Thunderbolts*: The silly adventure we didn't know we needed.

Riot’s Reviews: Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers)

Let’s face it, Marvel’s Phase 5 was rough and it seems like the identity crisis that the studio is continuing to go through is far from being resolved. The success of Marvel allowed for some pretty deep cuts into its catalog of characters raging from the unexpected hits (Guardians of the Galaxy) to the painful failures (Eternals). Even DC had to learn the hard way that haphazardly introducing an edgy group of anti-heroes wasn’t a guaranteed moneymaker. Going into the release of Thunderbolts* wasn’t necessarily as risky; the audience was well aware of these characters already, many of them were “well to decently” received in previous works, and the expectations had been systematically lowered by the rest of Phase 5. The previews/teasers offered something new, something funny and gritty as well and while Marvel’s future arguably didn’t hang on Thunderbolts* success, the feeling was that they needed a real win.

In a lot of ways, I’d argue they got it, but maybe not as strong a win as the Rotten Tomatoes score or online sentiment is saying. Let’s start with what Thunderbolts* got right. Primarily, I’d say the film’s greatest strength lies in the chemistry between the actors. Granted, I’ve seen enough Florence Pugh films by now to know that she has the uncanny ability to create sparks with just about anyone (this is particularly on display with David Harbour and Lewis Pullman). The strong performances from every lead seems also to be a byproduct of the chemistry they have together. Second, the writers kept the plot pretty grounded, making sure to not get lost in the weeds of other films’ storylines (like Brave New World did) and effectively using that time to emotionally reconnect the audience to its characters. Third, it did a good job creating a balance between deeper, emotional cuts (that are atypical to a story like this) and the simple, playful and down to earth humor that bled out of the banter between the actors/actresses. Even during the tense or serious moments of the film, it didn’t feel like it was trying to take itself too seriously.

It was nice to see a Marvel film stay pretty grounded in its action sequences as well. Strong fight choreography, interesting camera angles, and the toned down amount of super powers helped make that possible. The sound mixing and overall score were pretty solid and I was really impressed with pretty much everything involving The Void. The visual/audio effects when he was turning people into shadows were jarring in just the right way. In the final conflict, the transitions between scenes (memories) were pulled off pretty flawlessly and the darkened color schemes helped maintain its intensity, regardless of how silly things got. We were treated to a different side of Marvel that simultaneously got itself back into the groove of entertainment, a running theme in cinema this year (so far).

Now why would I disagree with the high, current RT score from the audience and critics? 1) Overall, the movie was kind of slow and the involvement of Valentina Allegra De Fontaine was a big story killer for me. Not only because of the shockingly bad performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, but also because Marvel has done a pretty awful job at making the character be of any real consequence to its universe. Valentina is no Nick Fury, hell she isn’t even an Amanda Waller and the attempts to make the character some grand puppet master were pretty shallow. 2) Character development wise, it was nice to see a different emotional angle on these “heroes,” but even their arcs in this story weren’t exceptionally fleshed out. It didn’t get much farther than, “I’m sad, but being a hero will make it better.” It’s not exactly deep, better than most lately, but still wanting. 3) Though brief, some of the special effects in the battle with Sentry weren’t the best. 4) Marvel doesn’t seem to know what to do with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and it shows. I mentioned in my last Marvel review that I was excited to get more of his character and while we did, it wasn’t particularly substantial. Bucky has been relegated to the wings of what is happening and I’m not sure why it needs to be that way. It feels like raw talent being wasted.

Riot’s Rating: 8.4/10: Don’t let my complaints keep you from watching. It’s a fairly rounded, pretty hilarious, and mostly self-contained little adventure that’s worth seeing. Thunderbolts* is some of the best Marvel we have had access to in a while.

Bonus Content: Riot’s Rants

I’ve said before that I am not a comic purist and I do my best to respect creative licensing (my weak spot obviously being anything to do with The Hulk). But I can’t help but get a little caught up/frustrated with the way the story played out versus how they are running the marketing for the film. The writers/creators took a big step away from the comic version of the Thunderbolts, opting to keep the name but add a little suspicious asterisk that had online communities buzzing about why. It seemed like an attempt to thumb their noses a little at DC, making their version of Suicide Squad, just better. I had no issues with this. And considering Marvel kind of memory holed Baron Zemo as well as s*** the bed with General Ross, I wasn’t surprised they wanted to take a different angle.

The film’s big reveal (and I don’t consider this a spoiler because Marvel spoiled it themselves) that this ragtag team was actually The New Avengers was where they lost me. First of all, I’m pretty sure only Sentry and Bucky have ever been part of The New Avengers. Second, I don’t see at all why or how the name change would have any relevance to where they are taking this story. The reactions across the board seem pretty blasé and the more I dig online, the less I understand about why they made this choice. Admittedly, I’ve been away from the comic world for a long time, maybe there’s something I’m missing. But the “change” and the amount of money/marketing getting thrown behind it so early after the film’s release seems like it was meant to be a bigger deal than it’s turning out to be (queue sad trombone sounds).

As a final thought, the post credits scene seemed like an incredible waste too. Their other “big reveal” felt like a nothing burger, especially considering that it’s directly tied to an opening preview. Disney/Marvel need to go back to the drawing board with their credits scenes. They’ve been lackluster for a while now.