Shadows on the Wall | Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts*

dir Jake Schreier
prd Kevin Feige
scr Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo
with Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce, Chris Bauer, Violet McGraw
release US/UK 2.May.25
25/US Marvel 2h06

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While it connects to Marvel movies past and future, this one works best as a standalone adventure featuring a bunch of very messy characters. The script is funny and introspective, making pointed political comments in cleverly subtle ways. And the straightforward narrative is thoroughly gripping, even as it spirals into something wildly fantastical. Best of all, it remains resolutely character-based even when digital effects threaten to take over.

Frustrated by her grim work in CIA black-ops, Yelena (Pugh) asks her boss Valentina (Louis-Dreyfus) for a good-guy job instead. But Yelena is being investigated by Congressman Gary (Pierce), and needs to destroy incriminating evidence, including Yelena and other dark agents like Captain America reject John (Russell), phase-suited Ava (John-Kamen) and killer Antonia (Kurylenko). So she sends them to kill each other. When they discover this, they team up instead, rescuing the mysterious Bob (Pullman) and joining Yelena's father Alexei (Harbour) and Winter Soldier Bucky (Stan) to take on Valentina. But she knows Bob's secret.

Most of this is told through Yelena's perspective, which gives the audience a point of connection that's rare in a Marvel movie. It helps that Pugh is such an engaging, deeply nuanced actor who brings the character and her internal struggles to vivid life. We experience her frustration about being someone she never wanted to be, feeling unable to break the routine and thinking she'll be alone forever. So even if these new cohorts are complete losers, they're the first cohorts she's ever had.

Alongside this terrific narrative is the usual Marvel nonsense about a threat to humanity and fight scenes that rely far more on digital trickery than practical stuntwork. The superb Pullman has the plot-based role as a naive guy who doesn't know his own power, so watching him grapple with his dark side is properly grim. Stan is a superbly conflicted anti-hero, while Louis-Dreyfus gleefully leans into Valeria's opportunistic villainy, Harbour and Russell provide a constant stream of laughs, and John-Kamen is marvellously tetchy.

This mix of characters, comedy and intensity is carefully balanced by director Schreier, who continuously emphasises human elements in the story rather than the supernatural. But even then, there is an emotional tone to the mayhem, which is especially strong in a sequence that echoes Everything Everywhere All at Once. On its own, this is an involving journey for a group of outcasts. The question is whether discovering a new joint purpose will banish their personal troubles. That's unlikely. But we'll find out soon enough.

themes, language, violence 1.May.25

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