When I first saw an ad for this, I didn't realize I already knew the teammates as prior supporting characters: Yelena (Florence Pugh) and the Red Guardian (David Harbour) from Black Widow; Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), most prominently from the Captain America outings; Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) from Ant-Man and the Wasp; and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Most of them have only slightly enhanced abilities, and all have been jerks if not villains, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be fun to watch.
Another previous low profile comes to the fore as Val de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is on the verge of losing her CIA directorship due to growing, justified suspicion of unethical activity for "the greater good," like a smilier Amanda Waller. She tries luring Yelena, Ghost, U.S. Agent, and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) into a death trap to hide incriminating evidence. This scheme does not account for Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), who initially appears to be a mere forgetful stoner mysteriously in the wrong place but has actually survived Val's otherwise abortive Sentry Project to attain untold powers. The gang shakily comes together in order to escape. Then they realize that with the Avengers scattered, they're the best hope for protecting Manhattan from Val's new wild-card superweapon.
I might as well explain the asterisk. Yelena mentions a failed soccer team she used to play for as a kid, the Thunderbolts. The Red Guardian, being her father figure in a complicated relationship, decides to apply the name to their new team, but not everyone's on board with it. In the end, they get relabeled, still rather tentatively. At least they're not trying out new monikers all the time.
Are they funny in bouncing off each other? To a point, just not as much as the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Suicide Squad. Most of the humor stems from the Red Guardian being embarrassingly gung ho, U.S. Agent wanting to be seen as Captain America again despite his lower virtue, or Bob being a casual dope.
Tempering the comedic aspect is a tendency to dwell on dark pasts. No wonder Yelena gets the most focus; all the Black Widows lead harsh, unhappy lives. Indeed, the overarching theme involves confronting what one has been and hoping to become something better. Val just chose a worse way to go about it, and assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan), while divided, does little to counter her over-the-top plans.
The action? Well, there isn't as much as you might expect. Fight scenes make up only a few minutes all told, and the Sentry might be even less stoppable by force than the Scarlet Witch at her peak. I'd say the 'Bolts are more impressive in the short time they perform rescues instead.
This flick may not be the recovery Marvel needed, but it was worth my viewing in a theater. Nice to know I can still enjoy at least one Marvel entry per year.
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