[Source](https://screenrant.com)
I couldn't watch it at theaters and was neither sure about so I finally got around to watching Thunderbolts at home and honestly its kinda refreshing to see a Marvel movie that feels different, is not super hero over the top and builds a connection with the characters, specially when they feel like regular people. The MCU has been pretty rough in the past few years but phase 5 is turning out very good so far with a few exceptions, prior most movies go from meh to straight up terrible and dont even get me started on Quantumania, that thing was ok to a certain point but at the same time so disappointing because of all the wasted potential. Now Thunderbolts, its actually decent and almost touching very good, I mean decent is already good to watch although with all the Avengers movies the bar was set very high, which is saying something these days. The movie follows Yelena Belova, whos basically feeling empty inside after losing her sister Natasha and she gets thrown into this weird situation with other misfit characters like John Walker, Ghost and some guy named Bob who turns out to be way more than he seems, the crazy thing is that nobody remember Bob even existed. What I really liked about this movie is that it doesnt try to be some massive universe changing event or rescue the universe from some Alien invasion, its all about experimental super soldiers go wrong but it also focuses on these broken people trying to figure out their shit and thats honestly what Marvel needed right now, something more ground to earth and still with this super power related topic.
Rottentomatoes Rating
[Source](https://tinyurl.com/m4etcyt7)
The plot itself is pretty straightforward, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine has been using these rouge agents for her own shady purposes and when they figure out shes basically treating them like disposable trash, they team up to take her down. What makes it work is that these are not classic heroes, they are mostly forgotten and no public image, they are part of a past that is now gone but they never stop been a soldier or mercenaries, they are all damaged with serious trauma and the movie actually takes time to deal with that instead of focus only on the action scenes, there is a lot of drama into Thunderbolts. Bob who turns out to be the Sentry, is basically Marvel's version of Superman but with severe mental health issues and the way they handle his character is very good because he deals with true depression and feels this void inside him like he makes no difference in this world, instead of just making him another overpowered hero they make his power a reflection of his inner darkness. The whole void thing, where his depression literally becomes this ultimate villain is actually pretty clever. Yelena's journey from feeling empty and purposeless to finding a new family or say group where they call care about each other not in a cheese way and its also about stop been just that a mercenaries and their work have some meaning and Florence Pugh sells every moment of it. Florence Pugh absolutely kills it as Yelena, she has that perfect mix of badass and vulnerable that made her so good in Black Widow and David Harbour as Red Guardian is very funny and expressive, the guy brings so much energy and humor to every scene hes in.
Source What really impressed me about Thunderbolts is how it manages to feel like a complete story while still setting up future stuff without being obnoxious and it never feels rush, every scene takes its time to develop or at least what matters, the only character that gets jumping from one place to another without much context is Valentina but I could really care less about her. When this team becomes the "New Avengers" at the end feels earned and the MCU is not that small so it gives the opportunity to keep exploring other super heroes instead of just been stuck with the OG ones, that was probably the super hero exhausting problem that they kept hammering the same characters on every Avenger movie to the point they had to do End Game and throw every one of them into a movie, and then what next??. Yes there are some characters recycled like Bucky Barnes showing up as the voice of reason works well and connects Thunderbolts with the original Avenger movies, even if Sebastian Stan is basically just playing the responsible adult trying to keep everyone from killing each other and that role also fits his character at this point in the MCU, I knew he wouldn't keep the hole politician role. The movie also does a good job of balancing the team screen time with everyone getting their moments to shine, even if some characters like Ghost and Taskmaster feel a bit underused, I mean Taskmaster dies in the first 10 minutes. The whole mental health angle with Bob and the void is handled way better than I expected, instead of just being a generic "power corrupts" story, its actually about dealing with trauma and depression which gives the climax some real emotional weight. The fact that they defeat the void not through violence but through connection and understanding is very mature angle for a Marvel movie that you dont see very often and it actually makes sense for these characters who are all dealing with their own emotional baggage and way over powered by Sentry, there was NO WAY they could defeat him one on one, yes might sound like a cheat code but it was all about how the story build up from the beginning.
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I gotta say the acting in this movie is pretty damn good, with the leader actor Florence Pugh just absolutely crushes it as Yelena, she's got this way of making you feel every trauma and every emotional beat without it feeling forced or fake. Lewis Pullman as Bob slash Sentry really surprised me, because making someone who can basically destroy the world feel like a scared, messed up guy isn't easy, but he pulls it off without making it feel cheesy, on top of this consider he develops two characters, we didnt see much about Void but still he did both. Even the side characters don't suck, Wyatt Russell makes John Walker way less punchable than he was in that Falcon show and Hannah John Kamen actually makes Ghost interesting even though she doesn't get much to do. Julie Louis Dreyfus is having a blast being the bad guy and she makes Valentina feel dangerous without going full cartoon villain, she is just this cold government over powered woman who thinks she is saving the world by being a total bitch about it, specially how she tricks everyone with her press conference at the end, I honestly didn't see that coming and its clear Thunderbolts are not the right Avengers as how they basically accept still playing the same game as Valentina where they now "own her", we know that wont be the end of Valentina fighting over power. This movie doesn't try to be ten different things at once, it knows what it wants to be and just goes for it which is something Marvel forgot how to do somewhere between Endgame and whatever the hell Quantumania was supposed to be. The whole thing moves at a good pace, you get your character stuff mixed in with your action stuff and it doesn't feel like it's dragging or rushing through anything important. It feels like actual people made this movie instead of some committee trying to set up seventeen different sequels and that makes all the difference when you're watching it.
So yeah Thunderbolts is a decent Marvel movie that doesn't make you want leaves you disappointment about wasted good potential or cheese girl power stories, it's not gonna blow your mind or anything because it still doesn't have that Edn Game effect of MEGA production but it's a good time that actually gives a shit about the people on screen. The movie works because it cares more about these broken characters figuring their lives out than it does about setting up the next big cosmic whatever and all the actors seem to actually want to be there. Florence Pugh keeps being awesome, David Harbour proves Red Guardian needs his own movie its going to be very like Thor movies where there is more humor than action and the way they handle Bob's whole mental health crisis actually feels real instead of just being another superhero power thing. Sure it's got some dumb moments and the power levels get weird sometimes but when the character work is this good, who really cares about that stuff. This feels like a complete story that also happens to set up future stuff without being annoying about it, which is exactly what Marvel needed after years of movies that felt like homework. It's a solid 7.5 out of 10 for me, a movie that actually makes me think maybe Marvel isn't completely screwed after all, even though it took them way too long to remember how to make something this simple work.
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