THUNDERBOLTS* : Tuesday 13th May 2025

I saw the PG Rated 'THUNDERBOLTS*' earlier this week, and this American Superhero film is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as the final instalment in Phase Five of the MCU. This film is Directed by Jake Schreier who made his Directorial debut with 'Robot & Frank' in 2012 and would follow this up with 'Paper Towns' in 2015. Since then he has helmed numerous TV series including multiple episodes of  'Lodge 49', 'Kidding', 'Brand New Cherry Flavour' and 'Beef' as well as music videos for the likes of Benny Blanco, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar. This film saw its World Premiere screening in London on 22nd April and was released in all major markets from 1st May. The film has generated positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$280M from a production budget of US$180M. 

The film opens with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of a tall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She stands and promptly launches herself off the top, parachuting down about half the length of the tower before gliding inwards and stepping gently off about fifteen stories from the bottom. Once inside, she sets about destroying a laboratory on behalf of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to cover up her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's 'Sentry' superhuman experimentation project. 

As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with O.X.E. Group, she separately sends Yelena, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) to a secret O.X.E. facility buried a mile underground atop a remote mountain, under the pretense of killing a thief. In the ensuing confrontation, Ava kills Taskmaster and a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. 

After coming to the realisation that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they put their differences aside and work together to escape from the deadly trap. De Fontaine learns from her Assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the group has survived, including Bob, who was presumed dead during the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, the team have made it to the surface, and so Bob creates a diversion by drawing fire from de Fontaine's small but heavily tooled up army, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape, only to sustain no injuries despite being shot at close range multiple times. Bob then uncontrollably ascends high into the air before passing out and crash-landing back at the compound, where he is captured and helicoptered back to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, which is mid-way through a serious make over and is now renamed the 'Watchtower'. 

De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), who had overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Referencing Yelena's childhood soccer team, Shostakov refers to the group as the 'Thunderbolts'. 

De Fontaine's agents chase after the Thunderbolts before they are ultimately caught and tied up by Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), whose intention it is to have them testify at de Fontaine's impeachment hearing. Learning that Bob was a subject of one of de Fontaine's top-secret experiments, Barnes joins the group to head to New York to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her side as a new superhero she plans to pitch to the media as a replacement for the Avengers called the Sentry. 

After easily overpowering the team and forcing them to retreat, Sentry develops a god-like delusion of superiority, turning on de Fontaine. However, Mel, incapacitates him with a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities created as a result of the procedure and his fractured psyche, who begins engulfing New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in pocket dimensions based on their worst memories and fears.

Yelena realises that the only way to stop the Void is from within, and so she enters the darkness to reach Bob's consciousness. There, she faces her haunted past as a Black Widow and finds Bob hiding in a recreation of his childhood bedroom, where his father abused him. The other Thunderbolts join them, and together they travel back through various 'rooms' ultimately to the memory of Bob's initial experimentation in Malaysia, where he volunteered for the procedure, hoping to improve himself after becoming an aimless drug addict. The Thunderbolts confront the Void, but are quickly overpowered. As the struggle threatens to fully consume Bob, the team intervenes, affirming their belief in him. Their solidarity empowers Bob to regain control, overcoming the Void as light and normality return to the city.

With the threat now past, the Thunderbolts are all set to apprehend de Fontaine. However, she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she introduces them to the public as the 'New Avengers'. The Thunderbolts go along with this, but Yelena threatens de Fontaine if she betrays them again. Remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence which really is something and nothing, and for the end credits sequence which gives a nod to 'The Fantastic Four : First Steps' the upcoming 37th entry in the MCU and the start of Phase Six, and set for release at the end of July this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by 'Thunderbolts*' with its rag tag bunch of ne'er do wells that are all damaged, traumatised and emotionally scarred in some way that makes them vulnerable and more relatable than some of the other characters we have seen in more recent MCU offerings. It was also somewhat reassuring to see an MCU film grounded in the present day NYC rather than going off on some tangent and taking us deep into the multiverse as has been the want lately, or at least so it seems. Florence Pugh holds the team together and hers is the standout performance in what Director Jake Schreier has pulled together as a coherent, concise and controlled entry into the MCU, while setting up Phase Six of the MCU. The action sequences are well realised and don't overstay their welcome, and there is enough emotional heft and well delivered humour here to make this a well balanced film. 

'Thunderbolts*' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP : Tuesday 10th July 2018.

'ANT-MAN AND THE WASP' which I saw this week keeps the Marvel machine grinding forever onwards churning out superhero fare for us to spend our $20 or so on at the local multiplex. And so it is too with this sequel to 2015's 'Ant-Man', which off the back of a US$110M Budget grossed US$520M at the global Box Office, was generally well received by Critics and audiences alike, and picked up three award wins and another 33 nominations from around the circuit. This 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Directed by Peyton Reed once again, who came on board one month after the release of the first instalment. This film was released in the US last week too, but not in the UK until early August. Paul Rudd, who plays Ant-Man/Scott Lang also takes a Co-Writer credit this time around. The film cost US$162M to make, has so far grossed US$185M and has been generally well received. This is the first MCU film to have the name of a female Superhero protagonist in its title . . . . about time methinks!

Set two years following the events that unfolded with 'Captain America : Civil War' and prior to the events that came to pass just recently in 'Avengers : Infinity War' and now under house arrest (explaining his absence from 'Avengers : Infinity War') Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) struggles with balancing his choices as both a father to young Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) and a responsible superhero. Having had to put his mantle of 'Ant-Man' on ice for the last two years for being caught in the middle of the Avengers fight which was in violation of the Sokovia Accords, Lang is now only three days away from being able to step foot outside his own home. He has been patient, compliant and responsible, while Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) - a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, entomologist, and physicist who became the original Ant-Man way back when, have gone underground, are also in hiding and have cut all ties these past years with Lang.

Then one day, Hope and Pym are able to open a portal through to the Quantum Realm where Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) was lost back in 1987, has not been seen since and is presumed dead. At that same precise moment Lang has a vision of Janet with whom he became entangled when he himself was in the Quantum Realm two years earlier and from which he was able to successfully return. Lang calls Pym for the first time in two years to explain his vision, but gets Hank's voicemail. A short time later Hope kidnaps Lang, miniaturises them and sets a decoy back at his house so as not to arouse suspicion by the FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) that he has broken the terms of his house arrest.

Pym believes that Lang's vision was a message that Janet is still alive, albeit trapped within the Quantum Realm. Needing a piece of hi-tech equipment to create a stable tunnel through which to access the Quantum Realm, Hope meets with her 'supplier' - a black market arms trader named Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins). But Burch has other plans for Hope when he realises the potential of what she is working on, and he wants in on the action. A fight breaks out between Hope, who by now has assumed the powers of her alter-ego 'The Wasp' and is able to thwart Burch and his goons, but not so with a mysterious figure come to be known as 'Ghost' (Hannah John-Kamen) for her power to be able to travel through solid matter.

In the fracas Ghost escapes with Pym's miniaturised laboratory causing him, Hope and Lang to visit the one man they think can help them retrieve it - Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburn), a former partner of Pym's but they fell out decades before and had not spoken in thirty years. Reluctantly, Foster helps Pym locate his lost laboratory at Ghosts place of residence. Gaining entry Ghost is able to easily overpower the threesome and reveals that her name is Ava Starr and she has suffered from molecular instability since she was a child when her father, also a former partner of Pym's, died in an explosion with her mother too, while conducting a Quantum experiment which resulted in Ava's unstable condition. Foster reveals that his is in cahoots with Ava and is in fact her guardian, and is determined to make Ava better by harnessing Janet's Quantum energy. But Pym will have none of this as he believes that this would kill Janet, and so they escape with the aid of some giants ants.

With their laboratory back Pym and Hope resume their plan to fire up the tunnel. They are able to contact Janet through Lang, who gives them detailed coordinates with which to locate her in the Quantum Realm. But time is of the essence and they only have a limited window of two hours before the opportunity is lost for a century or so. Burch meanwhile has reassembled his gang of goons and through Lang's security company 'X-Cons' and his partners Luis (Michael Pena), Dave (Tip 'T'.I.' Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian) are able to locate Pym's lab. Burch calls an FBI Agent he has on the payroll, who in turns contacts Woo and alerts them to Lang's presence while supposedly under house arrest. Lang hot foots it back to his house just in time for Woo to walk in expecting to catch him out - but not so. However, with Ant-Man indisposed, the FBI converge on Pym's lab and arrest him and Hope leaving Ghost to once again steal the miniaturised lab.

Lang let off the hook by Woo, is able to come to the rescue of Pym and Hope and help them escape custody, and they locate the lab in a well executed and at times completely over the top car chase sequence through the streets of San Francisco as Ant-Man goes from being very little to very large. Lang and Hope divert Ava while Pym enters the Quantum Realm to retrieve Janet. Luis, Dave, and Kurt help apprehend Burch, so Lang and Hope can stop Ava who has already begun sapping Janet of her energy. Pym and Janet arrive back safe from the Quantum Realm, and Janet voluntarily grants some of her energy to Ava to temporarily stabilise her.

Lang returns home once again, just in time for a now suspicious Woo to unbuckle his ankle bracelet at the end of his house arrest period. Ava and Foster go into hiding, with Foster vowing to find a cure for her. Wait for the mid-credits sequence, which brings us right up to date, and naturally Stan Lee's obligatory laugh out loud one liner cameo.

It's good to see some levity arriving in the MCU in the form of 'Ant-Man and The Wasp' after the more depressing and distressing 'Captain America : Civil War' and 'Avengers : Infinity War' episodes. Here the more light handed approach works well with the storyline that is not overly complicated and delivers just the right amount of humour to keep it grounded. The action set pieces are well executed and work best when Ant-Man and The Wasp are reduced down to their insect size or conversely Ant-Man grows to be a towering giant of some sixty feet. Both Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly have settled well into their roles and despite their occasional verbal sparring, feel comfortable around each other and with their gifted super powers. Michelle Pfeiffer's role is a little under cooked, and Walton Goggins is half baked, but these are minor criticisms of a worthy and respectable sequel that is fast paced, good humoured, light hearted and still packs a punch.

'Ant-Man and The Wasp' merits four claps of the clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

READY PLAYER ONE : Tuesday 3rd April 2018.

'READY PLAYER ONE' which I saw earlier this week at my local multiplex is the eagerly awaited, keenly anticipated and much hyped latest offering from Producer and Director Steven Spielberg. Based on the bestselling and highly regarded 2011 Sci-Fi book of the same name by Ernest Cline, this film was released in the US last week too, cost a cool US$175M to make, has so far recovered US$239M and has garnered generally positive Press. Full of pop culture references to the '80's, '90's and early 2000's including several nods to earlier Spielberg works, as well as cutting edge CGI, this film will be a feast for the visual senses and overload for all the movie and video game geeks out there. Cline is reported to be working on a sequel to the novel, but it remains to be seen if this will translate to a follow up film, or if Spielberg would even Direct.

Set in 2045 with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse due to overpopulation, climate change, pollution and corruption, the main centres of population have become slum like cities with make shift homes being stacked upon each other forming huge towers reaching skywards. Known as 'Stacks' it is here we find Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) living in the burgeoning city of Columbus, Ohio, with his aunt and her not so pleasant boyfriend, having lost both his parents in his younger years.

To escape the desolation of their meagre existence, the people have found solace in the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), an expansive globally interconnected virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance) where those users can engage in work, entertainment, relaxation and education from the comfort of their own homes, and the vast majority of the population do. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune and ownership of OASIS to the first person to find a digital Easter Egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. Three challenges confront the game contestants before reaching the elusive Easter Egg, open to anyone playing in the OASIS, and those specifically entering the game challenge are known as 'Gunters' (egg hunters). Wade has modified on an old beat up panel van buried amidst a car wreckers yard that houses his game gear, where he escapes to play in the OASIS.

In the OASIS Wade assumes a different identity and a game name for his avatar, Parzival. He is good friends with fellow gamer, virtual mechanic and Gunter Aech (aka Helen Harris, played by Lena Waithe) who is male inside the game, but female out of it. Their first challenge is a road race (Parzival's car of choice is a DeLorean - a nod to 'Back to the Future') over an ever changing city scape which no one has ever completed with death defying obstacles which involves contending with a rampaging T-Rex and King Kong amongst other things. Here he meets for the first time fellow Gunter Art3mis (aka Samantha Cook, played by Olivia Cooke), and before reaching the finish line and getting eaten by a marauding King Kong is saved from being 'zeroed out' by Parzival, which would reset the avatar's character progression. From this point on the two form a close bond.

After numerous attempts to reach the finish line over repeated occasions and always with the same outcome, Parzival visits the OASIS virtual library in which is recorded in audio and visual every single aspect of Halliday's life, in the hope of finding a clue to winning the first challenge. Parzival learns that Halliday felt remorse and regret over parting company with his early business partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) over a personal matter involving a girl, who would later become Morrow's wife. Halliday makes a statement about travelling backwards, really fast, which suggests an answer to Parzival about the start of the race. At the next race, the vehicles are all assembled on a starting line, and as the off is given all cars accelerate forward, leaving Parzival's car standing. He shifts into reverse and heads at break neck speed towards a solid wall, which then opens up to reveal a virtual road under the race cars speeding above, only free of all the challenging obstacles. He crosses the finish line and is greeted by Halliday's avatar Anorak, the first of three keys and a clue to the next challenge. His friends Aech, Art3mis, and their friends Daito (aka Toshiba Yoshiaki, played by Win Morisiaki) and Sho (aka Akihide Karatsu, played by Philip Zhao) all cross the finish line, and are the first five names to appear on the leader board, becoming known collectively as 'The High Five'.

With the leaderboard now occupied for the first time in more than five years, the CEO of IOI (Innovative Online Industries) Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) who over the years has amassed a army of debt laden players known as Sixers (because of their six digit ID numbers) suddenly becomes more acutely interested in the game, wanting to reach the Easter Egg for his own ill gotten gains and to win full control over OASIS before them pesky kids do. Eager to learn their real life identities so that they can be eliminated in the real world, Sorrento engages virtual Bounty Hunter, magical artefacts and arms dealer i-R0K (T.J.Miller) to hunt down Parzival.

i-R0K overhears Parzival revealing his real name to Art3mis in a virtual nightclub, which in turn leads Sorrento to him with an invitation for untold riches if he surrenders his quest and leads him to the Easter Egg. Needless to say Parzival refuses Sorrento's invitation. In return Sorrento sends his Head of Operations F'Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) to track down Wade and kill him in The Stacks. But Wade isn't there, and instead wipes out the stacked tower where his Aunt and her boyfriend live killing them, and others in the process.

Wade is rescued by associates of Art3mis in the real world and taken to a hideout in Columbus, not far from The Stacks. Here he learns of Art3mis real world identity, Samantha Cook. Together they ponder over the second clue and revisit the OASIS virtual library, there learning that Halliday had once dated Karen 'Kira' Underwood (Perdita Weeks) who later went onto become Morrow's wife and the reason for their business split. Parzival wins a bet with The Curator of the virtual library - a 25c coin, about any lasting memories of Kira, which Parzival is then given access to, revealing the entrance to the second quest. That quest takes The High Five team to a old movie theatre and a screening of 'The Shining' and inside the Overlook Hotel (beautifully and faithfully recreated) where Art3mis wins the second key and the clue to the third challenge. The other four bring up the rear and each secure a key, so solidifying their places on the leaderboard. The third challenge it is revealed leads them to Anorak's Castle, located on Planet Doom.

Zandor and the IOI henchmen discover the Gunter's hideaway and kidnap Samantha with Wade making a narrow escape, being rescued by Helen, Toshiro and Akihide. Back in the OASIS, Parzival learns that Sorrento and i-R0k have encircled Castle Anorak in an impenetrable force field dome that prevents access to complete the quest. This is maintained by IOI and a large team of Sixers including an imprisoned Samantha who is forced to comply against her will. Parzival transmits a message to all OASIS gamers that their help is needed on Planet Doom to bring down the force field, thwart Sorrento and claim the ultimate prize. The gamers rise up and lend their support to Parzival arriving en masse on Planet Doom. Headed up by Aech, Daito and Sho on Doom together with The Iron Giant engineered by Aech, back in the real world Samantha is able to make her escape, create a distraction and rejoin the other four in the OASIS where she is able to bring down the force field by reciting the magic spell that initiated it.

Inside Castle Anorak, Parzival finds himself in The Atari Room staring down at a long line of Sixers all playing different Atari 2600 games trying to determine which was Halliday's favourite and therefore where the last key is hidden. But Sixer after Sixer fails, all being zeroed out. Back in IOI an operative determines that 'Adventure' must be the game that was Halliday's favourite, so up steps another hopeful Sixer to the game console. He successfully negotiates the maze going the distance but ultimately is zeroed out too.

Parzival steps up to the game console but is intercepted by Sorrento's avatar. The pair fight, with Parzival gaining the upper hand as Sorrento activates 'The Cataclyst' device which zeroes out each and every single player on Planet Doom including himself and i-R0k. However, Parzival lives, granted an 'extra life' on the reverse of the 25c coin given to him by The Curator at the virtual library. He continues with the Adventure game and successfully completes it by locating its own Easter Egg hidden within the game. At this point Halliday's avatar Anorak appears and hands down the third and final key to Parzival, which he uses to unlock a gate, with the other two keys, into a huge room adorned with riches and a giant Easter Egg sat atop a throne like structure.

Therein Anorak presents Parzival with a contract to sign, but in seeing the contract he recognises that it is the same as presented to Ogden Morrow upon his termination, and so refuses to sign. The avatar of Anorak turns into a projection of the adult Halliday with his young childhood self too in the bedroom where he spent his childhood years, playing the latest computer games and learning his craft. Halliday reveals that this was the final test, centering around his greatest regret in life. He also gives Parzival the chance to wipe out the OASIS completely and erase everything it stands for, by simply pressing a Big Red Button, but Parzival declines that invitation. Instead, Halliday hands over a golden glowing Easter Egg and assigns his personal fortune of half a trillion dollars over to Wade. At that the adult Halliday and his younger self turn and leave the room by the door.

Sorrento and Zandor are arrested having given chase to The High Five all the way to The Stacks in a last ditch attempt to thwart Parzival's success in the OASIS. Wade announces that he will co-control the future of OASIS with his other four friends, and offers a now much older Morrow a consultancy to help them run the company which he gladly accepts on a salary of 25c - revealing that his avatar was The Curator within the virtual library.

This is a good fun film which I enjoyed . . . a lot! It is chock full of '80's and '90's cultural references that are touchstones for anyone from that era. Drawing movie and gaming fandom inspiration from the past to shape the future malaise which it does with style and technical wizardry, but with little regard for the future dystopian world of 2045 and the cultural problems facing the here and now. Visually this is a stunning film with graphics and effects that are mind blowing, artfully rendered and with a painstaking attention to detail (the Overlook Hotel sequence especially), and so too of the avatars of The High Five also. Look out for nods to John Carpenter's 'Christine', 'The A-Team', 'The Iron Giant', 'The Shining', the Batmobile from the '60's 'Batman' television series, 'King Kong', 'Jurassic Park', 'Back to the Future', Freddy Kruger, Betelgeuse, Chucky to name but a few, and a thumping soundtrack straight from that time too. The effects are at times overwhelming however, as you concentrate to keep apace of the action, the cultural references, and the characters from the past, and whilst this is a movie about a globally interconnected virtual reality environment, a little more time and effort concentrating on the human element of The High Five characters in the real world rather that their avatars may not have gone amiss. Nonetheless, Spielberg has added another rollercoaster action adventure spectacle to his filmography that only serves to demonstrate his mastery over the craft which he was instrumental in defining. Catch it on the big screen . . . you'll be pleased you did.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-