An entertainer it is

‘Thunderbolts’, the latest in Marvel’s second generation comic book hero movie adaptations, is a refreshingly fun engagement. It doesn’t have the power and dynamics of ‘The Avengers’, but it sits pretty well in the MCU.

This new chapter, a sort of action comedy, centres on a group of undervalued and misunderstood antiheroes (perceived as throwaway secondary characters), who emerge victorious in the battle of the baddies.

The film opens with a skyscraper jump and longer fight choreography. Assassin Yelena Belova speaks of an emptiness within while going through the motions, completing missions and erasing targets. Misfits all — Yelena (Pugh), Scarlett Johansson’s sister from ‘Black Widow’, her brash Russian father Red Guardian (David Habour), Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava (Hannah John-Kamen) aka Ghost, and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) — find themselves ensnared in a death trap laid out by big bad CIA director Valentina de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), making them join forces. Bob (Lewis Pullman), who appears to have wandered into the right place at the wrong time, also joins the party. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), now a freshman Congressman, is forced to revive his Winter Soldier life to rescue the group. They call themselves the Thunderbolts, and seek revenge against the crooked politician who wanted to wipe them out. But the unconventional team of antiheroes must also confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

‘Thunderbolts’ forces narrative beats and tonal shifts that are unlike any we’ve seen in the MCU. Its title characters are depicted as broken, lonely souls who wear their emotions on their sleeves.

The film gets the action and humour well. Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo and production designer Grace Yun lend emotional depth to the characters. The cast delivers real human drama without missing a beat. The sharp banter between Yelena and Alexei is refreshingly fun. Red Guardian wants a chance to be a hero, and he’s a little goofy in his efforts to accomplish that. Harbour plays him fierce and huggable, and that nails it.

Pugh is credible as Yelena. Her deadpan delivery of sarcastic comments and the way she handles the physical and more dramatic demands of her character, are remarkable. Stan’s portrayal of the Winter Soldier is getting better and Valentina as the villain sets out to be badder than most.

This franchise film does not have big fire-powered all-out action scenes to attract the diehard fans, but it does have some good and some bad moments. There is plenty of dark drama here and some great fight scenes, but the renewed tone may not please all.

The special effects are well done. Writers Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo and director Jake Schreier take this movie to a different direction, lending it a tone that’s fairly serious and heavy.

The film has its fun moments, gets emotions running high and focuses on character development. ‘Thunderbolts’ is entertaining, but it may not exactly be what the fans want.