Just got back from the Thursday night showing at Alamo Drafthouse Richardson. Thunderbolts* is the best MCU movie since Guardians Vol. 3 and it is not particularly close.
What works:
- Florence Pugh carries this movie. Yelena Belova is the most compelling MCU character since Tony Stark. Her dynamic with Bucky Barnes has real tension and humor without feeling forced.
- David Harbour as Red Guardian steals every scene. The guy commits fully to the comedic bits without undermining the stakes.
- The Sentry reveal is genuinely unsettling. They leaned into the horror elements of Bob Reynolds and it pays off. The void sequences are some of the most visually ambitious work Marvel has done.
- The action is coherent. You can tell who is hitting who. The hallway fight in act two is the best MCU hand-to-hand combat since Winter Soldier.
What does not work:
- The third act gets a little too CGI-heavy. After two acts of grounded action, the final battle feels like it belongs in a different movie.
- Taskmaster is still underwritten. They improved her from Black Widow but she needs her own arc.
- The Val subplot feels like it exists solely to set up the next phase rather than serve this story.
Rating: 8/10. A genuine surprise. If this is the template for the new Avengers era, Marvel is in good shape.
Source: In-theater viewing, Alamo Drafthouse Richardson, opening night
Taskmaster deserves a solo project. They set up enough threads here that a Disney+ series would work. Olga Kurylenko has the presence, she just needs the script.