It’s safe to say that I am not really a super fan of superhero movies. I struggle to tell the difference between Marvel or DC franchises and the interlinked storylines leave me scratching my head in confusion.
THUNDERBOLTS was a great surprise as I loved the characters, action and heart that made this film rise above the recent offerings such as Deadpool and Wolverine and Captain America: Brave New World.
I may have been biased when entering the cinema as Florence Pugh is one of my favourite actresses, but I soon found out she was ably supported by a wide range of great character actors.
Julia Louis Dreyfus plays Florence’s boss and David Harbour her father and both are great. Pugh is Yelena, one of the “Black Widows” and sister to Natasha Romanott (Scarlett Johanson). She has had enough of being a “cleaner” and wants a more sedate role behind the scenes. Her boss agrees under the condition she completes one final mission.
Things do go haywire which leads to the band of anti-heroes getting together to fight the betrayer in their midst. These “Thunderbolts” include a once Captain America, Ghost, and the Winter Solider who help Yelena in her quest for revenge.
THUNDERBOLTS is very funny, and the members of the crew have great chemistry, aided by some wonderful one liners and comebacks. The “baddies” are properly dastardly and evil, and you really want them to get what’s coming them.
The action scenes are well stayed and feel original which is hard to achieve these days. The characters are well drawn, although I would have liked a bit more back story to fill their motivations more roundly. If they did this, I suppose the action would have dragged and the movie would have been too long.
It is great to see an ensemble piece where the band of thunderbolts are deeply flawed, but at the same time relatable and importantly for this genre, heroic.
It was interesting as a week after the release, they called it (The New Avengers).
More like this please superhero producers and you will at least gain one more “Superfan”.