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Update: April 30, 2025
Dragonlord’s Review of THUNDERBOLTS* (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Refreshing, funny and well-paced, Thunderbolts* is one of the best MCU films since Endgame thanks to its tight script, lovable misfit characters and deep emotional impact.
This is unorthodox but the first thing I want to compliment about Thunderbolts* is the pacing. I was surprised how incredibly well-paced this was. A lot of MCU films have a formulaic way of presenting scenes where it feels like each scene is like 5-minute long and just quickly jumps from one location to another. In Thunderbolts*, they take their time as shown in the extended mountain bunker scene which flowed organically to the Utah desert chase scene and concluded in the New York City action spectacle. Unlike other action/fantasy/superhero blockbuster films where they try to cram as many exotic or otherworldly locations as possible and thereby muddling the narrative, Thunderbolts* has the quiet confidence to just focus on coherent storytelling. Mostly taking place in three locations, the film is smaller in scale but abundant in heart.
With that out of the way, Thunderbolts* is a story of a bunch of anti-hero assassins or government operatives begrudgingly teaming up to survive after being set up for elimination by their boss. This is basically Marvel Studios’ version of the Suicide Squad or a grounded version of Guardians of the Galaxy. The film is anchored around Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and is the heart and soul of the story. Pugh might never appear in my attraction meter but she’s a helluva actress and gives an incredible performance especially during the heartbreaking, emotional moments with her dad.
When they first revealed the team’s roster in 2022, I along with many fans were disappointed at the homogenous lineup where the roster was made up of just enhanced super soldiers with the same power set. As years passed by, most of us have lowered our expectations and accepted the team as it is. And it’s a good thing because these flawed characters work and they have great chemistry with each other. They all fit in with the film’s theme of damaged individuals with a traumatic past, dealing with depression, guilt and loneliness and trying to overcome these problems. The film is like a feel-bad, feel-good movie with the message of spending time with your pain instead of ignoring it and by sharing the burden with others instead of dealing with it alone.
US Agent (Wyatt Russell) is terrific as the asshole of the team. I predict this character’s stock will shoot up after people watch the film. He is just fun to watch and you can’t help but root for the guy. Red Guardian (David Harbour) is always funny and lovable. He is the Drax of the team. Although his screen time in here is not that long, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is back doing some badass Winter Soldier shit. Pay attention to the kickass score when Bucky makes his dramatic entrance in the chase scene. Bucky's stint as congressman was a waste of time though as they never do anything with this angle and I have some serious objections to his decision at the end (which I’ll address in the spoiler box below). Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) is a pleasant, likable character in here who in my opinion whose act of kindness helped sparked the redemption road these characters will take. Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) is well… she’s just there.
Julia Louis Dreyfuss was really good as the film’s antagonist Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. The villainous character wasn’t given enough time to cook in her previous short appearances in past MCU projects. In Thunderbolts*, they gave the ball to her and she ran with it. The actress’ performance is so charming that it’s so fun to watch her hustle and weasel herself out of each situation. I can’t help compare Valentina to her DC counterpart Amanda Waller, stoically played by Viola Davis, and preferring the Marvel version which has more vigor and a fun personality. The film takes a lot of inspiration from the Dark Avengers comic book and Val is a pretty good substitute for Norman Osborn.
Lewis Pullman plays Bob, a.k.a. Robert Reynolds, a.k.a. Sentry. Alexander Skarsgard would be my ideal choice to play Sentry. But we have to live in reality and that comes with the fact that Marvel Studios does not always adapt a character or storyline faithfully. The key is to be open minded enough to appreciate quality storytelling even if it deviates from the source material. With that said, Pullman was splendid as the enigmatic Bob and, surprisingly, equally as wonderful as the unstable Sentry. The Sentry costume is lit and one of the best MCU costumes I've seen. That awesome Sentry fight scene is probably one of the peak moments in the film. They did an excellent job with laying the groundwork with sprinkles of ominous foreshadowing leading up to the Void's appearance. When the Void shows up, they did a superb job with how simplistically sinister he looked and how scary he manifested his powers.
Credit goes to director Jake Schreier for ably combining the fun action, the character dynamics, the disciplined pacing and serious moments to come up with one of the good film entries in the MCU Phase Five. Props also for the use of a lot of practical stunts and effects and shooting in real location. Kudos also to screenwriters Eric Pearson for the tight script and Joanna Calo (the co-showrunner of The Bear) for what I suspect are the humor and polished character interactions. [Update: She apparently rewrote the script and gave Bucky a more significant role in the film.]
Special mention to the amazing score by Son Lux who also did a phenomenal job with 2022's Everything, Everywhere All at Once. The Thunderbolts* theme is absolutely fantastic, reminding me of The Avengers' iconic music with its strong, rhythmic drive and ascending tension but mixed with an exquisite melody that radiates hope, optimism and redemption.
Not part of the actual film but I would also like to give a shout out to the three amazing trailers for the film. The first teaser trailer with the Pixie's "Where Is My Mind" playing, the A24 "Absolute Cinema" trailer and the final trailer with "Under Pressure" playing.
The ending credits scene with the newspaper headlines, magazine covers and the iconic images from historical references were hilarious. There’s one mid-credits scene where it’s just a small funny gag. The final post-credits scene is really good and juicy, so definitely stay until the very end of the movie.
Is the MCU back? Yes (Detailed explanation). The next two years for the cinema side of the MCU looks very promising as the next four films lined up (The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Secret Wars) are the type of fan-friendly films we usually see in peak MCU. But for the meantime, Thunderbolts* is a nice reminder to the world that Marvel Studios can still hit it out of the park. Though it might not make money at the box office, Thunderbolts* is a film that old Marvel Studios fans can enjoy and be be proud of, and a good stepping stone for a more promising future of the MCU.
RATING: 8.5/10
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews and want to see more reviews in the future. Thanks.
)
Dragonlord’s Review of THUNDERBOLTS* (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Refreshing, funny and well-paced, Thunderbolts* is one of the best MCU films since Endgame thanks to its tight script, lovable misfit characters and deep emotional impact.
This is unorthodox but the first thing I want to compliment about Thunderbolts* is the pacing. I was surprised how incredibly well-paced this was. A lot of MCU films have a formulaic way of presenting scenes where it feels like each scene is like 5-minute long and just quickly jumps from one location to another. In Thunderbolts*, they take their time as shown in the extended mountain bunker scene which flowed organically to the Utah desert chase scene and concluded in the New York City action spectacle. Unlike other action/fantasy/superhero blockbuster films where they try to cram as many exotic or otherworldly locations as possible and thereby muddling the narrative, Thunderbolts* has the quiet confidence to just focus on coherent storytelling. Mostly taking place in three locations, the film is smaller in scale but abundant in heart.
With that out of the way, Thunderbolts* is a story of a bunch of anti-hero assassins or government operatives begrudgingly teaming up to survive after being set up for elimination by their boss. This is basically Marvel Studios’ version of the Suicide Squad or a grounded version of Guardians of the Galaxy. The film is anchored around Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and is the heart and soul of the story. Pugh might never appear in my attraction meter but she’s a helluva actress and gives an incredible performance especially during the heartbreaking, emotional moments with her dad.
When they first revealed the team’s roster in 2022, I along with many fans were disappointed at the homogenous lineup where the roster was made up of just enhanced super soldiers with the same power set. As years passed by, most of us have lowered our expectations and accepted the team as it is. And it’s a good thing because these flawed characters work and they have great chemistry with each other. They all fit in with the film’s theme of damaged individuals with a traumatic past, dealing with depression, guilt and loneliness and trying to overcome these problems. The film is like a feel-bad, feel-good movie with the message of spending time with your pain instead of ignoring it and by sharing the burden with others instead of dealing with it alone.
US Agent (Wyatt Russell) is terrific as the asshole of the team. I predict this character’s stock will shoot up after people watch the film. He is just fun to watch and you can’t help but root for the guy. Red Guardian (David Harbour) is always funny and lovable. He is the Drax of the team. Although his screen time in here is not that long, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is back doing some badass Winter Soldier shit. Pay attention to the kickass score when Bucky makes his dramatic entrance in the chase scene. Bucky's stint as congressman was a waste of time though as they never do anything with this angle and I have some serious objections to his decision at the end (which I’ll address in the spoiler box below). Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) is a pleasant, likable character in here who in my opinion whose act of kindness helped sparked the redemption road these characters will take. Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) is well… she’s just there.
Julia Louis Dreyfuss was really good as the film’s antagonist Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. The villainous character wasn’t given enough time to cook in her previous short appearances in past MCU projects. In Thunderbolts*, they gave the ball to her and she ran with it. The actress’ performance is so charming that it’s so fun to watch her hustle and weasel herself out of each situation. I can’t help compare Valentina to her DC counterpart Amanda Waller, stoically played by Viola Davis, and preferring the Marvel version which has more vigor and a fun personality. The film takes a lot of inspiration from the Dark Avengers comic book and Val is a pretty good substitute for Norman Osborn.
Lewis Pullman plays Bob, a.k.a. Robert Reynolds, a.k.a. Sentry. Alexander Skarsgard would be my ideal choice to play Sentry. But we have to live in reality and that comes with the fact that Marvel Studios does not always adapt a character or storyline faithfully. The key is to be open minded enough to appreciate quality storytelling even if it deviates from the source material. With that said, Pullman was splendid as the enigmatic Bob and, surprisingly, equally as wonderful as the unstable Sentry. The Sentry costume is lit and one of the best MCU costumes I've seen. That awesome Sentry fight scene is probably one of the peak moments in the film. They did an excellent job with laying the groundwork with sprinkles of ominous foreshadowing leading up to the Void's appearance. When the Void shows up, they did a superb job with how simplistically sinister he looked and how scary he manifested his powers.
Credit goes to director Jake Schreier for ably combining the fun action, the character dynamics, the disciplined pacing and serious moments to come up with one of the good film entries in the MCU Phase Five. Props also for the use of a lot of practical stunts and effects and shooting in real location. Kudos also to screenwriters Eric Pearson for the tight script and Joanna Calo (the co-showrunner of The Bear) for what I suspect are the humor and polished character interactions. [Update: She apparently rewrote the script and gave Bucky a more significant role in the film.]
Special mention to the amazing score by Son Lux who also did a phenomenal job with 2022's Everything, Everywhere All at Once. The Thunderbolts* theme is absolutely fantastic, reminding me of The Avengers' iconic music with its strong, rhythmic drive and ascending tension but mixed with an exquisite melody that radiates hope, optimism and redemption.
Not part of the actual film but I would also like to give a shout out to the three amazing trailers for the film. The first teaser trailer with the Pixie's "Where Is My Mind" playing, the A24 "Absolute Cinema" trailer and the final trailer with "Under Pressure" playing.
The ending credits scene with the newspaper headlines, magazine covers and the iconic images from historical references were hilarious. There’s one mid-credits scene where it’s just a small funny gag. The final post-credits scene is really good and juicy, so definitely stay until the very end of the movie.
Is the MCU back? Yes (Detailed explanation). The next two years for the cinema side of the MCU looks very promising as the next four films lined up (The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Secret Wars) are the type of fan-friendly films we usually see in peak MCU. But for the meantime, Thunderbolts* is a nice reminder to the world that Marvel Studios can still hit it out of the park. Though it might not make money at the box office, Thunderbolts* is a film that old Marvel Studios fans can enjoy and be be proud of, and a good stepping stone for a more promising future of the MCU.
RATING: 8.5/10
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews and want to see more reviews in the future. Thanks.
)When Valentina presented the team to the public as the New Avengers as a way to save her own skin, I kinda see some reasoning why most of the Thunderbolts would accept it since it hits the inner spot for some of them to become heroes beloved by the public or to redeem themselves from their past sins. BUT I thought Bucky would not have toed the line and would have exposed Valentina because it went up against his character’s righteousness. Plus he was after Valentina from the very start of the movie, so it didn’t make sense he would just suddenly ignore everything he set out to do. They should have shown Val offering something to Bucky or reveal that Bucky went along with Val’s New Avengers because he wanted to support his Thunderbolts comrades to have a better life moving forward.
Ok, so reason for the asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title was finally revealed at the end. It's a placeholder because the team is now the New Avengers. But it's more of a joke as we see a lot of the media are mocking them. One of my favorites was "B-vengers" lol. They also revealed at the post credits scene that Sam Wilson is suing them for the Avengers rights.
There was a lot of Dark Avengers inspiration in the movie. Of course there's Sentry which was a key player in the Dark Avengers. There was that press conference where Valentina announced the New Avengers which is straight from that iconic shot in the Dark Avengers comics.
The Thunderbolts/New Avengers in some ways are alternate versions of the classic Avengers. Yelena plays the Black Widow role. US Agent is the Captain America version. Ghost is like Vision with her phasing powers. Bob is like Bruce Banner where he has a monster inside he's afraid to let out.
As predicted due to her noticeably absent in a lot of group shots in the trailers, Taskmaster was the Slipknot (Suicide Squad red shirt character) version of the movie. She was killed by Ghost in their first encounter.
For some weird reason, US Agent is still using the bent shield (Sentry bent it when they were fighting). Odd but still funny. Also funny was US Agent's new beret.
The climax for the film was a bit Studio Ghibli-esque where everything was resolved peacefully and with little to no casualty and the bad guy not getting their comeuppance.
Ok, so reason for the asterisk in the Thunderbolts* title was finally revealed at the end. It's a placeholder because the team is now the New Avengers. But it's more of a joke as we see a lot of the media are mocking them. One of my favorites was "B-vengers" lol. They also revealed at the post credits scene that Sam Wilson is suing them for the Avengers rights.
There was a lot of Dark Avengers inspiration in the movie. Of course there's Sentry which was a key player in the Dark Avengers. There was that press conference where Valentina announced the New Avengers which is straight from that iconic shot in the Dark Avengers comics.
The Thunderbolts/New Avengers in some ways are alternate versions of the classic Avengers. Yelena plays the Black Widow role. US Agent is the Captain America version. Ghost is like Vision with her phasing powers. Bob is like Bruce Banner where he has a monster inside he's afraid to let out.
As predicted due to her noticeably absent in a lot of group shots in the trailers, Taskmaster was the Slipknot (Suicide Squad red shirt character) version of the movie. She was killed by Ghost in their first encounter.
For some weird reason, US Agent is still using the bent shield (Sentry bent it when they were fighting). Odd but still funny. Also funny was US Agent's new beret.
The climax for the film was a bit Studio Ghibli-esque where everything was resolved peacefully and with little to no casualty and the bad guy not getting their comeuppance.
The first stinger was a mid-credits scene where we see Alexei (Red Guardian) in civilian attire in a supermarket. He approaches a woman who is trying to buy a cereal box. Alexei recommends the New Avengers cereal box where the team is displayed in the front. He puts the box nears his face so that the woman can recognize him as the Red Guardian. The woman does not put two and two together. Alexei puts the New Avengers cereal box on the woman's shopping cart. The woman walks away but unloads the cereal box from her cart in the corner. This was just a minor gag moment.
The second stinger was a post-credits scene. This was one is more juicy as it gives a proper prologue to the New Avengers team as well as revealing something for the next MCU movie. 14 months have passed and we see the team in the Avengers Tower. The team have new costumes. Bob is also hanging out there in civilian clothes and doesn't use his Sentry powers anymore to avoid unleashing the Void again. It is revealed that Sam Wilson is suing them for the Avengers name rights. Alexei appears and has a solution. He is wearing a tracksuit of sorts with the name "New Avengerz". There's an alarm that an incoming spacecraft has entered near Earth. Their space camera spots the ship and it looks like the Fantastic Four spaceship we see in the trailers. The ship rotates slightly and the F4 logo can be seen and the F4 music plays. The end.
The second stinger was a post-credits scene. This was one is more juicy as it gives a proper prologue to the New Avengers team as well as revealing something for the next MCU movie. 14 months have passed and we see the team in the Avengers Tower. The team have new costumes. Bob is also hanging out there in civilian clothes and doesn't use his Sentry powers anymore to avoid unleashing the Void again. It is revealed that Sam Wilson is suing them for the Avengers name rights. Alexei appears and has a solution. He is wearing a tracksuit of sorts with the name "New Avengerz". There's an alarm that an incoming spacecraft has entered near Earth. Their space camera spots the ship and it looks like the Fantastic Four spaceship we see in the trailers. The ship rotates slightly and the F4 logo can be seen and the F4 music plays. The end.
