This weekend, Marvel will release its latest movie, Thunderbolts*, into theaters. Marvel has had some severe ups and downs since Avengers: Endgame dropped in 2019, ending the first overarching storyline of the MCU. Its latest movie, Captain America: Brave New World, was more on the down side, at least critically. How will Thunderbolts* fare?
Well, according to reviews, pretty well! Reviews are quite positive, with all agreeing that Thunderbolts* is a fleet-footed affair about a group of superpowered misfits coming together to learn about love and friendship. And also they fight a lot of people. Some critics damn the movie with faint praise, but at least there's praise. Let's sample some of it:
- San Jose Mercury News: "“Thunderbolts*” doesn’t rush the action, but it does deliver the staples that superhero fans crave while respecting the need to create a bolder story than what the superhero genre has been delivering of late."
- HeyUGuys: "This is a gritty, chaotic and sometimes uneven return to the best of the old MCU. It is thrilling and heartfelt and best of all, it proves Marvel can still surprise us when it stops trying to please everyone and leans into the weirdness."
- Empire: "It doesn’t always land, but it dares to be different, from the title to the team-up. Fresh and thoughtful in a way recent Marvel efforts haven’t always managed."
- Independent: "Enough to make those self-declared victims of 'superhero fatigue' reconsider that it might not be the genre itself that’s tapped out, but merely the focus on telling stories versus marketing future sequels and the sickly shimmer of nostalgia."
- Variety: "As with the Guardians of the Galaxy films, what works here is the uneasy tension within a team that comes together out of necessity, rather than any natural sense of affinity."
Even the most negative reviews I could find still had a whiff of praise in them, like this one from the Irish Times: "It is a shame the project feels flimsier than the average TV-show pilot, but, after the catastrophe that was Captain America: Brave New World, one can celebrate something that at least has a middle between its beginning and its end." So even if Thunderbolts* is only good by comparison, at least it's good!
Praise for Pugh
One thing people can agree on is that Florench Pugh, returning as Black Widow Yelena Belova after appearances in Hawkeye and Black Widow, is fantastic. But is she fantastic within the context of the movie, or is she so good that she makes an otherwise unremarkable movie worth watching? Either way, her notices are remarkable. Hardly any other critics mentioned other actors in their pull quotes:
- Arizona Republic: "Everyone in the film is having a grand old time; its dark humor suits the actors. But Pugh is the center. Her performance combines Yelena’s pain and guilt with a wry humor. She may be the most low-key movie star going. Yet you’re drawn to her."
- BBC: "That's why Thunderbolts* is so much better than most of Marvel's post-Endgame films. It's not just because it's a rough-edged, big-hearted spy thriller about lovably clueless anti-heroes. It's because it has an actor as charismatic as Pugh at its center."
- Associated Press: "All the assembled parts here, including an especially high-quality cast (even Wendell Pierce!) work together seamlessly in a way that Marvel hasn’t in some time. Most of all, Pugh commands every bit of the movie."
- Guardian: "If it ultimately works, it’s all due to Pugh, who can wrestle sincerity out of a screenplay (and a franchise) that has so little, capturing a whole emotional arc in just her moments of silence."
- The Daily Beast: "With Florence Pugh as the intensely magnetic center of this ramshackle maelstrom, and despite a couple of familiar Marvel shortcomings, it’s a protean superhero saga that stands on its own—regardless of its title’s qualifying asterisk."
So whether you see Thunderbolts* for the sake of Florence Pugh or you see it because it's a good movie, it might just be worth seeing. I'll leave you with some kind words from USA Today: “Thunderbolts* reminds us of how vital and relatable the MCU still is when it wants to be, and how hugs and friendship at the end of the day are essential to everyone, even a motley crew of unlikely heroes."
Other antiheroes in the mix include Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). They're led by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), a kind of antihero Nick Fury. Together, they'll face down a frightening villain named Void (Lewis Pullman), as well as their own internal demons. Thunderbolts* is out in theaters this Friday, May 2.
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