Thunderbolts

After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes, called Thunderbolts, must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

Introduction

Thunderbolts was all everyone was talking about when it came out, but I wasn’t going to squeeze through the crowds of people lining up to see it. Sooner or later it was going to be available on a streaming platform, and lo and behold, Disney+ released it recently. Me not riding the hype train was the right choice, why? Let’s talk about it. Thunderbolts was directed by Jake Schreier.

“Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker — embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.”

Characters

I wanted to watch this mainly because of Florence Pugh (as Yelena Belova), loved her in Midsommar (2019) and she was great in this as well. Though her accent would sometimes feel off, it doesn’t make her performance any less great.

David Harbour (as Alexei Shostakov) was awesome. He probably had the best perforamance in the movie. His accent was also on point and never faltered.

Aside from Bucky, all the other (anti)heroes were forgettable unfortunately.

Right off the Bat

It was hard to have a connection with the other characters because of how instantaneous everything was happening. Belova and Bucky’s characters was more relatable because of how much we know about their past, but the other heroes were thrown in the mix out of nowhere and we have no clue who they were.

Great Antagonist Concept

The build up was okay, right from the moment we see him, most of us already knew he’d play a major role.

Appearance and powers are unique and very memorable, although in a way, he reminds me of Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress in Suicide Squad (2016), not with appearance but with their relationship as a group.

Not Worth the Hype

Honestly, it wasn’t worth the hype that it got when it came out. It was essentially Marvel’s answer to DC‘s Suicide Squad. The formula is practically the same. I’m thankful I didn’t bought tickets for this Streaming at home is enough.

Pacing Sucked

As enjoyable as they are to see, being a group of misfits and all, the way they were introduced felt out of the blue. I know that it was as intended, but I thought it could’ve been better presented. We didn’t have time to get to know the other anti-heroes, hence the viewers will lack the connection with them. End result, they’ll be a bunch of forgettable supporting characters.

What I Didn’t Like

• Forgettable characters
• Sucky storytelling
• Seems like most of the budget went to marketing
• Forced comedic moments ruined most scenes

Final Thoughts

Marvel has been going downhill as of late, specially since End Game finished and we got other hero movies that just plain sucked. I honestly thought Thunderbolts would be different, I mean it was, but still the same old sucky and predictable storytelling.