Thunderbolts Movie Review

Thunderbolts Movie Review

With 47 entries now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s safe to say, its experienced more success than any other franchise in film history, grossing near $32 billion at the worldwide box office, which is just insane. However, since  Avengers: Endgame  broke all the records at the box office in 2019, the MCU has plateaued a little in terms of critical and audience reception and box office. However, there have been a handful of exceptions to this rule. 2025’s ‘Thunderbolts’ being one of these exceptions. With it’s stacked cast of returning side characters across multiple movies, with the likes of Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and newcomers, Lewis Pullman as Robert Reynolds or “Bob”/Sentry and Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel. The film was met with a warm response from critics and audiences alike with an impressive 88% critical rating and 93% audience score respectively on Rotten Tomatoes. The film also took in an impressive $382 million at the global box office ($189 million domestic).

In the aftermath of global unrest, a covert team of antiheroes is assembled by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to clean up the remnants of a dangerous superhuman experiment. Led by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the group—each haunted by their past—must navigate betrayal, psychological trauma, and a deadly trap that forces them to confront their darkest selves. As the mission unfolds, the Thunderbolts discover that redemption may come at a cost—and that they might be the only ones capable of saving a world that fears them. I am a big fan when Marvel takes chances and branches outside of the box, and thankfully this risk pays off with a surprisingly emotional and heartfelt entry in the MCU.

Thunderbolts plays it a little risky compared to other MCU entries in recent years. A lot of this comes from director Jake Schreier, whose previous works include Netflix’s ‘Beef’ in 2023 and Robot and Frank. He creates an emotional journey, following a group of misfits, trying to do good and trying to find a human connection. It’s a lot more heartfelt than I was expecting. The core group of characters are all fantastic as well. Their interplay is fun and one of the strengths of the film. They all have great chemistry with one another, with Pugh’s Yelena being one of the major highlights. She brings a gravitas to her performance, showcasing some truly fantastic acting. The other strength lies in Bill Pullman’s turn as Bob or Sentry. This is a performance full of depth. We get a fair bit of backstory, emphasised through his powers, is some interesting visual set-pieces that are visually stunning and emotionally resonant.

I was also a big fan of how toned down the action was here. Whilst there are still a handful of exciting set-pieces, they aren’t global, nor are they the global destruction, the MCU has become known for. The first act is contained, with our characters stuck in a bunker, getting to know one another. We get some great character dialogue here and some funny character interactions. The set-piece for the second act, is director Jake Shreier’s clear homage to Terminator, with a fun car chase, with Bucky channelling his inner T2, sunglasses, motorbike and all. The third act, we go into the mind of Sentry, getting some emotional moments with the characters as they confront their challenging past, to help move forward, and become the heroes they all want to be. This dialled back and subtle approach to the action here was a lot of fun, and a nice change of pace, compared to more recent MCU instalments.

All-in-all, Thunderbolts shows that the MCU still has it, with the best theatrical outing since Endgame in my opinion. This group of misfits is perfectly assembled on the big screen, perfectly complementing each other in thoughtful ways. Florence Pugh is an absolute standout here, providing great depth to her character. Lewis Pullman is also fantastic as Bob. The film touches on themes of mental health, handled in a tasteful way. The action is some of the best I have seen in a marvel movie in quite some time, feeling grounded and not too CGI heavy. I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this film and can’t wait to see more of these characters in future MCU projects! Be sure to pick-up your copy on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K Ultra HD today from Sanity, you won’t want to miss it! 

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Christopher Pattison from Oz-Movie Geek wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here