Is Thunderbolts* Absolute Cinema?

Is Thunderbolts the best Marvel film in a while?

Thunderbolts, the newest film from Marvel Studios - is one that promised to be different. It is ironic that the film about the outside misfits and D list Marvel anti heroes is set to be the film to be the ‘actual good Marvel movie’ of the last few years, since I think Marvel themselves are the antiheroes of the film industry at the moment. You see, when acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese came out to say that superhero cinema (particularly Marvel movies) weren’t real cinema to him, a lot of cinephiles followed suit and started to claim they didn’t believe Marvel constituted as cinema either. For me, I don’t ever think you can take a certain type of film or genre and say that the entire art form isn’t one thing, while I understand what Scorsese is saying I think broad generalizations is a bad way to address art.

However, this puts Marvel in a weird spot. Marvel, for years has been the studio that is single handedly keeping theatres alive and well. They have made multiple billion dollar films that have brought audiences out to see the films on the big screen. As someone who wants to keep the big screen experience alive - we must not forget the blessing Marvel has been helping keep theatres in business. But as a result, we have gotten a more homogenized series of blockbuster movies that come out and are less than inspired, trying to catch on to the story building that Marvel does, also the Marvel films themselves have started to feel less than inspired.

A lot of the Marvel films of late have felt like cable television shows vs pieces of cinema. Movies that just help set up future installments and throw characters on screen for the sake of an applause break. It’s started to feel tired, these moments stopped feeling earned. Last year, I sat through Deadpool and Wolverine kinda annoyed by it. Was this what these movies were going to become? Just cheap cameo shows where you can laugh when they reference something you recognize? Isn’t this just a two hundred million dollar version of Big Bang Theory? This is a lot of context to set up my relationship with The Marvel movies- after the excellent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, I simply stopped having much investment in this series. Sitting through movies like Captain America Brave New World and The Marvels was nothing short of a chore for me. However, Thunderbolts claimed it would be more artistically sound. Trailers promoted them having talent in this movie from A24 films, like the writer and director from the show Beef Jake Schrieder and the cinematographer of The Green Knight Andrew Droz Palermo. While this peaked my interest, I tried to not have it sway my opinions too much. I am afraid that Thunderbolts may suffer from going into the film with the wrong expectations. This is a Marvel film after all, I doubt they were going to go in the direction someone like David Lowery might- as cool as that would be.

So how is the movie itself? It’s good, really good actually. It’s nice to walk out of a Marvel film with a feeling of elation instead of a feeling of deflation these movies have been bringing me lately. I will say, if you are wanting this movie to be an elevated superhero movie, an arthouse comic book film, you will be disappointed by the final result. This movie is in it’s DNA a Marvel movie, but atlas it was a Marvel movie where I was actually invested in the characters and was genuinely moved by their pathos and I can’t name another Marvel movie in recent memory outside of the Guardians franchise where I empathized with the characters this much.

The story is about a bunch of the D-list antiheroes having to face their own inner demons and come together as a team to face off against an incredible threat. That is keeping it vague, because the film is able to have a few surprises along the way I don’t want to spoil. A lot of people have claimed that this movie is Marvel making their own Suicide Squad, and in a certain way you could interpret it that way. However, there is something a lot more tender about this team of heroes. They are more the ‘Sad Squad’ than the Suicide Squad and a big theme of the film is sometimes someone just needs a hug more than a lecture. While that sounds like a sappy cat poster you would see a youth minister post on their Facebook timeline, they way it is conveyed in this movie is effective.

This movie has a lot of heart and that is what makes it so special. So many of these Marvel movies consist of me feeling like I’m staring at a blank wall towards the last act because wow these super powered beings are fighting some more super powered beings and destroying everything in their path. These movies have had a lack of urgency to them because you know that these cluttered action spectacles will conclude with the hero saving the day. Here, the stakes are a lot more personal and introspective. The last third of this movie becomes cerebral and heady in a way that I really appreciated. The way the third act of this movie isn’t based around fighting but based around finding empathy and compassion even in the worst of times is such a refreshing change of pace.

The ultimate third act set piece I also thought was visually inspired. It wasn’t just cluttered explosions on a screen that’s hard to keep track of. The set pieces themselves are actually pretty easy to follow, making them all the more effective and haunting.

Overall, the film is carried by two great performances by Florence Pugh who cements herself as an action star here and Lewis Pullman who plays the character Bob. At first, it seems like Bob is a simple and effective Marvel gag character who ends up being a lot more impactful as the film progresses and we understand who he is in the universe. I found his characters arc in particular to be really challenging and something important to portray on screen. I think the openness of the characters and their struggles with mental health and finding a sense of belonging will resonate with a group of people who struggle with these feelings and knowing they aren’t alone. That alone is powerful and makes me admire this movie so much. This movie actually lets it’s characters breathe and say how they feel and don’t undermine every moment of poignancy with a joke. The humor in this movie feels so natural and organic to these people and who they are. I didn’t feel like I was in a bad improv show like I do with a lot of the other Marvel movies.

The cinematography and choreography of this film are wonderful. While this movie still has a muted color palette of mostly grays, the cinematography is so crisp and nice and the framing is so well done that I actually thought the shots were striking. The opening fight scene in a Hallway had really inventive shot compositions and I already knew this would be better than the last Captain America movie where everything felt like typical shot reverse shot set ups. It’s nice to see a Marvel movie put thought and care into the aesthetics of the film again and not just focus on making it the biggest spectacle they have.

I don’t want to overhype Thunderbolts too much. I don’t think it’s a perfect film. I think the motivation to bring the Thunderbolts together in the first place feels a little underdeveloped. I think the film could have explored it’s themes about mental health even more than they did. Some of the set pieces go on for a little too long. In all honesty, I enjoyed the first two thirds of this movie but they felt very cookie cutter Marvel. This movie still goes through your typical Marvel formula, it’s just this time I cared about the characters and resonated with what the film was saying. It was this formula done well. I will say that the last third of this movie is what really made it special to me. I thought it was such a unique third act set piece that put focus on character instead of action and the way it was conveyed was a little more unconventional than previous Marvel films. Would I say this is an A24 type film like the marketing suggested? No. Is it more artistically minded and poignant than 90% of the Marvel canon of films? Yes, I would say so and that is a breath of fresh air. I had a lot of fun from this movie and took something away from it on an emotional level and that’s a double whammy. This is a great start to the summer movie season.