Thunderbolts* 2025



 Thunderbolts*

“I think everyone is better if I stay down here”

I don't really care who this guy was, but I do care what he can become”

It's what you said you can't out run the emptiness”
-Thunderbolts*

There is a delightfully pervasive charm and humor that weaves its way throughout the Marvel cinematic universe. From its first emergence, way back in Iron Man, to its current climb up the box office charts, this Marvel trademark shows no signs of stopping. It is certainly true that most Marvel films find their stylistic tentpole in how the screenplay presents the film's dialectic cadence. Is it different here?
Thunderbolts* strikes the silver screen with rapturous Marvel enthusiasm. Yet, as with all good stories there is something more dwelling just below the surface, I don't know if I should call it a secret weapon or a hidden truth. In all honesty, it's akin to something much more mundane, a story well told. This film is the quintessential team movie. It allows us to fall easily into the essentials, a reluctant team of misfits is brought together out of necessity. The only way they will survive is by working together. It is what we have come to expect, Marvel comfort food through and through. Though, this is only where Thunderbolts begins.
    Essentially Marvel uses our expectations here as a means to explore its characters in a uniquely humor-charged way. This is done not as a subversion, but as a touchstone to truth. We often downplay the pain we think we have to hide. Thunderbolts* is a charm filled Marvel-esque excavation of the human psyche, emphasized by depression and its lie tainted power to keep us isolated and alone. Director Jake Schreier and his team reveal a simple but profound truth. Our deepest wounds begin to heal when we realize that we are not alone.

Rated PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive and drug references.


I found Thunderbolts* to be charmingly entertaining, meaningful and thought-provoking. I hope in some way you do too.

Thunderbolts* is currently in theaters.

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