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Everybody loves an underdog, but what happens when the underdogs are so emotionally damaged and hopelessly outgunned they have zero chance of winning? That's essentially the premise of Thunderbolts*, the latest superhero adventure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I found it just about irresistible. I had no idea how this rag-tag band of B-listers was going to overcome their inner struggles and defeat their seemingly unstoppable foe, but I knew one thing for sure–I couldn't wait to find out.
Thunderbolts* was directed by Jake Schreier, and it stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In the film, five former supporting MCU characters–Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, and John Walker–finally get their time to shine. When Ghost, Yelena, and Walker are sent on separate but intertwining suicide missions by corrupt CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, they unwittingly awaken the Sentry, a godlike, nearly omnipotent superhuman created by de Fontaine’s team of scientists. At first, the Sentry seems like he’ll be earth’s mightiest hero, but he quickly breaks bad, forcing the trio who unleashed him to team up with Bucky and Red Guardian to save the day. As you can probably guess from the premise, Thunderbolts* is a very character-centric movie. Sure, it has the jokes and action we’ve all come to expect from the MCU, but like any good superhero team-up, it stands or falls largely on the strength of its five protagonists. If they don’t work, the film will almost certainly fail, and thankfully, they’re an absolute blast…well, mostly. The first half of Thunderbolts* focuses primarily on that initial trio–Ghost, Yelena, and Walker–plus the Sentry (known only as Bob at this point in the story), and their dynamic is a bit hit or miss. In particular, the comedic chemistry between the arrogantly overconfident John Walker and the more competent assassins Yelena and Ghost is pretty entertaining, but a lot of the jokes fall flat as well. At times it almost feels like it’s an even 50/50 split, so despite a number of great moments, the humor here doesn’t quite have the special sauce that’s made the MCU such a joy to watch for nearly two decades. In contrast, Bob is an absolute revelation. Actor Lewis Pullman plays the role with a sympathetic vulnerability that’s instantly magnetic, so from the moment we first meet this guy, we can’t help but love him. In fact, I’d even say the character is at his best when he’s not wielding his insane powers. He becomes a bit stiff once he transforms into the Sentry, but when he’s just a regular guy, he’s a joy to watch every time he’s on screen. Around the midway point or so, Bucky and Red Guardian join the titular team, and once they come to the fore, Thunderbolts* runs on all cylinders. Bucky enters the superheroic fray with a Winter Soldier-esque action scene that reminds us why he’s such a great character, and actor Sebastian Stan doesn’t lose a step until the credits begin to roll. But as great as he is, the real star of this show is Red Guardian. Just like in Black Widow, he’s here primarily for comic relief, and he provides the secret ingredient the first half of Thunderbolts* was missing. He brings a special brand of comedic confidence that’s almost childlike in its innocence, so whenever this guy opens his mouth, you just know he’s at least going to bring a big smile to your face. Those great characters are the heart and soul of Thunderbolts*, but they’re not the only thing this movie has going for it. It also features a whole bunch of really fun action, and when Sentry’s dark side rears its ugly head, he’s genuinely terrifying. The guy looks like he was ripped right out of a horror flick, and he goes about his business with the kind of easy, serene calmness that’s somehow all the more chilling for its lack of effort. He just might be the darkest villain the MCU has ever put on screen, and that darkness is reflected in the film’s themes as well. Most obviously, everybody in this movie has a grisly past. To take just a couple of examples, Bucky was a mind-controlled Hydra assassin for decades, and John Walker once used the Captain America shield to publicly murder a man in brutal fashion. These are far from the squeaky-clean superheroes we often get from Marvel, so at its core Thunderbolts* is primarily about redemption. It gives its characters a chance to reject their sinful pasts (without, of course, using the language of sin) and start over by using their abilities and skills for good, and if you’re a Christian, you can’t help but see that as a powerful point of contact with the Gospel. Going even darker, Thunderbolts* also deals with themes of loneliness and depression, but the movie never becomes overly glum. It tackles these grim ideas only to shine a hopeful light on them, so if you’ve ever experienced similar afflictions yourself, you’ll be sure to appreciate the way our titular heroes overcome their mental health struggles by finding love and acceptance in this crazy new family. In case you couldn’t tell, I really enjoyed Thunderbolts*. Sure, it’s not quite top-tier Marvel, but it’s pretty good. The film ultimately overcomes its first-half flaws and ends up having all the heart, humor, and action moviegoers have come to expect from the MCU, so if you’re a fan of the long-running superhero franchise, I recommend checking out this latest entry. You won’t be disappointed.
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I’ve been pretty excited for Until Dawn, but not for the reasons you might think. As I said in my review of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I’m not much of a gamer anymore, so I’ve never played any of the Until Dawn video games. I am, however, very familiar with the man who directed this film, and I love his work. He made the surprise 2016 horror gem Lights Out, he revitalized the Annabelle franchise with Annabelle: Creation, and he even dipped his toes into the superhero world with the two Shazam! movies. He’s one of the best genre filmmakers working today, so I couldn’t wait to see his latest project even though I had zero experience with the source material.
Until Dawn was directed by David F. Sandberg, and it stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A'zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, and Peter Stormare. In the film, a woman named Melanie went missing a year ago, and now, Melanie’s sister Clover and four of her friends–Nina, Max, Megan, and Abe–retrace her final steps looking for answers. The group ultimately find what they were looking for, but the truth comes at a steep price. They end up in a Groundhog Day-esque time loop where they come under attack by a different bloodthirsty monster every time, and if they can just survive until dawn (hence the name!), their nightmare will finally be over. As you can probably guess from that plot synopsis, Until Dawn doesn’t fit neatly into any one horror subgenre. Rather, each new iteration of this night brings a whole new brand of terror, so David F. Sandberg gets to try his hand at a few different types of scares. He gives us a lot of the typical cliches we associate with these various subgenres, but to the surprise of no one, he executes them so well you won’t mind the lack of originality. As usual, he excels at crafting creepy visuals, effective jump scares, and edge-of-your-seat suspense, so if you’re a big horror fan like me, you’ll get a real kick out of this whirlwind tour of the genre. The unpredictability of each new night also keeps us on our toes as we eagerly await the next deadly threat, so I can’t reveal the specific dangers our main characters have to face. It would spoil some of the fun, but I can tell you that they’re not always the typical horror villains you’re probably expecting. Sure, we get a few tried-and-true genre staples, but there are also a couple of surprises you won’t see coming. It’s a pretty nice cornucopia of terror for most of the film’s runtime, but at a certain point, it feels like the script just runs out of steam. See, while each new version of the night brings its own unique horrors, there’s also a lot of carryover. Monsters can pop up again numerous times, and by the end, Until Dawn starts to get repetitive. We begin seeing the same monsters around every corner, and that’s a real bummer because the creativity of the scares is the only thing this movie has going for it. The characters are decent at best, and the plot is little more than an excuse to showcase all these different horror subgenres. To be fair, there was quite a bit of potential here for genuine depth. Anybody who’s ever spent a lot of time with the same group of people knows that even the best of friends can eventually start to annoy one another, so it would be fascinating to see that dynamic play out in a horrific scenario like this one. There are so many rich possibilities inherent in this story, but unfortunately, Until Dawn almost completely ignores them. Instead, the film is content to feed us feel-good platitudes about refusing to escape the ordeal unless the entire group makes it out alive, and while I appreciate the pro-human-life sentiment, that kind of surface-level moralizing is no substitute for engaging storytelling. It’s a huge thematic disappointment, and at the end of the day, that’s the big problem with Until Dawn. There’s simply not much going on here beyond the fun horror, so once that began to get stale, the movie started to lose me. Don’t get me wrong, I never checked out entirely, so I don’t think this is a bad movie. It’s just not particularly good either. It’s fun to watch once, but when the credits begin to roll and you walk out of the theater, you’ll be ready to move on with your life and never think about this film again. Why do we love fantasy? I’m sure there are a million ways you can answer that question, but if you ask me, it’s because we were made for more than this world. As our faith tells us, we were made to desire things our earthly existence can never provide, and fantasy taps into that innate yearning for more. In that sense, the genre is almost like a tiny foretaste of heaven, so naturally, I was pretty excited for the new fantasy movie The Legend of Ochi. I bought a ticket for opening weekend as soon as I got the chance, and I couldn’t wait to be transported to this new world and see what magical thrills it had in store.
The Legend of Ochi was written and directed by Isaiah Saxon, and it stars Helena Zengel, Finn Wolfhard, Emily Watson, and Willem Dafoe. In the film, Yuri is a girl who lives on a small, somewhat isolated island in the Black Sea, and on this island, there’s a species of furry, almost baboon-like animals called ochi. Yuri has been taught to hate these creatures for as long as she can remember, but she learns the truth about them when she comes across an injured baby ochi that’s been separated from its family. The girl takes the animal back home and patches it up a bit, and after she wins its trust, she heads into the wilderness to bring her new friend back to its own kind. The next morning, Yuri’s father finds her bedroom empty and realizes she’s gone, but he doesn’t know why. He thinks his daughter has been kidnapped, so he and the kids who hunt ochi with him drive out to the woods to find her. If you’re a big movie fan, that plot synopsis probably sounds a bit familiar. It’s a time-honored storytelling template we’ve seen numerous times before, most famously in the sci-fi classic E.T., and The Legend of Ochi doesn’t add anything terribly new to that basic blueprint. Sure, it has a few small details you might not see coming, but for the most part, the plot is exactly what you’d expect from a film like this. The Legend of Ochi tries to draw you in with the way it tells its familiar story, but unfortunately, it doesn't succeed. To be fair, this movie isn't all bad. The ochi themselves are always fun to watch, as they’re brought to life brilliantly by a blend of puppetry, animatronics, and actors in suits. Anybody with an appreciation for practical effects is going to enjoy every second of these creatures’ screentime, and when you see the baby ochi at the heart of this story, you’re going to love it even more. It’s not quite as cute as, say, Gizmo from Gremlins or Baby Yoda, but it’s pretty adorable in its own right. The beautiful world these animals inhabit and the camerawork that captures that world are also delightful, but visuals and inhuman creatures can only get you so far. The Legend of Ochi also needs to impress with its human characters, and that’s where the movie falls short. Let’s start with the lead. Helena Zengel plays Yuri, and the girl does a decent job with her facial expressions. But when she opens her mouth, her dialogue sounds stilted and unnatural. It took me out of the film almost every time I heard her speak, so I had a very hard time buying into her character. In contrast, the supporting performances in The Legend of Ochi are fine, but the writing leaves a lot to be desired. To take just one example, consider Finn Wolfhard’s character. He’s a teenager named Petro, and to call him one-dimensional is generous. The kid mostly just follows Yuri from a distance without actually doing anything until the final few minutes of the movie, so you get the impression that a lot of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. You can’t help but feel like there should be more to this guy than simply being Yuri’s silent shadow, and that suspicion makes his lack of depth even more bothersome. I’m not going to bore you with the details of why everybody else in this film is similarly flat and uninteresting, but I will tell you that even when some of them experience a change of heart at the end, their development is completely unearned. It’s like they flip a switch and they’re suddenly completely different, and for me, that was the rotten cherry on top of this horrible sundae of a movie. I simply couldn't bring myself to care about any of these characters or their journeys, and that ruined the entire experience. Sure, The Legend of Ochi looks beautiful, but no amount of visual spectacle can make up for a lack of humanity. This film is a textbook example of all style and no substance, so unless you just have to see it for yourself, I suggest giving it a pass. |
Jp Nunezis a longtime film buff and theology nerd with master's degrees in theology and philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. His favorite movie genres are horror, superheroes, and giant monsters. Archives
May 2025
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