** No, not me.
A One Mann’s Movies review of “Thunderbolts*” (2025).
Another Marvel release… yawn. But wait. No, actually, “Thunderbolts*” turned out to be a good one! Thanos be praised!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“Thunderbolts*” Plot:
Still reeling from the death of her sister (Natasha Romanoff – Scarlett Johannson – in “Avengers: Endgame“), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) is still working for the manipulative CIA boss Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). But her life seems hollow and worthless and she is desperate for more of a purpose in life. Fontaine (sorry, DE Fontaine) is being challenged with impeachment and Yelena finds herself thrown together in an unlikely alliance with a bunch of other Valentina misfits in a battle against a deadly and mentally unstable foe.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Moderate violence, threat, language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce.
Directed by: Jake Schreier.
Written by: Eric Pearson & Joanna Calo. (Based on a story by Eric Pearson.)
Running Time: 2h 6m.
“Thunderbolts*” Summary:
Positives:
- A superbly engaging story that perfectly balanced action and comedy.
- Florence Pugh is absolutely phenomenal.
- The ‘asterisk reveal’ is very funny.
- Who doesn’t love a major Marvel character called Bob?!
- The music is terrific.
Negatives:
- The film slightly sags in the middle reel, but its a minor quibble.
Review of “Thunderbolts*”:
An inviting premise through a clever trailer.
I’m normally the first person to moan like hell about a terrible spoilery trailer. But the one for “Thunderbolts*” (well, at least the UK one that I’ve appended below) was actually really good. It pulled off the neat trick of not spoiling any of the film’s surprises, of being inviting to both Marvel and – crucially – non-Marvel fans (both the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man and the Saintly Sarah Shaw of this Parish expressed an interest in seeing it) and it deployed an extremely clever mix of “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship. And, unlike the recent “The Amateur“, the film delivered on the promise of its trailer.
A refreshing new direction.
After an inordinately long dry patch, Marvel have finally found a recipe that works for them. After the whole Kang/Jonathan Majors implosion and a series of fairly lacklustre offerings (ending with the rather poor Captain America: Brave New World just a few weeks ago) I wondered whether my 4+ stars logo would ever come out again for a Marvel film. But this one is terrific.
The director Jake Schreier’s first films was one of the first films I ever reviewed on One Mann’s Movies (“Robot and Frank” – no, don’t click on the link… it’s too embarrassing!). But he has since done mostly music videos and TV shows, including “Beef” and “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”. But here he shows a deft hand at mixing the standout action scenes with the comedic elements to create a result that both thrills, entertains and makes you laugh at the same time. One of the highspots (literally) is how the motley crew ascend a seemingly unscalable ventilation shaft, with constant bickering and a not particularly well-thought-through plan!
The action scenes are also highly dynamic and exciting. An early showdown betwen Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) is brilliantly done and delivers surprises.
The film also edges towards horror in some places with its depiction of “the void”. If hell really did exist, then perhaps this is it… reliving your worst ever moment in your life over and over and over again. In other scenes, some of the ‘deaths’ meted out (I’m thinking of a small person here) are quite brutal.
The cast is great. But Pugh is MAGNIFICENT.
It’s a core set of cast members that I would personally nominate for one of the SAG “Ensemble Cast awards”: they work together really well. “Old Santa” Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) provides comic relief from the ‘team’ side and Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) is naturally funny as Valentina’s clever, but conflicted, right-hand woman. Also a real standout was Lewis Pullman playing Bob. Now if, like me, you were trying to work out where you knew him from, Pullman played one of the pilots in “Top Gun: Maverick” where he was called – yes – Bob. I mean, if you’re going to get typecast, why not it be through playing characters called Bob?!
But riding high over all of this supporting cast is Florence Pugh. Now, I fully admit I’m a real fan of Pugh: I think she’s great in just about everything she does. But her screen presence here is simply magnificent. I just loved every minute of her performance, starting with her ballsy decision to actually step off the edge of the second highest building in the world (the actual base jump was done by a trained stunt woman… so she’s not quite Tom Cruise, but still…. ). Her acrobatic run in ‘the void’ is also a thing of beauty. 10/10.
What’s with the asterisk?
The asterisk in the title was a clever marketing ploy indeed. It inspired a whole heap of speculation as to what it meant. And what it meant, it transpires, was that this was a mere ‘holding title’ for the film. The real title of the film was not revealed until the end. Now – in rather undue haste I believe – the studio has already rebranded the film with its new title. I won’t be so crass here as I would wish to maintain the mystery for those who are late to the game with this one. But it was a good wheeze, even though it did suddenly whisk me back to the mid-70s unexpectedly to relive a moment of teenage lusting with one Ms Lumley! .
A banging soundtrack.
Also worthy of note is the soundtrack by Son Lux – a trio comprising Ian Chang, Ryan Lott and Rafiq Bhatia. It’s one that will be finding its way onto my Spotify list forthwith.
Monkeys
It’s Marvel, so of course there are “monkeys“. A mid-credit one concerning breakfast cereal is pretty funny. And a closing one after the end credits skips forwards a few months to find the team struggling with branding while earth receives a new arrival with a familiar logo.
Summary Thoughts on “Thunderbolts*”
This is a terrific popcorn film and, for once, a Marvel film I enjoyed immensely. I urge you to try to see it on the big screen, where it is genuinely impressive.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
At the time of writing, the film is not available on the “Justwatch” database.
Trailer for “Thunderbolts*”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUszE29jS0.
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