“How was it?”
A question I was asked as I was leaving Marvel’s new movie, Thunderbolts*, which took me back. Not only to a time when I was going to the theaters more often, but also to a time when movies were events; like waiting in line for the midnight showing of The Fellowship of the Ring or dinner with friends before heading to see The Dark Knight. My response to the question was simple. “Excellent,” I said, giving him a thumbs up. No spoilers ahead, so read with confidence.
There was so much more I wanted to say. It was excellent; a throwback to the heyday of the MCU in such a good way, and if, like me, you saw the Super Bowl teaser and hit the eject button, it was a seriously pleasant surprise. It had a level of depth that has been missing from MCU films in the past few years; the failure of the MCU to connect on an emotional level has hurt not just Marvel, but even secondary Marvel endeavors have suffered as a result. LEGO, which has been making licensed Marvel sets for years, has reported a noticeable drop in sales partly due to the waning popularity of the MCU movies and Disney+ series.
I don’t want to be overly enthusiastic here, because expectation is the seed of disappointment, but Thunderbolts* is a movie that has moved on from the paint by numbers, pure setup for the next movie formula that has plagued Marvel since Endgame, and has returned to a focus on storytelling. It’s not perfect, of course, no Marvel movie has been (since Winter Soldier, anyway), but it was emotionally engaging, well acted, and still fun to watch while feeling meaningful. Most people have praised Florence Pugh’s performance and I will be no different, as it’s her heart that carries this movie on its shoulders (I’m not sure that’s anatomically correct, but there you have it), however that doesn’t mean that the rest of the cast isn’t excellent as well. Sebastian Stan puts in a typically strong performance as Bucky, and perhaps the surprise of the movie is Wyatt Russell as John Walker. Russell is an actor I adore so much because of his role in Lodge 49 (the best show you’ve never seen), for him to make me dislike him as I did in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and this is seriously impressive. Every time I saw him, I just thought “Oh, Dud, how did you turn into this?” No one is surprised when Florence Pugh puts in a great performance, she’s a fantastic actress, but everyone here gave it their all and it came through in the final product.
Movies are terribly expensive these days, I know my ticket was almost $20, so taking a family or a date can definitely add up quickly. But, if you’re a fan of superhero movies, this is one I definitely recommend you go see if you can. Don’t watch any sneak previews, don’t dive into fan theories, don’t even look up the comic on which it’s based. Just go see it; I went in cold, having only the slightest idea of what the Thunderbolts comic was about and having seen almost nothing about the movie. And that made the experience so much better.
The larger picture here is that I’m beginning to feel like movies could be coming back. In a time when streaming CEOs are claiming that streamers are the way we want to watch movies, I am personally dying for a reason to go back to the theaters. I live in my home, it’s nice to leave it every once in a while for a reason other than I have to. There’s still something to the magic of movie theaters; this was only the second time since the pandemic that I’ve been back (Sonic 3 over the holidays) and it was a delight to be back in those seats, in that dark room, with a handful of strangers all there for the same reason. A solo trip to the movies is something most people avoid, but I absolutely love it. It wasn’t a packed house, but I chose my showtime specifically to avoid one; there were still enough people there to have a shared experience, to have a moment in time when I could put my phone away and just do one thing. And that one thing was watch a very good movie, one of the things I love to do most. We’re inundated these days; yes, we have responsibilities—work, kids, etc.—but we also do it to ourselves, sometimes out of habit. I can’t tell you how many times I pick up my phone to check something, get distracted by some alert or another, and forget why I picked it up in the first place. Streaming services are convenient, but not my preferred way to watch a movie. Yes, they’re very practical, but when was the last time you got excited by something practical? I know it’s expensive, I know it’s inconvenient, I know it takes something special to get us back out to the theaters. But if Thunderbolts* is any indication—along with the promising looking Fantastic Four trailer—Marvel might be back on track to giving us those special reasons to go back to the celluloid cathedrals.
I’m hoping to get out to the theaters more often and to give you more of these short, bonus impressions in this new “Lone Wolf and Stub” series. Regular coverage will resume this week, as we continue our look into crime films. As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll be back soon.