“Thunderbolts*” Is Fun but Frantic

Thunderbolts* (Jake Schreier, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has at times faltered following the end of the wildly popular “Infinity Saga” (aka, Phases One, Two, and Three), its output still pleasing many but perhaps not scoring quite as high among fans as did earlier films (per Rotten Tomatoes). The latest, Thunderbolts*,  is filled with both cheeky humor and serious subject matter—a frequent narrative tool of the franchise—providing simultaneous entertainment and material for reflection within its 126-minute runtime. While by far not among the best of the series, the movie nevertheless proves watchable and fun, for the most part.

Underneath the comic mayhem runs a solemn discussion of mental illness (specifically, depression and bipolar disorder). Kudos to director Jake Schreier (Paper Towns) and screenwriters Joanna Calo and Eric Pearson (no stranger to Marvel) for tackling such a challenging topic. Given the demands of the superhero action genre, there’s only so much depth to the analysis, however. The treatment, though intriguing, cannot help but be on the superficial side, and viewers who themselves deal with the conditions portrayed may feel seen but also trivialized.

In addition, Thunderbolts* leans a little too heavily on the forced comedy of Taika Waititi’s 2022 Thor: Love and Thunder (which I enjoyed in spite of its flaws), courtesy of Alexei Shostakov (aka “Red Guardian”), who sells the jokes more than needed. And, as always, the post-credit sequences (especially the second one) position all of the preceding plot as mere marketing for the next entry in the series (in this case, The Fantastic Four: First Steps). Sometimes, it’s hard to muster enthusiasm when one is but a cog in the commercial system.

And now to the story, itself. We begin with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, The Wonder)—sister of the late Natasha Romanoff (“Black Widow”)—pursuing her quotidian activities, which include murder-for-hire and other unsavory pursuits. She is employed by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Downhill), former director of the CIA and now CEO of the shadowy O.X.E. Group, to perform acts of violence in service of ostensible world security (in reality, Valentina’s own interests). It’s a living, of sorts, though Yelena is clearly sick of it and under a dark cloud of melancholy.

When Valentina finds herself investigated by a United States House of Representatives committee over corruption charges—a committee on which newly minted Brooklyn congressman Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan, A Different Man) serves—she decides to destroy the evidence of her nefarious deeds. Such evidence, unfortunately, is people; her agents in the field, to be more precise, whom she each entrusts with the task of killing one of the other agents, no one the wiser of the ruse. Until, that is, they wise up and team up, eventually (and reluctantly) forming the titular group, named by Shostakov (David Harbour, Violent Night)—who also gets involved—after Yelena’s childhood soccer team (a name she rejects, one of the reasons for the asterisk).

Along the way, Yelena, disgraced former Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell, Night Swim), and Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen, Unwelcome) meet Bob (Lewis Pullman, Press Play), a mysterious young man trapped with them in Valentina’s bunker. With his memory gone, he’s as much a cypher to himself as to others. Not for long, however; he soon becomes central to the drama, which revolves in part around his highly unstable psychological state.

The onscreen bedlam proceeds at a rapid clip, engaging the eye and the mind without too much strain (though expect the usual confusion if you are not 100% up on the current threads of every single Marvel film and series). I just wish everyone weren’t trying quite so hard. It’s refreshing to watch Louis-Dreyfus, so comparatively relaxed is her performance, as are those of Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls), as Mel, her assistant, and Wendell Pierce (Clemency), as Congressman Gary, the one investigating her. Otherwise, everyone else could take it down a notch (especially Harbour). Go Thunderbolts*, but maybe chill just a bit.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.