“Thunderbolts*” is a huge, pleasant surprise. A fun, yet mature Marvel movie, a rare superhero movie that actually has something to say, with an emotional gut punch of a story about mental health. Ever since “Avengers: Endgame,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe has felt aimless, like DC after “Justice League” but without as much experimentation. Sure, the TV shows did explore different tones with varying degrees of success (“Loki,” “Ms. Marvel,” and “Moon Knight” remain highlights), but the movies started to feel more cookie-cutter than ever (with a couple of exceptions).
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This is why “Thunderbolts*” feels so refreshing, because it looks back at what has always worked best with Marvel movies, namely the team dynamics, while trying something new like having the third act essentially pull a “Neon Genesis Evangelion” finale by trading a fisticuff climax for an introspective therapy session inside a depressed character’s head (while the outside world faces annihilation).
This is not to say that “Thunderbolts*” doesn’t feel like a Marvel movie, because it very much does. The humor feels in line with classic MCU quips without being overdone, with funny one-liners and a few references that may verge on meta. Case in point, a scene where Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine mocks David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian), by calling him “old Santa.” Some fans believe this is a reference to Harbour’s 2022 movie “Violent Night” where he plays Santa.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com about that joke, Harbour noted, “I do not believe it was [a reference to “Violent Night”] … Julia [Louis-Dreyfus] said it might have been improv, but I think it was in an early script,” the actor said. “I know that the earliest script of this was written by Eric Pearson, who had written ‘Black Widow’ and who’s a buddy of mine and who I really love, and I know Eric likes to make fun of me. And so I imagine that it could have been, but I never spoke to him about it.”
Regardless of the reference, Violent Night is a fun time
Regardless of whether that was a reference or a coincidence, “Violent Night” is still a fun time and a movie worth watching. Directed by Tommy Wirkola, “Violent Night” follows Harbour as, well, Santa Claus. Except he is not a jolly gift-giver, but a hardened Viking warrior who drinks on the job, kind of hates kids, and loves his skull-crushing sledgehammer more than anything in the world. It’s a hugely entertaining movie that /Film’s own Ben F. Silverio called a “soon-to-be Christmas classic.”
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There is no small supply of Christmas horror movies where Santa is a murderous maniac, and there are also a few movies where Santa is kind of a superhero. What makes “Violent Night” great is that it turns Santa into a badass action hero within a horror movie, with David Harbour as a grizzled, hard-boiled Saint Nick going to town by beating bad guys to death with a sledgehammer. Oh, and he was also a Viking warrior in his youth, before being picked as Santa to turn his life around. It’s a bloodthirsty movie with great action and some genuinely touching moments. It’s fun, it’s badass, it’s David Harbour being his best self.
So, does Red Guardian resemble Santa in any way beyond being old, fat, European, and having a beard? Well, kind of? Both can be badasses when they want to, and they are both played by David Harbour. But even if it wasn’t a reference to “Violent Night,” but just a joke about Red Guardian’s looks, you should still go see this classic in the making.
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