Critics say Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*’ just might rescue the studio from its superhero slump

“Thunderbolts*” is the latest addition to the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe, and critics are calling it a step in the right direction.

The movie is directed by Jake Schreier and centers on a group of antiheroes who previously appeared as supporting characters in past Marvel projects: Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).

After CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) lures several of them into a trap to destroy evidence that could lead to her impeachment, they escape and embark on a mission to save the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman), a man whose inner demons get amplified by an experimental lab procedure.

It’s no secret that Marvel Studios has struggled to consistently deliver quality movies since the Infinity Saga concluded with the 2019 ensemble film “Avengers: Endgame.”

Recent years have produced a mix of critical flops (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania“) alongside some successes (“Deadpool & Wolverine“) that have given fans hope that the studio conglomerate might be able to overcome its superhero slump.

Critics say that “Thunderbolts*” falls into the latter category.

At the time of publication, the film has a critics score of 88% based on 212 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the highest-rated MCU films of the 36 released so far.

Here’s what critics are saying about “Thunderbolts*.”

One of the movie’s biggest strengths is ditching typical superhero spectacle for a more grounded, emotional story.

“It’s a film about its characters, not about its universe, and it’s more concerned with the protagonists’ lives and what their actions mean than about sequel set-ups and cameos.” — William Bibbiani, TheWrap

“It also pulls back on the massive visual effects extravaganzas the Marvel movies have turned into, instead using Hollywood magic when it narratively makes the most sense and embracing a more traditional action-movie feel with characters who ‘punch and shoot’ a lot.” — Brian Truitt, USA Today

“It’s a team-up superhero movie that’s ballsy enough to set aside the usual labyrinthine weave of subplots and dig into mental health, childhood trauma and domestic abuse — and do it with feeling.” — Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

“‘Thunderbolts*’ always feels like an intimate story about a real person, even as it inches the gargantuan Marvel Cinematic Universe toward its next series of massive crossover films.” — Matt Singer, ScreenCrush

“That the final act of the movie is essentially set in a headspace, rather than above a threatened metropolis, is a testament to the interiority (not a word that often comes up in Marvel movies) of ‘Thunderbolts*,’ a film that finds vivid comic-book imagery to render authentic real-life emotions.” — Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

Florence Pugh is the standout star and glue of the film.

“Pugh, in particular, gives the movie an emotional tangibility that makes it feel realms more solid than the last few years of Marvel product.” — Alison Willmore, Vulture

“She’s a superhero performer, easily navigating the tricky balance between cheeky Marvel-brand humour and genuine pathos.” — Radheyan Simonpillai, The Guardian

“Perfectly balancing guilt and ennui without ever being too cute about it, the ‘Black Widow’ alum becomes the nucleus of the ensemble comedy that forms around her, none of which would work if Yelena didn’t so credibly appeal to the better angels of the people around her.” — David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“She’s utterly natural in a story of wholly unnatural things, a rare and difficult feat. The film has given her an actual emotional arc to play, and she finds interesting variations within it.” — Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

“It’s not just Pugh’s screen presence, her sense of commitment or her penchant for making weapons-grade snark work, but her determination to mine mother lodes of psychological and emotional turmoil that gets you invested in this rollicking blockbuster past the usual franchise box-ticking.” — David Fear, Rolling Stone

MCU newcomer Lewis Pullman deftly plays the complicated facets of his character Bob, who’s at the center of the film’s narrative about mental health.

“Pullman is also excellent, finding complex notes in a role that could have just been CGI-enhanced gobbledygook.” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Beautifully played by Pullman as a sweet-natured, broken man struggling to outrun his troubled past, Bob is a complex figure through which the movie explores mental instability and the fight between light and darkness.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“Bob is a character with several sides to him, and Pullman knocks every one of them out of the park. Whether he’s timid and trying to stay out of the way or greedy with power, Pullman turns Bob into a beautifully well-rounded character that we care for regardless of what state he’s in.” — Ross Bonaime, Collider

But in a crowded cast, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr/Ghost doesn’t get much character development.

“Ghost remains more of a neat gimmick than an interesting character…” — Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Ghost is so woefully underwritten that John-Kamen can’t make much of an impact…” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Unfortunately, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost, while absolutely an improvement over where we last saw her in Ant-Man and the Wasp, doesn’t have much to do here. While the other characters have an opportunity to reckon with their darkness, Ghost is mostly relegated to pointing out details we already gleaned from her previous film.” — Ross Bonaime, Collider

The muted coloring aligns with the subject material, but the movie could benefit from punching up its tones.

“It’s also missing a bit of colour — literally, in the washed-out palette and CG shadow-threat that dominates the latter half of the film — and figuratively, in its subject matter.” — John Nugent, Empire

“Schreier’s drab aesthetics may be in tune with his villain but by not providing a vibrant visual contrast, the film doesn’t totally hit the highs it seeks.” — Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“At times, the drab filmmaking feels thematically resonant. But there are more visually creative ways to do it than the ones employed by the incredible cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (‘The Green Knight’), who falls victim to the paint-by-numbers approach to these films (and the only paint colors he has are brown and browner).” — Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Thunderbolts*” may be a small building block in the Multiverse Saga, but it’s still worth checking out.

“Although it’s hard to shake the sense that on a practical level this studio is just scraping the bottom of the barrel, desperately hoping their minor characters can be converted into headliners, they’ve done a damn good job of it.” — William Bibbiani, TheWrap

“‘Thunderbolts*’ by no means reinvents the superhero movie and its pacing isn’t as consistent as it could be. But at a time when Marvel fatigue has taken a bite out of more than one fizzled blockbuster, it’s a relief to watch a comic-book movie in which the smug wisecracking is dialed way down and the characters are given interior dimensions beyond their powers, including a certain emotional fragility.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“‘Thunderbolts*’ recaptures some of the magic of the early Marvel productions, when they felt like some alchemical phenomenon of corporate entertainment, and not just slop.” — Alison Willmore, Vulture

“‘Thunderbolts*’ is good. Not ‘single-handedly save the Marvel cinematic universe’ good, but enough to make those self-declared victims of ‘superhero fatigue’ reconsider that it might not be the genre itself that’s tapped out, but merely the focus on telling stories versus marketing future sequels and the sickly shimmer of nostalgia.” — Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent

The post Critics say Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*’ just might rescue the studio from its superhero slump appeared first on Business Insider.