Verdict: 3.5/5
‘Thunderbolts*’ is the newest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie that follows a group of rag tag antiheroes who find themselves ensnared in a death trap which they must work together to escape from.
The unconventional team then embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
The team called the Thunderbolts* (the asterisk has been a marketing tool which makes sense after seeing the movie) follows Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who have been working as operatives for morally grey CIA Director Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) but turn against De Fontaine as she unveils Sentry (Lewis Pullman), another one of the MCU’s flawed attempts to recreate Captain America.
Part of the plot is that this misfit group of antiheroes have to deal with things from their past that they aren’t proud of. The character’s guilt is explored in some touching and brutal sequences but I wish we saw more.
For example, Bucky Barnes is a fan favourite character that has appeared in 10-plus movies, but we don’t get much more than surface level from him in this movie. Instead, we focus on the other characters that we don’t care about as much, probably as a way to get the audiences to care for them.
This is a nitpick but with Bucky being one of my favourites I was sad he didn’t get as much focus as the others.
Since the movie came out, I have seen a lot of discourse online where it has been labelled the ‘best Marvel movie since ‘Avengers: Endgame’’ which I don’t entirely agree with. I think the movie was good but not great, which is disappointing given it followed some of my favourite characters from past Marvel projects.
I think the film had a strong opening with a rushed ending. Sitting at just over two hours the movie moves along at a pretty fast pace but stumbles a bit in its final act.
‘Thunderbolts*’ moves away from the expansive Infinity Saga that many MCU fans got to know, this story is on a smaller scale and tells a story that is scrappy and less polished, I really liked that.
The movie has a really tight narrative that audiences haven’t seen in a while.
The MCU connection comes later in the post credit scene (arguably my favourite scene in the movie) and links the story to the wider MCU.
See this movie at Hoyts Penrith.
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.