Typical. Just when I'd given up on the Marvel movie franchise, it comes up with this. A fine, fun film.
Basically, it's business as usual as Thunderbolts* is a superhero movie with lots of fighting, impressive CGI and a two-hour-plus length (only just), but it's carried off with a tight script, plenty of humour, and a cast that gels.
Directed by Jake Schreier - probably best known for Netflix road rage drama Beef - it's the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
The ensemble cast includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Pugh and Dreyfus are obvious scene-stealers, but Lewis Pullman - son of actor Bill - does a fine job in the pivotal role of Bob. More of him in a mo.
Storywise, this is a tale of a group of antiheroes who get caught in a deadly trap and must work together in order to survive.
That's all down to Julia Louis-Dreyfus's devious CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who faces impeachment for various illegal activities.
As part of her plan to cover her tracks, she sends Pugh's Yelena Belova, John Walker (aka former Captain America), Ava Starr (aka Ghost), and Antonia Dreykov (aka Taskmaster) to a secret compound to battle each other.
The combatants eventually realise that they've been set up by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with evidence of her activities. They also discover a random civilain called Bob, who suddenly appears alongside them.
He's confused and defensive, but Belova and co take him under their wings - only to discover that he's a superpowered individual suffering from amnesia who is the ultimate creation of de Fontaine's human experiments.
Cue carnage.
As well as being great fun, Thunderbolts* has a major dark side, dealing with mental health issues. Bob's been through a lot and his dark sode wreaks havoc.
You don't have to have sat through the previous 100 hours of MCU movies to appreciate Thunderbolts*, but it probably helps in terms of context.
That in itself is a source of much relief.
Now, what's this about the Fantastic Four?
