Thunderbolts*
Starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour
Directed by Jake Schreier

Superhero films - and most notably the MCU - have undergone a change in popularity lately, as many films have been lauded as being the same thing - epic action, glorified cameos, one final epic all-out battle between good and evil. None of those are bad necessarily especially when they're done right (the train fight in "Shang-Chi," the cameos in "Deadpool & Wolverine," and the final fight at the Statue of Liberty in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" are all epics). The problem is that there's so many movies that do them wrong, especially in the sense of CGI or forced humor ("Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania" was basically filmed entirely on a stage with CGI backgrounds everywhere; "Thor: Love & Thunder's" humor was more groan-inducing than guffaw-inducing), and it's been a rarity where you find all the elements that come together to make another perfect superhero movie. While not at that height, "Thunderbolts*" comes pretty darn close, making it the best Marvel film in the fifth saga, and one of the better Marvel films overall - something no one going into it would've expected.

After working for CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) and finding her life unfulfilled, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) wants out of the business and do something more meaningful, but after talking with her father figure Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) - aka The Red Guardian - she decides to do one final assignment for Valentina, which consists of her to track down someone who's going to steal intelligence information. Once at the spot, however, she finds Valentina wants to eliminate all loose ends - including herself - as she faces possible impeachment. Valentina's other operatives - John Walker (Wyatt Russell), aka U.S. Agent; Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), aka Ghost; and Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko), aka Taskmaster - find themselves along with Yelena having to work together to get free, but also come across Bob (Lewis Pullman), a man with no memory, who somehow found his way into the compound.

After making it out of the compound, Bob is caught after he's discovered by Valentina to be the Sentry - a long-dead government project - and is captured by Valentina. Yelena reunites with Red Guardian as they all are taken captive by Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who wishes to use them to take Valentina down when they hear of Bob's capture. Choosing to rescue Bob and stop Valentina, the Thunderbolts are born, but find themselves in for the fight of their lives against one of the strongest heroes the world has ever seen - and his even stronger dark side.

There is a concept known as "The call of the void" which refers to the sudden, inexplicable urge to jump from a high place or engage in other dangerous or self-destructive behaviors. It's no surprise that "Thunderbolts*" starts with Yelena standing on top of a high-rise building and stepping off after she says in a voice-over that she's succumbing to loneliness, depression, and a void inside her. Although she did this for a mission, she finds her life unfulfilled and lonely, seeing every day as a struggle to make it through. Not that she's suicidal, but she's lost the passion and is plagued by the death of her sister Natasha and her isolation. It's a great opening for a superhero movie because it's not something you'd expect - and "Thunderbolts*" leans heavily into mental illnesses and how to deal with them more than throwing cars at buildings or epic city-wide destruction.

The idea of "Thunderbolts*" feels like the MCU version of "The Suicide Squad," and while both feature a gang of anti-heroes turning heroic, that's basically where the similarities end. Unlike The Suicide Squad, the Thunderbolts aren't doing the good thing because they have chips implanted in their heads that will explode if they disobey - instead, it's redemption arcs for them to be the heroes they know they can be. These people are perfect for a film like this that explores mental trauma, as none of them are in any way exceptional. Yelena and Taskmaster are Red Room-trained assassins; Walker, Red Guardian and Bucky are super soldier-serum soldiers with super strength but nothing else super other than that; Ghost is the only one with actual powers as she can shift through matter, but even that pales in comparison to other heroic sets. They're all trained mercenaries, working alone, and feeling that loneliness in deeply profound ways, and only in working together do they feel a sense of belonging that they were missing.

Florence Pugh once again proves herself as this generation's best actress, elevating an already exceptional script to near-Oscar worthy levels with her performance as Yelena, who seems to have it all together with her quips and action prowess, but is constantly haunted by the events of her past - so much so she's stuck being alone, going though the motions, and facing the nightmarish ordeals of her past. In a weird sense, she epitomizes the everyday person: we all feel alone, stuck in a rut, and look back at our past with regret with sometimes little to no hope for the future. She delivers such a passioned, personal performance I found myself tearing up a few moments, and the last time I did that in an MCU movie is in "Endgame" (at least tears of sadness anyway). Her interaction with Red Guardian is a highlight of the film, along with the emotional ending. Through it all, Pugh demonstrates her natural acting talent and is easily the best new actress in the MCU post-"Endgame."

Yet it's not just her, but the group that really works so well together. They might not be the Avengers, but their comradere is electric, personal, and extremely well-done. Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen and Olga Kurylenko hold their own in the story, and their natural back-and-forth heralds back memories of "The Avengers" team-up movies. If there's one knit-pick I have with this movie is that some of these characters are overshadowed by others, and in all honesty I wished the film was even a bit longer to fully flush them out (also, while it's not imperative to watch "Black Widow," "Ant-Man & the Wasp" and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," it does help in getting these characters' backstories that we don't get here).

Sebastian Stan has been in nine Marvel projects thus far, and serves as the team's big brother figure who brings them all together by reminding them of his own past and how he was able to overcome it with the help of Steve Rogers and the Avengers, and he manages to reignite his Winter Soldier moments with some epic sequences, especially the car chase in the desert. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is the main villain as Valentina, a ruthless woman who will stop at nothing to get ultimate power, but she does so with a deliciously evil attitude that makes her perfect for the role.

Lewis Pullman takes on a duel role of Sentry and the Void, and his character - along with Yelena - showcases the importance of mental health. Bob is bipolar, and underwent an experimental test that gave him superpowers, but he has no memory of it due to his bipolar disorder. When his powers are fully expressed, he becomes the Sentry - an unstoppable hero that the Thunderbolts try to fight, leading to one of the film's epic action sequences - but it also causes his darkness, known as the Void, to also come through. The Void sends people to a shadow world, and it's up to Yelena and the Thunderbolts to stop him. Without going into spoilers, Pullman pulls out duel performances that are equally haunting and emotionally resonating, as he's forced to deal with both sides of his personality.

Although not as full of action as other superhero movies, there's still a few standout fighting scenes to keep the superhero fan entertained, as well as a deeply personal, emotional story you don't normally see in movies like this. The tone of the movie is highlighted throughout by "The Green Knight" and "A Ghost Story" cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, who bathes the movie in depressing hues of dark blue, brown and black, further illuminating the aspect of inner demons and darkness that the heroes - and we as audience members - struggle with, leading us to become even more deeply involved in the characters. Again, going into this movie, I was expecting something mid-tier, full of superhero tropes and cheesy dialogue, but instead I got something much more profound and resonating to my psyche, offering fantastic performances and a story that shows that we all need each other to get through our darkest impulses.

The Score: A+