REVIEW: Thunderbolts*

Ever since Star Lord and company discoed onto the scene in 2014, Marvel has basically been trying to chase the Guardians of the Galaxy high. And ever since we entered Disney+ era, that meant spray painting every project with a skittles color palette. And no situation couldn't be improved with a joke--any joke.

The premise of Marvel's newest film, Thunderbolts*, even bears some cursory resemblances to Gunn's film: it's an ensemble piece about former criminals trying to make good. But it winds up taking the opposite lessons from "Guardians" that movies like "Love and Thunder" tried to pilfer. And in the process, it actually becomes the first movie to successfully implement the Guardians of the Galaxy magic in a long time.

In a world that has moved on from the Avengers, six B-level heroes, many of whom have criminal history, are put in a position to take down a shared enemy. What begins as a non-aggression pact transforms into something else.

Beyond just a general understanding of character and growth, this film's greatest lesson from "Guardians" was how to balance tone. This is the closest thing the MCU has given us to noir film, both in terms of plot as well as the onscreen visuals. And yet, this film is still one of the funniest things to come from Marvel. And that humor arises very naturally, always justified by the characters and their situation. When four of these dum-dums start screaming "cucumber!" in rapt panic over and over, it feels neither intrusive nor base.

Our phase 1 veteran, Sebastian Stan, looks more than a little tired, but that only ends up working in his favor. He wears his hard-earned seniority well. Leave it to our resident Manchurian Candidate to become the steadying hand of the group.

Lewis Pullman is a welcome addition to both the Avengers specifically and the grander tradition of heroes. His chronic timidity opens up some variety and contrast in a genre fueled by action and conflict, and it's through the cultivation of his character that the film really proves it understands its own thesis: heroism has never been a matter of personal history or specific character traits.

Florence Pugh becomes our window into this world. Her disenchantment and altruism are in constant contest, even as her psyche bears the wears and scars of this long-running conflict. Pugh holds both of these things in her simultaneously and captains the moral arc of this story with something like grace.

Maybe there are no real secrets to this movie's success. It does what movies should do. Just as maybe there were no secrets to the MCU's derailment over the past few years. Some will look at that and cite it as proof of the genre's systematic banality or insipidness--just as they have ever since it took hold in the 21st century dialogue.

I disagree.

Superheroes form an important part of the cultural dialogue for what it means to be great. Ever since Heracles overcame his 12 labors, the masses have needed shared models for excellence and virtue. And it's here in movies like this with heroes like these that we draw this line between that which we'd call "super" and insecurity--those moments where we feel our least heroic. We will always need to bridge that divide, and we all need some shared language for describing when that mirror is reflecting honestly.

If there was a single secret to when a superhero movie is working, it's probably the one James Gunn himself handed us some years ago when he explained, "It has to do with the kind of stories that get to be told, and if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character. We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they're these incredible characters that we have in our hearts. And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring." I'm tempted to amend his prescription just a little. Thunderbolts* definitely courts nonsense, but because it never lets its eye off of character, it's anything but boring.

Whether or not this marks the healing of the larger MCU body remains unclear. Its passport will have to be renewed with each new offering. That's how it should be. Hollywood should never be complacent with these things, and we should never let them become so. But we can all take some reprieve knowing that the clock has reset for a moment.

For a moment.

--The Professor

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