Story
Thunderbolts* follows an unconventional team of Marvel antiheroes who come together and are forced to confront their fears and work together for the greater good.
On the surface, this could be touted as Marvel's answer to Suicide Squad, but it is so much more than that. The Thunderbolts are people who have been considered antagonists in other Marvel movies, who are given their own time to shine and redeem themselves.
Also, every single poster BANGS! I have not seen one bad piece of promotional art for this movie.
Acting
When it comes to ensemble casts like this, it really is a group effort. Everyone brings something special and has their own time to shine.
Florence Pugh's Yelena is the emotional core of the film. It starts and ends with her, and I think that was a really good choice, as not only do we have an audience proxy, but we have someone who has told us from the beginning the topics that the movie covers. She opens the movie with
"I think there is something wrong with me."
That line, combined with a shot of her atop the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, reflects her inner turmoil.
If Yelena is the emotional core, then Sebastian Stan's Bucky is the glue that holds this group together. Bucky has been in the MCU for over 10 years, and we have seen him go from Steve's friend to the Winter Soldier to Bucky. And it feels good to see him come into his own throughout the movies. He sees himself in the Thunderbots*, and I really don't think there is another MCU character who could have led this team.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Vaelntina is the character I like the least. And I don't fault her for that, her character is intentionally unlikeable.
Wyatt Russell's John Walker surprised me the most. Like most people, I really did not like his character in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and to quote Bob
"You're kind of an asshole."
That fact doesn't change in this movie, but here it works. There's a humanity we see in him that we haven't seen before, especially when we see the demons that he is also battling. He is no less of a bad person than before, but what we do see of him brings depth to his character and we like him because he's an asshole.
Davis Harbour's Alexei is the comedic relief character, and there is a fine line for me between funny and jarring. Red Guardian never ends up in the jarring category. You also see some of his backstory, and I understand why he acts this way.
I vaguely remember when Steven Yuen was cast as Bob/The Void/Sentry. And now, after watching the film, I cannot imagine anyone else playing the role except Lewis Pullman. Firstly, let me say that there are three performances here, and each one is different enough for you to acknowledge that they are different facets of the same person:
Bob is a really endearing and you want to hug him for most of the film. You see elements of Bob's unassuming nature, but there is an aura of strength that comes from his physical movements and speech. The Void, however, is completely different. It feels sinister and emotionless, the physical embodiment of a void.
Now I usually don't mention this, but seeing everyone hop on the Lewis Pullman hype train (and you should) but I want to mention that I've been here since Bad Times at the El Royale (my review for which you can read here) and Top Gun: Maverick (which you can also read here). Just a random little tidbit. I think he is great.
 |
| Courtesy of Marvel Studios |
Writing/Direction
A strength of this movie is one that many people have for the previous MCU movies, and that is the *fairly* low level stakes. This movie feels a lot more ground-level than some of the recent Marvel releases in that it's not a sequel, doesn't deal with the multiverse or happen in space. And I think having fewer of those restrictions really allows for the start and the characters to shine.
Finding out that Jake Schreier worked on Beef, it makes sense why this movie works as well as it does. I'm not going to spoil Beef, but it covers a lot of the same themes in this movie surrounding mental health, purpose and most of all, hope.
One of the biggest gripes I have is less with the writing or direction, but I have nowhere else to put it, so here we are, and that is with Marvel Studios spoiling that the asterisk at the end of Thunderbolts* stands for New Avengers. What is annoying about this to me is that it was revealed less than a week after its release. The film came out on the 2nd of May, and we were told BY MARVEL on the 5th. I saw the movie on the 9th... a week later. I should not have known this less than a week after release. I'm aware that this is not the most egregious thing that could have happened, but it would have been cool to find this out in the theatre when I watched the movie and not on Twitter.
Adding on to that, the idea that it is safe to post about spoilers after opening weekend is ridiculous. Yes, some people post spoiler tags (I do and put them in red so they are visible to the reader), but blaming people for not seeing a movie opening weekend and using that as justification for posting spoilers is in bad taste.
CGI/Set Design
Learning that a lot of elements in the film are practical made me so happy. Yes, there are CGI elements in this film, but it also feels real and grounded. It also doesn't fall victim to the standard colour grading we are used to seeing from the MCU. Some scenes look dull and grey, but some scenes take place outside that look bright and vibrant. I don't know if this was intentional, but the colour grading looks like it matches the highs and lows that we experience. It's also important that we see what is happening, no matter how dark the scene is
Here is an example of what I mean:
 |
| Courtesy of Marvel Studios |
The coolest VFX element in this movie, for sure, is the voiding, seeing people turn to shadows is a little unsettling, not going to lie. In this video from New Rockstars, Erik Voss explains how Jake Schreier and his team created this effect
Just as I was about to hit publish, I saw this BTS video from Marvel explaining how 'The Void' works, and it's clear that there was a deliberate effort to make it look as tangible as possible.
That attention to detail is what grounds this film in reality and what made me connect with it a lot of than I thought I would
Score/Soundtrack
When I think of the score, two songs pop into my head: It's Bucky and Thunderbolts*.
I think the reason why 'It's Bucky' works so well is because it feels like a reclamation for Bucky. The last time he had music dedicated to him in the MCU was 'The Winter Soldier' in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This song, compared to that, feels triumphant and worthy of the fact that he is more than his past. It is a sonic cue that allows Bucky to become the hero that he has been for the past few movies.
The other song I want to go into is Thunderbolts*, and I love how it flips the OG Avengers theme on its head and creates something new. It perfectly ties in to the Thunderbolts* being termed The New Avengers at the end of the film. It's a combination of all the sonic elements that we had heard throughout the movie and combines them into something completely its own, much like the team. Also, putting this at the end of the album like it is at the end of the film? Love that.,
Son Lux, I was not familiar with your game.
Overall Thoughts
I didn't know much about the Thunderbolts from the comics or the movie before watching it, and I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the movie I watched.
When initial reviews came out and people were saying that it takes big swings that haven't been taken in the MCU, I didn't understand what that meant, but I get it now. A lot of the themes that are present in this movie have been touched on in previous movies, but having an MCU movie be so clear in its stance on mental health and being blunt about how the thunderbotls feel was really heartwarming, to the point where I had a tear in my eye in the 3rd act. This movie is imbued with the message of optimism that has felt like it's been missing in the past few movies.
As someone who has alluded to my mental health on the blog, this movie was a lot more poignant to me than I ever would have expected from it. I also really appreciate that this film was released during Mental Health Awareness Month.
My biggest takeaway from the movie and a lesson that I've had to learn (and am still learning), sometimes the darkness that is within you never leaves, but it is important to acknowledge it and know that you are not alone.
Comments
Post a Comment