‘Thunderbolts*’ Review: A New Team Led by Florence Pugh

‘Thunderbolts*’ is one of the best Marvel movies that I’ve seen in a long time. Now you may be wondering, “What’s with the name and why is there an asterisk?” Well, the name is taken from a certain character’s youth soccer team, and the asterisk (*)…you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out!

The film opens with Yelena (Florence Pugh) jumping off the second tallest building in the world, the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, as she recounts how bored and lonely she feels while on a cleanup mission assigned by CIA director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

Meanwhile, Congressman Gary (Wendell Pierce) has Valentina on the hot seat. She is being questioned during congressional hearings for the CIA’s scientific program that led to test subjects dying at OXE labs all over the world.

Yelena’s last assignment is to destroy any evidence that may incriminate Valentina at an underground OXE facility. When she arrives, she discovers Ant-Man and the Wasp’s Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Black Widow’s Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and John Walker (Wyatt Russell from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). They soon realize that they’ve been set up by Valentina.

It’s while trying to escape the lab that they run into Bob (Lewis Pullman) a mystery man of sorts in hospital scrubs. How did he get there? Is he a patient or a lab employee? We won’t discover the truth until later in the movie.

Eventually the group meets up with Alexei Shostakov (aka Red Guardian played by David Harbour) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). These last two antiheroes complete the rag-tag team of underdogs.

In ‘Thunderbolts*’ Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes—Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?

Throughout the movie, the characters encounter painful memories from their past. However, it’s Bob who suffers the most due to his mental instability and experimental testing at the lab.

The movie digs deep and explores mental health themes as the antiheroes talk about their past traumas, depression, and loneliness. There’s a scene towards the end of the movie that I won’t spoil, but it packs an emotional punch. You may want to bring tissues!

Overall, the movie is very entertaining. Florence Pugh is incredible in the film and Lewis Pullman gives a nuanced performance. Come for the high-octane action and definitely stay for the post-credit scenes!

‘Thunderbolts*’ opens in theaters on Friday, May 2nd!
‘Thunderbolts*’ is rated PG-13.
Visit the official website here for more information.

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. This blog post is for informational purposes. I attended an advanced screening of the movie which helped facilitate this write-up. Images shown in this post are used with permission. As always, my opinions are 100% my own.