performances by David Harbour, who is shamelessly goofy, but also sweet; Wyatt Russell, who's tempered John Walker's out-of-control anger from Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021) and has improved his ability to play well with others, but still has plenty of angst; and Hannah John-Kamen. Even though she probably has the least amount to do, her Ghost is cool and funny. And Lewis Pullman skillfully plays Bob as delightfully dorky and frighteningly dark at the same time. RELATED: The Missing Women from the Avengers: Doomsday Cast And then, of course, there's Bucky. As much as I enjoyed this flick, and am all for women being in charge, it's the biggest flaw. There's just not enough of him. Even given his dual role as Congressman and super, it still feels like he doesn't get enough screen time. I'm one of those who, as much as I love Sam Wilson, think that Bucky's the one who should've gotten the shield after Steve. Even though he's not as demonstrative with his emotions, Bucky deserves a flick of his own – or at least, to lead. As much as I dig Yelena, I really wish Bucky had been the star around whom all the other Thunderbolts revolved. The only other issue with Thunderbolts* is, as with so many other flicks, the last act. As much time as we get with Bob/Sentry, his transformation into The Void feels rushed, and the subsequent, expected big action sequence was a bit lackluster. And while it's clear that Julia Louis-Dreyfuss has a lot of fun playing Valentina, as a baddie, she really isn't all that interesting. That said, Thunderbolts* is a welcome and worthy addition to the MCU, and a lot more fun than Brave New World. Though I have to wonder how the gang is going to fit into Avengers: Doomsday , given this flick's post-credits scene, where it's revealed that Sam wants nothing to do with them. I'm certainly going to give it a shot, but I'm afraid that, given the 27 confirmed names in the cast list, the awesome Thunderbolts may end up getting shut out. But I guess we'll see. Directed by: Jake Schreier Written by: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo Release date: May 2, 2025 Rating: PG-13 Run time: 2hr, 6min Distributor: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Studios SINNERS Spoiler Review
Irish Examiner
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Film review: Thunderbolts* is a superhero movie that tries to do something different
Thunderbolts* ★★★★☆ You know things are getting grim out there when the superheroes are questioning their motivations. Thunderbolts* (12A) opens with Yelena Belova, aka the Black Widow (Florence Pugh), in something of a funk, unfulfilled by killing bad guys at the behest of the OXE Group's Valentina de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and looking for a way out. As it happens, Valentia is only too happy to offer Yelena an exit: with the Avengers in a state of disarray, Valentina wants to mop up the few remaining superheroes — Yelena, the new Captain America (Wyatt Russell), the Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) — and replace them with the Sentry (Lewis Pullman), a single entity 'stronger than a whole team of Avengers.' But in corralling all her 'defective losers' into a vast incinerator and tasking them with annihilating one another, Valentina makes a fatal mistake: from a ragtag bunch of misfits she accidentally creates a crack team with a burning desire to stop the power-hungry Valentina in her tracks. The asterisk in the title is to remind us the Thunderbolt collective only exists as a placeholder for the squeaky-clean Avengers, or at least until a better squad of square-jawed do-gooders comes along, but Thunderbolts* suggests that Jake Schrier's take on the superhero flick is the way forward. Yelena, Walker and the Ghost (who are joined by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and the Red Guardian (David Harbour)) might be a scruffy bunch of squabbling heroes, but there's a rough charm to their many foibles and failings. Arguably the most interesting thing about Thunderbolts*, however, is that it's a superhero movie that tries to do something different with the genre's narrative arc, and particularly in the latter stages, which tend to be ploddingly predictable. Here, and without giving away spoilers, our heroes find themselves battling an insidious foe that can't be zapped, crunched or punched into orbit. theatrical release Amongst the Wolves ★★★☆☆ Amongst the Wolves (16s) stars Luke McQuillan as Danny, an ex-soldier living rough on Dublin's streets. Taking to the woods to avoid being hassled, Danny encounters the terrified teenager Will (Daniel Fee), who owes money to local drug kingpin Power (Aiden Gillen) and is living in fear of his life. Danny has troubles of his own as he tries to maintain a relationship with his young son Tadgh (Manco O'Connor) despite his ex-wife Gill's (Jade Jordan) opposition, but will his conscience allow him to walk away and leave Will to face the wolf pack alone? Written by Luke McQuillan and Mark O'Connor, with O'Connor directing, Amongst the Wolves is a solid addition to the Irish crime thriller genre that's at its most tense when it demonstrates how quickly the innocent can become collateral damage when criminal conflicts spiral out of control. Aidan Gillen is reliably sinister and quietly manic as the gangster-in-chief, while McQuillan delivers a sturdy performance as the stoic, world-weary Danny. theatrical release Parthenope ★★★☆☆ A love letter to Naples from one of its most famous sons, Paolo Sorrentino's Parthenope (16s) stars Celeste Dalla Porta as the eponymous heroine, a young woman of 'disruptive beauty' born into gilded luxury in 1950. 'I don't know anything,' declares Parthenope as she soaks up everything life has to offer, 'but I like everything.' A febrile summer on Capri aged 18 changes her life forever, however, when the sudden death of her beloved brother Sandrino (Dario Aita) casts a long shadow across Parthenope's indolent existence, sending her off, as a student of anthropology, on an epic quest to discover meaning in academia, the world of cinema and Naples' social whirl. Sorrentino's cameras fairly ravish Naples and Celeste Dalla Porta, whose Parthenope embodies the city's many contradictions, but for all its shimmering elegance and sultry moods, the film is rather vacuous in its over-earnest attempts to intellectualise the love-hate relationship between Naples and its long-suffering citizenry. theatrical release Read More Louis Theroux: The Settlers a superb view of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians
