A Bolt From the Blue
It could be gutsier but the latest from the MCU is more fun and more emotional than it should be. Thank you Ms Pugh.
thunderbolts*
Director: Jake Schreier • Writers: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, based on the Marvel comics
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen
USA • 2hrs 6mins
Opens Hong Kong April 30 • IIB
Grade: B
The 36th (!) entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with reformed Red Room Widow Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) going about her business of assassinating key witnesses and eliminating crucial details of some kind of secret programme run by shady AF Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, fully mining Veep), the aristocratic director of the CIA. Yelena is bored, unfulfilled and feeling disconnected from her job in the wake of her sister Natasha’s death in one of the Avengers movies. I can’t remember which one. It doesn’t matter. She’s one of the scummier, Avengers-adjacent heroes that few really know exist and/or even fewer respect, scattered far and wide doing different gigs. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), AKA the Winter Soldier, has been elected to congress and is mastering the fine art of talking to the media and saying nothing. Temp Cap John Walker (Wyatt Russell, who doesn’t have nearly enough to do) is living in obscurity after a disgraceful exit from the Cap role. The phase-shifting Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) has a better handle on her power and Yelena’s surrogate father Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) is… there. The losers who can’t get along – say it with me now – come together as a motley crew to fight the threat that de Fontaine has created in a lab in the form of Sentry, better known as Bob (Lewis Pullman and my god is he ever looking like his father), and as Void when he breaks bad.
We’re at the stage now where MCU boss Kevin Feige’s diabolical plan for world domination (is he maybe a secret supervillain?) is starting to falter, and Thunderbolts* has suddenly been elevated to status as dark horse franchise saviour, and it’s easy to see why. This cast has the series most engaging actors, and these characters are some of the most fun to hang with, so while the film is forced to play in the same reluctant anti-hero team-up sandbox as two Suicide Squads, Netflix’s B-team series The Defenders and the crime against humanity that was Borderlands, among others, it kind of works because of this cast and those characters. It’s also refreshingly lo-fi and intimate (no one flies) for the MCU and there’s nary a wizard or a laser beam to the sky to be seen.
Anti-Avengers
Jake Schreier is the latest indie/short/music video director (the clever Robot & Frank, the not-so-clever Paper Towns) to be lifted from perdition and handed the short reins of a big, splashy superhero blow-out and allowed to demonstrate limited personal creative flair. In fairness he makes the most of the relatively straightforward conspiracy thriller trappings and the sometimes forced banter. Said banter was concocted by Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Transformers One, the forthcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and Joanna Calo (The Bear), who tap Winter Soldier energy for a darker, more grounded vibe. Schreier’s work is fine, and there are some solid set pieces – sorry, but Bucky flexing that arm is never going to be not cool – and having The Green Knight shooter Andrew Droz Palermo on hand to visualise the Thunderbolts’ assorted trauma, grief, guilt, loneliness and redemption is a massive bonus. Because that’s what the film is really about. These aren’t discount Avengers. They’re defective Avengers processing their emotions.
And again none of it works without the cast, led by Pugh who almost single-handedly carries the whole thing on her back. Yelena is prickly and wounded, and Pugh makes her crisis of conscience almost palpable (she’s legit working here) in spite of being undermined by dialogue she doesn’t need to convey Yelena’s state of mind. Sure, the script can be quippy, and most of the conversations are snarky and sarcastic (when did this become a substitute for character building?) but Stan, Russell and Harbour – who’s almost in another movie he’s so gloriously OTT – are so attuned to their alter egos it doesn’t really matter. Their dynamic is effortless and the cast’s ability to elevate the material lends the story whatever emotional stakes it has. Admittedly, Yelena’s “My dad is so weird” shame is pretty amusing.
There’s a lot of chatter in the ether about how Thunderbolts* is a return to form for Marvel; how it’s the shot in the arm the franchise needed after wallowing in the mire with the bloated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and whatever the hell that last Ant-Man movie was. Captain America: Brave New World came close to juicing the MCU, but it pulled its political punches and wound up a diaphanous mess. And no, MCU movies don’t need to be political, but seeing as the source material often is, the lack of big statements is kind of disappointing. Thunderbolts* biggest problem is its aggressive neutrality in a movie about one power-mad Washington DC politico running roughshod over law and transparency and convincing themselves they know what’s best for America and fuck everyone else. Ahem. Pre- or post-election you’d have to be an idiot not to see that kind of manoeuvring was a problem, and it makes for a great political thriller foundation. Just imagine the punch the film might have had if Disney, Feige, Schreier and Co. had some backbone, and weren’t so deathly afraid of having a POV. Then again, given the reaction to women in Star Wars and a Black Cap we can probably guess how eager they are to demonstrate one. Instead we have the ’Bolts* mourning their lost souls and discussing their feelings again. It still beats Quantumania hands down, and if the stingers (of course) are worth anything I’d happily hang out with these losers again.