Drama, humour and thrills as Florence Pugh’s Thunderbolts gets Marvel out of a rut
Our reviewer has been to see Thunderbolts* at The Light in Wisbech. See his thoughts here…
Thunderbolts* (12A) - seen at The Light, Wisbech
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour and Julia Louis-Dreyfus Director: Jake Schreier Run time: Two hours, seven minutes
Marvel has been in a bit of a muddle in recent years, with each new film seemingly losing fans and gaining detractors.
However, reviews for this film have been encouraging, with many hailing Florence Pugh as the saviour of the franchise.
Well, she's certainly the star turn of this likeable movie as troubled Yelena Belova, but then, in my eyes, she always is. The English actress has the ability to make even the dullest scripts come to life, and Thunderbolts is far from dull.
Just like Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man before them, The MCU has turned to comic B-listers to reignite public interest and once again they've, more or less, pulled it off.
The Thunderbolts are a ragtag crew of has-beens and misfits who wear their troubled lives on their sleeves rather than superhero costumes.
But when FBI chief Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) faces impeachment and needs to destroy all evidence of her shady experiments, that includes those doing her dirty work, and she pits them against each other with the expectation they will wipe each other out.
But they side together and form the Thunderbolts, named after Pugh's childhood football team (which lost every game and fielded a player who pooed on the pitch!).
So what brings them together? Bob does. Bob (Lewis Pullman) is a former drug addict and human guinea pig filled with all sorts of powers by de Fontaine who wakes up in the chamber where the Thunderbolts are meant to die and uses his new powers to help them escape.
And it's the quest for revenge against de Fontaine and to rescue Bob that binds our heroes.
Pugh, as said, is wonderful and even pulls off the east European accent. David Harbour is also great fun as former Russian super hero Alexei Shostakov (The Red Guardian) and Pullman is suitably downbeat as Bob - but Wyatt Russell as failed Captain America John Walker, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes and Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starralthough, are integral to the plot but don't stand out.
That Marvel has tuned into the world's mental health epidemic is, however, not subtle. Characters do not portray their angst through mood or feelings.... they constantly say how bad they feel. And when de Fontaine becomes the least of their worries and they have to save the world from The Void, we are shown rooms where their agonies lie.
All in all, it's a good, fun watch, though. A decent mix of drama, humour and thrills. And the asterisk after Thunderbolts? It’s for New Avengers… although they probably won’t be.
And, be warned, there's a short scene in the middle of the credits and a longer one at the end. So stay put!
By Jeremy Ransome
Rating: 7/10
