TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 of 2025 (No. 2027) by Leroy Douresseaux
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPA – PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references
DIRECTOR: Jake Schreier
WRITERS: Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo (based upon the Marvel Comics)
PRODUCER: Kevin Feige
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Droz Palermo (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Angela M. Catanzaro and Harry Yoon
COMPOSER: Son Lux (Ryan Lott, Rafiq Bhatia, Ian Chang)
SUPERHERO/FANTASY/ACTION and DRAMA
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Olga Kurylenko, and Wendell Pierce
SUMMARY OF REVIEW:
--Thunderbolts* is very entertaining. It fights a lot and talks a lot.
--The film's main character is really Yelena Belova. It would have been a better film with Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier as the lead, but Florence Pugh is quite good as Yelena
--Entertainment value aside, Thunderbolts* is Marvel Studios' least interesting team movie
Thunderbolts* is a 2025 American superhero fantasy film and action movie directed by Jake Schreier and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film features Marvel Comics' “Thunderbolts,” an antihero and super-villain superhero team created by writer Kurt Busiek and artist Mark Bagley that first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #449 (cover dated: January 1997). Thunderbolts* the movie focuses on an unconventional team of antiheroes that takes on a conniving CIA official and a dangerous super-being while confronting their own dark pasts.
Thunderbolts* opens in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) destroys an O.X.E. Group laboratory on behalf of CIA director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Valentina is facing a Congressional committee that wants to impeach her in order to have her removed as CIA director, so she is having to conceal all her illicit programs. One of those programs in need of concealment is the O.X.E. Group's “Sentry” project, which involves experimentation on humans in order to develop a superhuman.
Valentina dispatches Yelena to a remote O.X.E. facility on a mission to destroy sensitive materials. After entering the facility, however, Yelena discovers that she is not alone. John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are also there, under the pretense of a mission. The real reason all of them are in the facility is so that Valentina can have them and any incriminating evidence against her be destroyed simultaneously. Another of this mission's surprises is the sudden appearance of a mysterious man named “Bob” (Lewis Pullman).
Now, Yelena and this bunch of reprobates embark on mission to punish Valentina, and they are joined by Yelena's father, Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). They gather in New York City for a showdown, but there are wildcards. Who is “Sentry?” And what is “Void?”
Thunderbolts* is like a sequel, of sorts, to the 2021 Marvel Studios film, Black Widow. It also references such previous Marvel Studios films as Marvel's The Avengers (2012) and the recent Captain America: Brave New World (2025), and also the Disney+ television series, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (2021), to name a few.
At the center of Thunderbolts* is Yelena Belova, and the good thing is that the actress playing the character, Florence Pugh, is quite good. Pugh gives Yelena gravitas, and I find myself believing almost everything about the character. That said I would have preferred Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes a.k.a. “The Winter Soldier” as the “magnetic center” of Thunderbolts*, but I guess the character has already had plenty of time to showcase himself in previous Marvel Studios productions.
Beyond those two characters, I found myself bored with Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina, although I am a long time fan of Louis-Dreyfus because of her role in the former NBC sitcom, “Seinfeld.” I like actor David Harbour as “Red Guardian,” but the character is a bit overwrought, while Hannah John-Kamen is overly wasted as “Ghost.” Geraldine Viswanathan is very nice in the supporting role of Mel, Valentina's assistant. Lewis Pullman, who seems very skilled at creating a new personality for each acting role he takes on, is very, very good as “Bob.” Marvel Studios would do well not to waste the potential of what Pullman can bring to the MCU.
All that said, Thunderbolts* is my least favorite MCU team movie. Don't get me wrong. It is a very entertaining film because director Jake Schreier makes the most of an offbeat screenplay and of the work of the film editors, cinematographers, and other collaborators. The result is that they deliver a movie that is surprisingly humorous and is often laugh-out-loud funny.
I don't buy all the depression and battling-personal-demons melodrama of the film's story. It is often overdone, contrived, and tedious enough to drag down the moments when that does feel genuine. There is enough enjoyment in Thunderbolts* to make me give it a relatively high rating. If this movie were made by most other film studios, however, I would give it a lower rating.
[Thunderbolts* has an extra scene in the middle of the credits and one at the end of the credits.]
7 of 10
B+
★★★½ out of 4 stars
Friday, May 9, 2025
THUNDERBOLTS* is currently available in various DVD and Blu-ray format at Amazon.
The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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