Thunderbolts*

Florence Pugh was the best thing in Black Widow, and she's easily the best thing in Thunderbolts. Every moment that she's onscreen (and luckily she's onscreen a lot), she shines up the place.

And Thunderbolts really does need some sunshine. From the opening Marvel logo it's a dark affair, both in visual style (the ugly saturated look makes its entrance in the MCU) as in subject matter. Don't let the funny oneliners and random banter fool you, there's a lot of pain in this new rag tag team.

Thunderbolts does have a lot of fun with its underdog position. It's easy to see that Feige and co hope this team will be a new GOTG phenomenon. Unfortunately the movie feels a bit too tired to be able to do that. Despite all the reviews and ads proclaiming this will be the renaissance of the MCU: It's really just the Marvel PG 13 version of Suicide Squad.

The acting is very good, the visual effects look less rushed then they did in the previous films and I really had a good time. But there remained that nagging feeling that I was watching a movie that knew all the right notes but somehow just wasn't able to sing.

I wasn't going in to this film with much expectation which I think was a good thing because it really knocked it out of the park. The story didn't have to be anything complicated and luckily wasn't held down by any of the Multiversal storylines too. And its execution was really great. The whole film was well paced and its overall message was the highlight of the whole thing. The cast was topnotch, especially Florence Pugh (because when isn't she). I was relieved that the comedy in this film didn't overdo itself (I'm forever scarred by Thor: Love and Thunder) and that the writing never got corny or eye-roll inducing.

Overall a very good and enjoyable Marvel movie.

It's no secret that the MCU hasn't had a good movie (excepting Guardians 3) since Endgame, and even Endgame was more of a resolution than a great movie unto itself. The new phase has varied from mediocre to bad to Quantumania (a movie so bad, that I believe it should be it's own adjective). The one exception (G3) is more a remnant of the old era than part of the new.

This is why I think alot of people are overpraising Thunderbolts, which is a nice solid movie...but is hardly amazing. If this had come out during the MCU's glory days, it would have felt like a solidly average movie by MCU standards. It would stand alongside Thor 1 or Cap 1 or Black Panther as "yup, that's another MCU movie". But surround it with the recent Falcon movie, Dr. Strange 2, Eternals, and so on and Thunderbolts stands tall and proud by comparison.

IMHO, the best things about this movie are the actors/characters. Especially Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Julie Louis-Dreyfus. I'd like to give Sebastian Stan a shoutout, but did Bucky really do anything but flex and look like the adult in a group of bickering children?

But that is what used to make the MCU great. The MCU movies were never elite scripts/plots. They were basic fun action/comedy/spectacle movies with fun, bright characters played by actors with charisma and charm. And despite Ghost and US Agent being pretty bland, the movie mostly delivers. JLD does well as the scenery chewing villainess, Pugh and Harbour are priceless in this, as they were in Black Widow. It's still an absolute crime that Disney sat on it's thumbs and wasted it's shot at a good Black Widow movie, only producing one far too late.

I also want to give the movie credit for doing a very cliche thing with the respect to Sentry, but doing it in a way that felt earned and believable, when it very easily could have been eye-rollingly stupid. If you've seen the movie, I suspect you can guess what I mean, but I don't want to spoil anything.

There definitely are some moments where characters know things they shouldn't know, or where power levels seem inconsistent. I'm not going to claim it's a 'clean' movie in that respect. Some things occurred that were a bit too 'just so'. But there weren't any that took me out of the movie...except one. I really didn't like how omnipotent Sentry was from a 'super soldier program'. Every other super soldier program produced low tier super-people. Sentry was Superman+. This seems orders of magnitude beyond others, and makes it hard to swallow that there won't be a billion such programs going forward.

I think the humor was okay, but not excellent. The action setpieces were fine...but seldom as impressive as some of the MCU's past offerings.

I think the only person in this that really inspires 'hero' is Yelena...the others kind of all feel like joke characters. Even Bucky, despite being portrayed consistently seriously and competent doesn't really feel like a part of a headliner group...which is part of the point of course. But I feel like that lack of a standout hurts going forward. Heck, Yelena's best showcase really comes in a weak movie alot of people skipped (Black Widow) and a streaming series that even more people skipped (Hawkeye).

So basically, good movie, I enjoyed it, but let's keep the praise reasonable.

Marvel's new film debuted in theaters with low expectations and no box office rivals.

When I say low expectations, I'm talking about the general public and all the people who have abandoned the MCU ship in recent years, and not without reason. After all, the vast majority of projects haven't been entirely convincing, especially on the television front.

The box office failure and critical acclaim of the last Captain America film didn't help the hype either.

However, we have a film that shines brightly. It's been a long time since we've had a Marvel film that didn't need others and their connections to be popular.

There's a breath of fresh air, and the MCU has the opportunity to capitalize on it.

The premise is a simple film; the execution stands out quite a bit above average.

While it greatly develops the characters of Yelena and Bob, and not so much others like Ghost or Bucky, we have a strong plot and a transition during the first two acts that keep us on edge and entertained.

A particular fear I had was the inclusion of Red Guardian and his humor, which had already failed me in previous projects. However, here he contributes, and that's appreciated.

The third act is very risky. We were coming off the Captain America movie, where, thanks to the power of the script, he was able to face Red Hulk. Here, at first glance, it seems that the power of friendship is what resolves the plot, but this is more than that... for me, everyone's embrace of Bob is the catharsis of acceptance. That's why I loved the third act so much, and I didn't miss the blows or epic battles. Anyone who has suffered from deep depression knows that no matter how hard you fight and try day after day against that emptiness that drags you down, often only those around you know that you are more than the shadow you appear to be. Accepting your condition, accepting that trying to overcome it has never worked, but rather, on the contrary, eats away at you and separates you from society even more. When you're like this, you realize that embracing it and seeking help to reach that embrace is the only thing that can save you. That depression is a part of you, and instead of trying to beat it down, the best thing is to accept it and learn to live with it.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing this last part, but it really seems much deeper to me than thinking that the script could have resolved everything.

Even at the end, we have time for the writers to show us an effective way to limit a character's power, and not with the classic "I was on another planet when all this happened," as they did perfectly with Sentry, "If I unleash my power, I'll also unleash that monster." Simply brilliant.

At the end, there are two post-credits scenes, one of which has a direct connection to "Fantastic 4" and which opens the debate to many questions about what we'll see in July.

I sincerely appreciate what Marvel did with "Thunderbolts*," now I wait for what's next.

For a long time I've wanted marvel to allow the characters to truly feel the weight of their actions and come to grips with everything they do without some joke undercutting any and every emotional moment becuase they believe we can't handle seeing pain. This movie rectified that. Depression, suicidal ideation, apathy, loneliness and all of it was kept there without trying to make you turn away or think it funny.

They make you sit with the agony on yelenas face seeing how much her past affects her as well as everyone else. This gave me the emotional sincerity that's always been missing in the majority of mcu projects. The most human marvel has felt in a long time. Solid 8/10.