TEHRAN – American director Jake Schreier’s 2025 film Thunderbolt was screened on Wednesday during a session at Tehran’s Alasbaran Cultural Center.
Iranian film critic Kourosh Jahed took part in a review session following the film’s screening.
“Thunderbolts” is a superhero movie based on a team of anti-heroes from Marvel Comics. The story focuses on a group of morally ambiguous characters who find themselves caught up in a deadly trap, uniting a dangerous mission that can determine their future and perhaps the fate of the world.
The story begins in Malaysia, where Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) destroys a secret lab on behalf of CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). De Fontaine is in a hurry to hide her involvement with the Oxe Group’s “Sentry” superhuman project.
Faced with a potential blast, she secretly sends out mercenaries (Elena, John Walker (Sebastian Stan), Ava Starr (Olga Kurylenko), and Antonia Draikov. During chaos, Ava kills Antonia and a memory-lost man named Bob is released from a stopped animation pod. Recognizing that they were sent to be wiped out with evidence of de Fontaine’s misconduct, the group decides to cooperate to escape.
As they escape, contact with Bob causes Yelena and Walker to experience a disturbing vision of their worst memories. De Fontaine quickly learns the group that the group survived, and it is presumed that Bob is a dead participant in the Sentry Trial. She arrives at the facility. There, Bob draws the enemy fire, creating a transformation, allowing Yelena, Walker and Ava to escape. Despite being shot, Bob appears to be uninjured at first glance, but then unexpectedly climbs into the air before hitting the compound. He was captured and taken to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, and is now known as the “Watch Tower.” De Fontaine will introduce Bob to the public as a very powerful guardian, hoping that this PR stunt will hinder her blast each.
Meanwhile, Alexei Shostakov (David Harbor) hears about De Fontaine’s plans while working as a driver, and saves the team. He calls them “Thunderbolts.” This is a nostalgic nod to Yelena, a former childhood soccer team. When they reorganize, they are pursued by De Fontaine’s agents. Rep. Bucky Burns (Sebastian Stan), who is investigating Fontaine, joins them and infiltrates the watchtower. They discover that Bob is being manipulated by de Fontaine and that he easily overwhelms the team under her influence.
But Bob’s delusions of superiority grow, and he opposes de Fontaine. Her assistant Mel disables him with a failsafe kill switch. Boyd brings New York City into supernatural darkness and locks residents into pocket dimensions. Desperately, Elena enters the darkness and reaches Bob’s subconscious. Inside, she confronts her as a black widow in the past, finding Bob hiding in a childhood bedroom where he has been recreated, where he endures the abuse of his father.
The team travels to Malaysia. In Malaysia, Bob first volunteered to join the sentry procedure to escape drug addiction and purpose. Faced with Boyd’s destructive forces, Thunderbolt assembles behind Bob and reaffirms their belief in his humanity. Their support will help him regain control, expel the blanks, and restore light to the city. The immediate danger is resolved and the victims are released.
The team is preparing to arrest de Fontaine, but she holds a press conference, claims credit, rebrands the team as “the new Avengers” and subtly insistes control. Yelena quietly tells her, “We own you,” indicating their independence.
In Rotten Tomato, 88% of 351 critics gave “Thunderbolts” a positive review, praised it as a refreshing MCU adventure with Florence Pugh. Metacritic reports “general favorable” scores of 68 out of 100 from 53 critics. The film was nominated for Best Pictures at the Astramid Season Film Awards, with Florence Pugh being the Best Actress.
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