Thunderbolts*: The best Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

Serving as the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the final film of Phase 5, the latest installment from director Jake Schreier is easily the best MCU film since “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Director Jake Schreier transforms “Thunderbolts*” into a psychological action film that feels more like a character study about loss, grief, and acceptance of others and yourself. Reprising her role from “Black Widow” and “Hawkeye,” Florence Pugh delivers a phenomenal performance as Yelena Belova, earning her spot as one of the best characters in this new era of the MCU. Also returning to the Thunderbolts roster to deliver outstanding performances includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes and David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, AKA Red Guardian. After suffering a mix of fan backlash, unlikable character traits, and being handed undeveloped material in the show “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and the film “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” Wyatt Russell and Hannah John-Kamen reprise their respected roles of John Walker, AKA U.S. Agent and Ava Starr AKA Ghost and their characters are giving a considerable improvement within their performances making them excellent characters to root for. Following his breakthrough performance in “Top Gun: Maverick,” Lewis Pullman delivers an emotional and incredible performance as Bob Reynolds, AKA Sentry, and Void, by exploring dark themes the MCU has never done before that we feel every second of the pain that he goes through in this film. The film also contains a great supporting cast of past characters and newcomers, which includes Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov, AKA Taskmaster, Geraldine Viswanathan as Mel, Chris Bauer as Holt, Wendell Pierce as Congressman Gary, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Thanks to Jake Schreier’s incredible direction and fantastic performances from its ensemble cast, “Thunderbolts*” is an excellent movie that feels like an unofficial A24 Film because it focuses more on human emotions, which is something that A24 is well known for focusing on in a number of their films. The film is also an exciting way to help set the stage for what will come when we see “Avengers: Doomsday” in theaters next year.

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