Thunderbolts* (2025) Dir: Jake Schreier
- Ridley Coote
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
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I have made no secret of my apathy towards the modern MCU - I am not the only one to suffer from that movie-based affliction known as 'Marvel fatigue'. But the problems have run deeper than being tired of the superhero genre. The writing has been abysmal, even for the more popular Marvel films like 'Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 3', which I really did not like. This 2025 film, from director Jake Schreier, was the latest film in the 'Marvel Cinematic Universe' that I hoped would break the seemingly endless bad streak.
The heavy amount of CGI was irritating, but I was ready for it, at least. This is not a new facet of Marvel's filmmaking. Neither, for that matter, is the inconsistent quality of that CGI. The thing that annoyed me the most about this film's use of CGI was how poor it looked during action sequences. It was hard to take any of the major fight scenes seriously when it all looked so mediocre. There were also a few annoyingly simple continuity errors, like John's shield being on his back one second, and in his hand the next, as well as an actor double who was very clearly not the actor they were supposed be doubling.
The story was easily the most compelling to come out of the MCU in years. It goes to show what can be achieved when the story has purposeful message, and when you focus on characters over action. It wasn't perfect, but it was significantly better than anything Marvel have produced in a very long time. The aspect of the film that pleased me the most, though, was that Marvel actually gave its audience a genuinely interesting antagonist - a feat that they had not achieved since the last two 'Avengers' films.
Florence Pugh lead the way with an endearing performance - indeed, she has been one of the only watchable characters in this latest phase of Marvel. I rate Pugh extremely highly as an actress, and even though her Russian accent is fairly basic, she brings her character to life in such an enjoyable way, that I honestly don't care. I also loved the way she and David Harbour interacted. He wasn't in one of the most significant roles, but he was very memorable, thanks to his natural humour and general comedic timing.
I was a big fan of how Wyatt Russell shaped his performance in this film, after feeling slightly more mixed about his character in his previous MCU appearances. Lewis Pullman started off a little weakly, but he really pulled a good performance together by the time the film ended. There were also a number of other performances from supporting cast members worth noting, albeit to a lesser extent than those I already mentioned above; Sebastian Stan, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Olga Kurylenko, and Geraldine Viswanathan.
Overall, it felt very refreshing to be able to actually enjoy a Marvel film again. I was starting to wonder if it would ever happen again, with how things were going. The film is far from perfect, but it had a good deal of heart to it, and it did a great job of making the ragtag band of misfit anti-heroes likable. It certainly made me more interested in what Marvel may produce in the next couple of years. There is a long way to go for Marvel Studios, but this was a very positive step back in the right direction.
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