Her character has no superpowers, but Florence Pugh is meta-human. Proof? She has survived acting opposite Timothée Chalamet twice and being directed as a woman by Christopher Nolan. Much will be made of how Thunderbolts* is some measure of a “return to form” for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) when it is simply further evidence that there is nothing that Pugh can’t improve. Make her the new National Security Advisor just to see what happens.
For the third time, Pugh returns as Yelena Belova, a name only a few choice syllables away from a “Bond girl” nomenclature. Her first appearance was in the somewhat-unfairly maligned Black Widow. The fairly maligned parts were all of the ones she wasn’t in. Her second appearance was in the Hawkeye TV show where she was funnier in like 30 minutes than anything James Gunn did with his almost seven hours of guarding the galaxy.
In Thunderbolts*, Yelena becomes the most fully-realized, relatable, three-dimensional character in the entire MCU by sheer force of Pugh’s will. After the death of her sister, Yelena has been in a murdery fugue state. She does black ops for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the CIA director and owner of an evil company experimenting on human beings. When Yelena isn’t doing government-sanctioned killings, she’s drinking heavily and sucked into her smartphone. See, relatable!
When de Fontaine comes under congressional scrutiny, she tries to get all of her covert agents to kill each other to cover her tracks. She dispatches the one-time Captain America replacement John Walker (Wyatt Russell) to a vault filled with evil secrets to kill Yelena. Yelena is there to stop Ava “Ghost” Starr, who is there to take out Taskmaster (Antonia Dreykov). They’re all actually there to get incinerated by de Fontaine but avoid thanks, in part, to Bob (Lewis Pullman).
Bob just kinda shows up in the vault, explains that he was medically experimented on, and then proceeds to act very weird. Meanwhile, Bucky “The Winter Soldier” (Sebastian Shaw) is now a congressman trying to impeach de Fontaine, and Alexei “Red Guardian” Shostakov (David Harbour), Yelena’s papa, is trying to worm his way into de Fontaine’s crew, thinking she’s on the good side. If you’re thinking this ragtag bunch finds a way to form something less like a team and more like a family, congratulations on having read a comic book at least once.
The Marvel Machine is unrelenting. It is less like an interconnected series of stories and more like a communal obligation we’ve all agreed to. Some, like myself, more willingly than others. When the machine is humming along, it can be a delightful example of what technological advances and carnival-like spectacles can be in this unique artistic medium. When it is not humming along, it burps out Captain America: Brave New World.
Thunderbolts* isn’t a top-tier Marvel Machine output, but it is closer to the highest shelf than anything produced in the last several years. The reason is Florence Pugh, but the secondary reason is that the studio didn’t insist on a world-saving finale, didn’t rely on one-liners alone for comedy, and let things get at least a little weird. It could be weirder. Weirder would have made this top-tier. Florence Pugh + weird + Marvel = World peace.
Even though the end does, insufferably and inevitably, only further serve to push towards the next link in the MCU chain, the bulk of the film feels more irreverent than essential. In an ideal world, these superhero sagas skew less serious and more into being creative circuses with much-needed morals like “hey, be nice” and “maybe try to care about people.” If they can do that and let Florence Pugh cartwheel kick thugs in the face, maybe America will turn out okay after all.
Grade = B+
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Murjani Rawls at Substream Magazine says “Where Thunderbolts* succeeds is tapping into the endless abyss of depression and taking the stance that superheroes can experience it, too.”
Brandon Lewis at When Things Go Pop says “If Thunderbolts had followed the first half’s path, it would be another decent but unremarkable entry in the MCU. The second half, however, blows the roof off the whole franchise, with a collection of audacious swings that rewrite what audiences will think of the MCU’s storytelling capabilities.”
Susan Kamyab at The Alliance of Women Film Journalists says “While this is not on par with previous Marvel gems, there’s still room to get there. Thankfully, Thunderbolts* succeeds in doing what Suicide Squad couldn’t, making moviegoers care about a group of powerful outsiders, and create an intriguing backstory that will leave you curious to know more.”