Run time: 127 mins

Moderate violence, threat, language

Florence Pugh leads a messy, magnetic ensemble in this refreshingly sharp, character-driven Marvel entry that works best when it forgets it’s part of a franchise.

Frustrated with life in CIA black-ops, Yelena (Pugh) asks her boss Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) for something redemptive. Instead, she’s sent on a mission designed to destroy her and fellow morally grey agents: John Walker, Ava/Ghost, and Taskmaster Antonia. Realising the trap, they join forces to protect the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman), with backup from Yelena’s chaotic father Alexei (David Harbour) and the ever-conflicted Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). But Valentina has deeper plans, and Bob may be more than he seems.

Told largely through Yelena’s eyes, the story finds real weight in her journey, and Pugh’s brilliant performance grounds the mayhem. She brings depth to themes of isolation, identity, and reluctant kinship with her fellow “losers.” Harbour, Stan, and Louis-Dreyfus offer striking support, with the latter chewing the scenery as the masterfully manipulative Valentina.

Balancing snark, sorrow and spectacle with surprising elegance, Thunderbolts* (don’t forget the asterisk) is a manic but meaningful ride. Less about saving the world, more about saving themselves and, quite possibly, the franchise