Thunderbolts arrived with the promise of being a departure from Marvel’s recent formulaic pattern. The trailers hinted at a darker, grittier tone that felt reminiscent of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a film many still consider one of the MCU’s high points. There was something in the atmosphere, the music, the muted palette, that suggested Marvel might finally be willing to take itself seriously again.

Unfortunately, that promise begins to unravel almost as soon as the film finds its rhythm. What starts as a potentially grounded, espionage-driven character story quickly collapses into another overcooked Marvel stew of poorly-timed comedy, paper-thin character arcs, and emotional beats that feel completely unearned.

The film wants to explore themes like redemption, trauma, and identity, but it only gestures at these ideas without ever truly engaging with them. The tonal inconsistency is jarring. One minute we’re meant to believe this is a group of deeply broken individuals grappling with their past, and the next we’re stuck watching a five-minute climbing sequence played entirely for laughs. It feels like the entire movie is trapped in a constant identity crisis, unsure of whether it wants to be The Suicide Squad or The Dark Knight.

What we’re left with is a story that pretends to have weight, but never earns it. The emotional moments fall flat, the character arcs are barely arcs at all, and the “team becomes a family” payoff at the end feels laughably hollow considering how little groundwork has been laid for it.

Performances

Let’s start with the actor we've seen the most in the MCU so far and have all come to love deeply: Sebastian Stan. As Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier was once one of the MCU’s most complex and compelling characters. He carried layers of pain, silence, and internal conflict that made him stand apart from Marvel’s usual quip-factory characters. But here, he’s been completely nerfed, reduced to a quiet punching machine with little emotional resonance and even less narrative importance. There’s a moment where he struggles to push a piece of rubble and it just feels absurd. This is the same man who went toe-to-toe with Captain America, and now he can’t move debris? The writing has stripped him of his past, his strength, and his spirit.

The rest of the ensemble is a mixed bag. Florence Pugh tries her best to elevate her material, as always, but the dialogue doesn’t give her much room to explore anything deeper. Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent continues to be an intriguing character with real potential, but he’s buried under clunky writing and tonal confusion. The supporting cast are often reduced to comic relief or exposition tools, and by the time the team is supposed to “unite,” it feels forced rather than earned.

And then there’s The Sentry. The film introduces him as a bumbling, awkward outcast who doesn’t even understand his powers. Then, in what feels like one single day (perhaps even just a matter of hours), he transforms into a god-complex sociopath and ultimately The Void. There’s no real build-up, no psychological exploration, no time spent helping us understand who this man really is or what he is struggling with. He is introduced, turned, and disposed of within the same act. Readers of Marvel Comics will know that Sentry / The Void is an incredibly complex and beautiful character.. and yet this film completely wastes a fascinating character archetype.

Cinematography & Visual Storytelling

Use of Space and Environment

The cinematography gives the illusion that this will be a serious film. There is a subdued colour palette, a grimy aesthetic, and tight framing that at first creates the sense of intimacy and tension. But this is where the problem begins. The visuals are telling one story, while the script is telling another. The environments are cold and stark, but the characters behave like they’re on a sitcom set.

Locations like prison cells, crumbling bunkers, and underground facilities are all framed to suggest gravity and danger. But that promise is never fulfilled. The environment becomes a hollow stage for scenes that could have been so much more intense had the writing committed to the tone that the visuals were clearly aiming for.

Cameras and Lensing

The film was shot using ARRI Alexa LF cameras, paired with Panavision T-Series anamorphic lenses. The lensing adds an elegant cinematic depth to the image, with subtle barrel distortion at the edges that adds tension to character moments. The anamorphic flares and elongated bokeh are beautiful, and the use of shallow depth in character close-ups suggests a focus on internal struggle that the script never quite delivers on.

It’s frustrating, because visually, this is one of the more mature-looking Marvel entries. The cinematographer seems to be working on an entirely different film than the writers.

Aspect Ratio and Composition

Presented in 2.39:1, the widescreen format is used effectively in action sequences, but less so in dialogue scenes. Characters are often framed in wide two-shots, which might have worked if there was more nuance in performance or writing. Still, some of the early shots carry that promise of espionage thriller energy, especially in the infiltration scenes that echo the feel of Winter Soldier.

LUTs, Colour Grading, and Lighting

The colour grading sticks to a desaturated, cool-toned LUT that immediately creates a sense of realism and grounded stakes. But again, it sets up expectations that are betrayed by the film’s writing. The lighting is generally low-key, with deep shadows in key scenes that hint at something darker under the surface. But the comedy constantly breaks the illusion. It’s like watching The Revenant scored to a laugh track.

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Consistency and Intent

There’s a visual consistency in the film’s look, no doubt. But that consistency is never matched in tone or storytelling. The cinematography wants this film to be Logan. The script wants it to be Guardians of the Galaxy. The result is a frustrating contradiction. Intent was clearly there on the visual front, but it is completely undercut by the direction and screenplay.

Direction & Pacing

The direction is where this film really fumbles. The director seems unsure of what kind of movie they’re making. Is it a grounded anti-hero drama? Is it a quippy ensemble comedy? Is it a character study? The film tries to be all of them, and ends up being none.

Scenes linger too long, especially comedic ones. The climbing scene you mentioned is a perfect example. What could have been a 15-second beat becomes a drawn-out, awkward comedy sketch that derails any sense of narrative urgency. Pacing is inconsistent throughout. Some scenes are too slow, others are rushed, and none of them seem to land with the emotional weight they’re aiming for.

The transformation of Sentry into The Void could have been one of the most compelling arcs in the film. Instead, it’s treated like a subplot with no emotional set-up. His descent into madness feels like it happens in a few minutes, and then we’re asked to feel sympathy or fear for a character we barely got to know.

Emotional & Intellectual Impact

Emotionally, Thunderbolts is almost completely hollow. You can see the film trying to hit certain beats, regret, redemption, connection but it never earns them. Characters have conversations that are meant to feel intimate or cathartic, but they don’t land because we haven’t seen the groundwork. The “we’re a team now” ending doesn’t feel powerful. It feels performative.

Intellectually, there was an opportunity to explore deeper questions about power, accountability, and the consequences of violence. That potential is hinted at in early scenes, but it vanishes beneath layers of forced humour and character inconsistency.

What we are left with is a film that is aesthetically serious and thematically hollow. It constantly undermines its own emotional stakes by defaulting to cheap laughs and shallow writing.

Final Verdict

Thunderbolts had the chance to be something genuinely different for the MCU. The cinematography, lensing, and even the initial tone all pointed toward a darker, more grounded direction. But the film never had the courage to follow through. It drowns itself in misplaced comedy, inconsistent characterisation, and emotional shortcuts.

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