‘I’ ON CULTURE
The Marvel Cinematic Universe, although finally creating a winner, has confused things by changing the name of Thunderbolts* to *The New Avengers. However, just the name changed.
After many films that seemed to go nowhere, Director Jake Shreier created a winner that deals with the “losers” of the MCU. What haunts them, why are they broken, what makes them lost, lonely souls searching for a reason to go on? There is a major problem, however. Most of the characters here and their issues have been explored only on Disney+ TV shows, which will cause confusion.
The center of the action is Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff, and another Black Widow assassin. She goes through the motions of dealing with a crisis in Malaysia and decides to quit. Her boss, CIA Chief Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), is facing her own crisis, as her enemies are having her impeached. She sends Yelena to a super-secret facility to destroy evidence. Once there, Yelena faces several other more or less heroes: U.S. Agent John Walker (Wyatt Russell), a Captain America trainee who got the treatment but lost the job; Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), who is able to dissolve herself in the quantum realm and go through walls and move around in another dimension; and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), another Black Widow who can mimic anyone’s fight moves. After a well-staged fight that kills one of them, the group realizes that they are part of the evidence to destroy. And they discover Bob (Lewis Pullman), a sort of everyman with no memory.
They escape and get assistance from Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), who had for years pretended to be Yelena’s father, and Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now a congressman from Brooklyn! They wind up facing not just Allegra, but a horrible though familiar entity that can literally drain people to nothing by forcing them to face their worst memories. This forces these almost heroes to focus on their weaknesses and their need to create a new family.
The idea of comrades becoming family is not new in the MCU. The Guardians of the Galaxy did it well, the Eternals and the Marvels not so well. But this story is far more adult. It deals directly with depression, trauma and mental health. Yelena is the strongest mentally, but she went through hell growing up. And all of the characters are flawed. All have been left behind by others and have dealt with pain and regret. And they cannot survive that alone. We see that in the final part of the film when a new force is able to send everyone to a place of their own worst misery. The group must put aside their own trauma and accept themselves while learning how to work together.
While the action scenes are crisp and admirably unfussy (showcasing impressively choreographed stunt work), the psychological aspects are really the center of the plot. That is not to criticize the fight scenes. These characters are not superheroes. Although a few have extra strength, the fights are not of the usual comic book fashion but seemingly real world.
The cast is exceptional. Pugh, the center of the film, gives what might be the best performance in the entire cycle of the MCU. She handles the action well, can toss off a great comedy line, and yet at all times she remains the haunted girl who was not allowed to grow up normally. Harbour plays off her in great comedic fashion while still showing his regrets. Pullman is also strong as Bob.
I should mention Geraldine Viswanathan as the villain’s conflicted assistant, who was a real treat. And Louis-Dreyfus is an exceptional villain. I like the idea of not having some alien out to destroy us as the main antagonist. Having someone in power misusing it makes the action far more down to earth. These almost heroes, who become heroes, use their not inhuman strength to block parts of buildings from landing on innocents, throw themselves into dangers they are unprepared to face and wind up as heroes.
I enjoyed the film. If you’ve been depressed by the decline of the MCU, see this film. It might not be among the best, but it is still a great time at the movies.
Great take on the movie, Leonard! The MCU forgot who it was for a while, but I see Thunderbolts as a solid entry. It had the trademark one-liners, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but it really went deep into the pain behind these characters. The reveal about Walker’s true family situation was particularly telling. Words like “washed-up,” “discarded,” and “expendable” fit this group, but I did like how the movie focused on their mental and emotional journeys rather than them just punching their way out of fight after fight. I also like the grounded feel; it reminded me a lot of the first Iron Man film. Looking forward to Fantastic Four!