Thunderbolts* (2025) - A Guest Review by Chad Dixon

We start in Washington DC as Current CIA Director, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is being scrutinized in front of a joint committee headed by Congressman Gary, (Wendell Pierce). She is accused of carrying out too many rogue missions against the wishes of the current US administration. Replying with much sarcasm, she is defensive, to say the least. Also, now a Congressman, James "Bucky" Barnes, (Sebastian Stan) is separately trying to get to the bottom of what Valentina is really up to in her secret labs.

Meanwhile, the new Black Widow, Yelena Belova, (Florence Pugh) has been sent by Valentina to a remote mountaintop secret base to allegedly destroy some sensitive tech to help her boss evade being removed from her position. However, three other suited-up operatives suddenly appear also in the bunker. A super-fight immediately ensues that actually leads to one fatality. A pause in the fighting reveals a fifth person hiding amongst the tech, Bob, (Lewis Pullman) dressed in plain grey pyjamas, who seems to not know why he is there.

In the first half an hour of the 2h 6m running time, there seemed to be a lot unexpected humour, that threw me a bit as the inclusion of Julia L-D, so well known for her long running role as Elaine in Seinfeld (which by the way, ended in 1989 - and she has aged amazing well), I sort of also worked out what was going to happen later as she conversed after the hearing with her P.A. Mel, (Geraldine Viswanathan) about one particular project of human subject experimentation, codenamed SENTRY.

Now, as the story progressed I began to understand the actual message they were going for. A bunch of highly trained, though world/work-weary individuals, questioning what they are still doing and why? Yelena expresses this most vividly in a touching flashback scene with her estranged father Alexi 'Red Guardian', (David Harbour) which I found quite moving. Other characters also re-evaluate their roles as the realisation becomes clear that they have to put aside their individual woes and team up to defeat a new enemy.

THUNDERBOLTS* is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I have seen almost all of them so far, so am quite invested in these particular superhero-based offerings. The nicely spaced-out action sequences are as good as we should expect by now from this studio but I definitely miss some of the specific traits of previous big names in this franchise. Upon reflection, the performances of this cast were on-the-money for the story portrayed - and as the next phase of the MCU progresses I'm looking forward to getting to know these guys and what's in store for them as a new high profile team.

You must stay for the second extensive post credit scene as it reveals what that asterisk '*' is all about!