As they so often do in Marvel Land, worlds collide in 鈥淭hunderbolts.鈥
But in this refreshingly earthbound iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the collision isn鈥檛 a matter of interplanetary strife. 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 has been touted as the unlikely meeting of two of the dominant forces in 21st century American movies: Marvel and A24.
This isn鈥檛 a co-production, but much of the creative team and many of the stars have ties to the indie studio. 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 is directed by Jake Schreier, who has directed many episodes of the A24 series 鈥淏eef,鈥 and was written by Joanna Calo (also a 鈥淏eef鈥 veteran) and Eric Pearson (a Marvel veteran). The connections go further: cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (鈥淎 Ghost Story,鈥 鈥淭he Green Knight鈥), editor Harry Yoon (鈥淢inari鈥) and a score by the band Son Lux (鈥淓verything Everywhere All At Once鈥).
Some trailers for 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 have highlighted these connections, perhaps in hopes of a little A24 auteur cool rubbing off on Hollywood鈥檚 superhero factory. It鈥檚 also a sign of how rough things have gotten for Marvel that, after a string of misfires, it鈥檚 leaning on the studio behind for its latest would-be blockbuster.
Does that make 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 a hipper superhero movie? Can you expect scenes of Black Widow drinking a glass of milk? The answer, of course, is that 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 has no more indie cred than 鈥淎vatar.鈥 What it is, though, is the best Marvel movie in years.
鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 about a group of MCU rejects who band together after CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine ( ) tries to erase them and their covert program, is both a return to form for Marvel and something a little different. While there鈥檚 plenty of franchise building going on, 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 鈥 the title of which bears an asterisk 鈥 is pleasantly stand-alone, and its spurts of spectacle more deftly proceed out of an tenderly told story.
If there鈥檚 an influence on 鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 it鈥檚 less A24 than . It borrows a little of the misfit irreverence of 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy鈥 and But Schreier鈥檚 film is leaner and less antic than those movies, and it serves as an IMAX-sized platform for the increasingly obvious movie-star talents of .
In the opening moments of 鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 Pugh’s Yelena Belova, a veteran of the Soviet assassin Black Widow program, melancholily stands atop a skyscraper. 鈥淭here’s something wrong with me,鈥 she says. 鈥淎n emptiness.鈥 She drops, a parachute opens, and her narration continues. 鈥淥r maybe I’m just bored.鈥
It’s a telling opening for a film that wrestles sometimes earnestly, sometimes a little glibly, with malaise and depression. Yelena is searching for meaning in her life, dragged down by guilt and shame from her past, a pain that even her relentlessly chipper father Alexei, the self-proclaimed Red Guardian (David Harbour, magnificent), can’t quell. When Yelena, on a mission, brutalizes a hallway full of armed guards 鈥 a shot that, as I critic, am contractually obligated to note is styled after the famous one from 鈥淥ldboy鈥 鈥 Schreier films it from overhead in a shadowy ballet.
Shadows and death drape 鈥淭hunderbolts.鈥 When Yelena is dispatched on what she says will be her last job, she’s surprised to encounter others like her 鈥 include the disgraced John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and the fight-mimicking Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) 鈥 sent to the same location. After some initial tussling, they realize they 鈥 like the protagonists of 鈥淭oy Story 3鈥 鈥 are standing inside of an incinerator. Adding to the confusion of their predicament is a guy with no apparent powers who simply introduces himself as 鈥淏ob鈥 (Lewis Pullman, bringing a sensitivity rarely found in these movies).
They aren’t quite a bizarro Avengers, but they 鈥 including Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, who joins later 鈥 are all the products of dubious government programs that instill less patriotism than their more plainly heroic counterparts. As a group, they’re plagued by doubt and uncertainty, and they’re more inclined to bicker than give rousing speeches. And whenever anyone brushes too closely with Bob, they drift back into the darkest chapters of their own pasts that pull them like a deadweight toward suicidal thoughts.
Who, exactly, Bob turns out to be furthers this theme in 鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 which never feels like it’s lurching from one action set piece to another. That the final act of the movie is essentially set in a headspace, rather than above a threatened metropolis, is a testament to the interiority (not a word that often comes up in Marvel movies) of 鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 a film that finds vivid comic-book imagery to render authentic real-life emotions.
That’s always been the promise of a good comic book, but it’s fair to say that the Marvel movies have recently found that tone elusive. When Louis-Dreyfus, looking just as home in Washington, D.C., as she was in 鈥淰eep,鈥 as De Fontaine declares, 鈥淭he Avengers are not walking through that door,鈥 it’s an acknowledgment 鈥 like then-Celtics coach Rick Pitino once vowed of Larry Bird 鈥 that 鈥淭hunderbolts鈥 is here to make the most of what it’s got. Of course, that there are, in fact, more 鈥淎vengers鈥 films on the way slightly diminishes the sentiment.
But they won’t be missed in 鈥淭hunderbolts.鈥 All the assembled parts here, including an especially high-quality cast (even Wendell Pierce!) work together seamlessly in a way that Marvel hasn’t in some time. Most of all, Pugh commands every bit of the movie. It’s less a revelation than a big-budget confirmation of the screen power of an actor who also has gone from A24 (鈥淢idsommar鈥) to Marvel stardom with ease.
鈥淭hunderbolts,鈥 a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated by the Motion Picture Association for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references. Running time: 126 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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