"Thunderbolts*" - Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day

The fall from grace of the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Avengers: Endgame has already been the subject of tireless internet analysis. So much so that to the point where anytime I add anything to the cultural conversation, I feel as though I’m beating the dead-est of dead horses. And to be honest, I truly had no intention of seeing Thunderbolts*, but I was offered a free ticket to see the film a bit early at the IMAX screen in Burbank, and for the first time since Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, I’m leaving a Marvel film in a better mood than I was before I sat down to watch it. 

For the past 5 years we’ve been stuck in the same cycle: 1. Marvel releases a bad movie. 2. People pretend it’s good for opening weekend, then admit defeat and threaten to give up if the next one isn’t good. 3. They release a semi well edited trailer for their next project and everyone gets excited again. 4. Repeat steps one through three until the end of time.

It really is astonishing how fun these films can be when they give up on all of the multiverse mumbo-jumbo and get back to the basics as to what made these stories so effective to begin with. In a strangely poetic way, Thunderbolts* carries a lot of the same traits that the original Iron Man did in 2008. The most obvious one being that the film focuses on characters that up until this point in the franchise have been relatively C-list sideline characters (barring Bucky) that no one ever thought would be given their own movie. Thankfully, the justification behind bringing them all together works tremendously, and there was never a moment that I felt as though a character was ham-fisted into the story for a greater franchise reason. The pacing of the film too, is very similar to Iron Man in the sense that the first hour or so of the film takes place in one giant, contained, suspenseful set-piece that works alarmingly effectively at developing our characters, and revealing the stakes of the film. 

Florence Pugh has always been a star, but in this film she proves that she is the new shining light of the MCU. Yelena is by and large the most interesting, and dynamic of the new batch of characters, and her relationships with David Harbour’s Red Guardian, and Lewis Pullman’s Sentry are the best in the film by a wide margin. The rest of our characters, who up until this point had nearly no significant development, all come out at the end of the runtime with brand new senses of personality, and without spoiling anything, a new cleaned out emotional slate, which sets up room for so much improvement in future films if handled correctly. 

Thematically, this film attempts to tackle far more heavy subjects than the vast majority of MCU projects in recent memory, and there are plenty of visuals, and thematic conversations that work far better than they have any need to, but even still, this is where a lot of the issues can arise from. While interesting, the commentary is far from intellectual, and aside from some of the aforementioned visuals (especially in the third act), the film isn’t saying anything truly unique, and most of the thematics are boiled down to big picture statements. I’m still thankful they’re trying at all, so credit where it’s due, but still there is certainly room for a bit more subtlety.  

I’ve heard many complain about the rushed nature of the third act, but I didn’t have an issue until the final five minutes of the film. When the film cuts to credits, I thought we were missing at the very least ten extra minutes of the movie. It certainly has potential, but as a film, the wrap up is incredibly messy. There is not a great deal of action which could turn off some viewers, most of the action is reserved for the first hour. Thankfully, it’s all shot on real locations and sets, and directed with a filmmaker/DP duo who aren’t afraid to give the editor room to stay on a single angle before cutting in a million different directions. Much of the choreography feels stilted, but at least you can see most of it!

Marvel has also gotten a great deal of flack for its style of humor, and its repetitive nature, and I’m happy to report that stylistically, they take some decent swings in this department, and a lot of them landed for me. The humor feels much more fast paced, and character-oriented and the cringe worthy awkward style is notably, and welcomingly absent. 

Thunderbolts* is far from perfect movie. It’s been a very very long time since the MCU has produced one of those. But at the very least, it was a hell of a good time at the movies, and the post-credits scene actually gave me a fair amount of anticipation for the future. The thinnest sheet of ice in cinematic history just got ever so slightly thicker. These fools still have a long way to go to win me back, so trust that my guard is still very much up. But for now, we finally have a winner.