Genre: Superhero
Premise: When a group of misfit semi-superheroes are betrayed by their boss, they band together to take her down, but in order to do so, must defeat her ultimate creation, a supervillain “more powerful than all of the Avengers combined.”
About: Thunderbolts, the latest offering from Marvel, came out this past weekend and earned 76 million dollars. Depending on who you talk to, this is considered either a decent or poor result. Thunderbolts was conceived during an era of Marvel making a Marvel movie (and show) for every subset of people. Not every film had to have super-wide appeal. Therefore, the movie is catered to the indie movie crowd (it actively promotes how many people from A24 films are on the Thunderbolts payroll). At the time, when Marvel could do no wrong, that sounded brilliant. These days, it sounds like a way to lose money.
Writers: Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo and Kurt Busiek
Details: about 2 hours long
As I’ve stated here already, I’ve been on the fence about whether to see this film. I was waiting for the reviews to come in and, even though I was hoping for a better RT score, I could tell that this wasn’t one of those disposable Marvel films that don’t have anything new to offer. At the very least, they were trying to do something new here.
The plot is surprisingly simple. Yelena, who is the sister of Black Widow, is in a dark place. She feels alone. She feels sad. She doesn’t have any purpose in life. She takes a job from Val, an evil politician obsessed with power, to assassinate a superhero known as “Ghost,” at a remote facility.
Yelena heads there to do the job but is accosted by former Captain American, John Walker. Then Taskmaster shows up to attack John Walker and everybody realizes that they’ve been sent here to kill each other so that Val can rid herself of all her dirty laundry (since everybody here has done sketchy deeds for her). They also realize that the room they’re in is a giant incinerator which is about to begin its incinerating in two minutes.
Complicating matters further is some dude who appears in a hospital smock named Bob. Nobody knows how he got here or who he is, including Bob! Fast-forward, the group breaks out and battles an awaiting army. They get separated from Bob. Val realizes Bob is the lone survivor of a failed project to turn humans into superheroes. She labels him “Sentry” and teaches him how to use his powers.
Meanwhile, a still despondent Yelena, who had a brief connection with Bob because they both felt the pits of depression so deeply, receives a visit from her father, The Red Guardian, who is thrilled to finally fight bad guys again. Along with Bucky and the rest of the crew, they gear up to take down Val. But in order to do so, they’ll have to defeat her own guardian, a newly all-powerful Sentry, who is stronger than all of the Avengers combined.
Thunderbolts is the most character-driven Marvel movie ever made. If you understand that going in, you have a better chance of enjoying this movie than if you don’t. Because if you’re coming for a superhero action movie, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. There’s a 20 minute set piece in this film of people trying to get out of a room. That’s the level of set pieces you’re going to get here.
So, did I like it?
Let me start by saying this. I now understand why they cast Florence Pugh in the lead. It’s because she’s a great actress. When your movie is dependent on the characters over the action, you better have good actors. And Florence Pugh is as good as they come. She’s such a star. She’s got that inexplicable quality where you can’t look away from her whenever she’s onscreen. She’s what makes this movie watchable. If you would’ve cast Scarlett Johansson in this role, it would’ve been considerably worse.
And they did something really daring here. They made a movie about depression, which is on-brand for the “Beef” team. This is a HEAVY movie. And I’m not convinced it works. Superheroes and depression… that’s something you can maybe explore on a TV show. But a movie? A superhero movie is supposed to be a good time.
I suppose the counterpoint to that would be, “Everybody says they want superhero movies that are different. They’re doing something different!” True. But that doesn’t mean it will work.
Truth be told, I thought the first two acts of this movie were strong. The characters were a lot more interesting than I thought they would be. The chemistry within the group was better than any Marvel movie I’ve seen since the Avengers films. And the writing was strong.
One of the most clever things that they did was introduce Bob (who becomes the villain) WITH the rest of Thunderbolts. They all get caught in this room together and Bob happens to be there. This allowed us to get to know Bob ALONG with our heroes, which prevented the writers from having to do what every other Marvel movie does, which is build this separate origin storyline for the villain.
When you do that, you’re cutting away, which means you’re breaking up the momentum of your main storyline. It’s time consuming and, essentially, visual exposition, to set up your villain, all so you can have a point to the story (for the good guys to have someone to beat). But here, we meet them together, which keeps the narrative simple. And, also, it allows Bob to develop a bond with the Thunderbolts, which creates a more emotional encounter later on, when they duke it out. As a result, he’s one of the stronger villains in the Marvel Universe, especially in the most recent movies.
My big issue with Thunderbolts was its third act. It fell apart. And I’m trying to figure out if behind-the-scenes shenanigans were responsible. On the one hand, this movie was trying to be different. So the choice to embed the climax in a bunch of dream sequences would make sense. It’s certainly more original than yet another superhero showdown in the middle of a city.
On the other hand, I get the impression that they ran out of money. Or this movie was in production during a major Marvel bomb, possibly The Marvels. And they freaked out and cut the budget significantly, which is why we got this weak ending.
And look, if I were in that room for the pitch about the third act, I could see myself buying into it. Cause the pitch is kinda compelling. Everybody has these thought loops where we get sucked into our dark thoughts or dark memories and we play them over and over in our brains. Pearson and director Schreier posed the idea, “what if we visually went into those loops?” And it’s like, sure, that sounds cool. But, in the end, you have to know your audience. This is a Marvel movie. People want a final act that’s big and fun.
I commend Thunderbolts for trying to do something different. I thought the writing was noticeably better than the more recent Marvel efforts, especially when it came to the characters. I just don’t know if you can make a Marvel movie about depression. It doesn’t quite fit the brand. But, look, if you want to see 2 solid acts of a unique Marvel movie, check it out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
[ ] What the hell did I just watch?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the price of admission
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: You should always look for ways to consolidate your script. You can combine scenes. You can combine characters. And you can get creative, like Thunderbolts, by introducing your villain (Bob) along with your heroes. That’s going to prevent you from having to write 3-4 additional scenes setting Bob up separately, which is going to save you 6-10 pages.
