Thunderbolts Review – Rediff.com movies

It’s safe to say that Marvel is back, raves Varun Khanvilkar.

I had never attended a press movie screening before, and Thunderbolts was my first.

I was very excited.

When we entered the theatre, the crowd was very enthusiastic.

Funnily enough, there seemed to be almost as many cosplayers in the theatre as there were at this year’s comic con.

Thunderbolts started off with the OG Marvel intro, which was nice to see especially since it wasn’t present in their previous outing, Captain America: Brave New World.

The film revolves around main characters — Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr, Wyatt Russell’s US Agent and David Harbour’s Red Guardian — feeling lonely and struggling to find a purpose in their lives. That sets the tone for the movie, that its more about acceptance of one’s self rather than just heroics.

One of the things that was somewhat surprising was Taskmaster’s death even though it was hinted at in the trailers.

One of the best characters was the US Agent, played by Wyatt Russell.

He has done an incredible job with his well-timed quips and well co-ordinated fight scenes.

Red Guardian, played by David Harbour, also deserves a mention because he is the funniest character with the best comedic relief moments in the movie.

He does a heroic moment too, when he saves a little girl from falling debris. This is where I felt goosebumps because just as she’s saved, she’s turned into a shadow by the main antagonist, The Void.

The Void, as defined by CIA head Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who tested on him, is ‘stronger than all the Avengers rolled into one’.

He truly seemed like an Avengers-level threat.

For a while, even I wondered how this team of essentially three super-soldiers, an assassin and a spy were going to defeat a man with the power of a thousand exploding suns.

But the movie portrays it perfectly, not as a fight against an evil supervillain, but against Bob’s own inner dark side and it all culminates with each of the characters realising they are not alone and are in fact, Heroes.

Some highlights of the movie were Bucky’s entry in the desert, the fight sequence at the black site and the short fight between Sentry and the heroes.

A bit of advice: DO NOT miss the second post-credit scenes.

Thunderbolts is a truly great watch.

The only place they could have improved was if there were lesser emotional scenes between Red Guardian and Yelena Belova. Instead, there should have back stories about the other characters.

Still, I think it’s safe to say: MARVEL IS BACK! 

Varun Khanvilkar is 15 years old, loves the Avengers and is a huge fan of the Marvel movies!

Thunderbolts Review Rediff Rating: