Marvel at the cracking ragtag team rocking the universe

Depth of acting, relatable characters, excellent timing and grounded action scenes make Thunderbolts* a two-hour feast. By Kervyn Cloete

- Kervyn Cloete

Walker, Ghost and Taskmaster - all of whom had been quietly performing black ops missions for shady CIA string-puller Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) — find themselves thrown together in a mysterious vault with conflicting orders that put them at one another's throats.

Interrupting the ensuing melee, though, is the appearance of Bob (Lewis Pullman), the mild-mannered but troubled young man who appears out of nowhere and has no idea how he got there.

Forced to work together (with much hilarious bickering) to get themselves and Bob out of a deadly trap, the group uncover a threat that pulls in both Bucky and Red Guardian as well. And with the Avengers no longer around, who else is there to step into the breach when this threat turns into a mass-murdering nightmare? That's if they can actually agree on anything, including what the name of their team should be.

If that sounds like an uproariously fun odd-couple comic book adventure, it’s because it is.

Russell’s dickish Walker and Harbour’s cringe-dad Red Guardian bring the biggest laughs, but the entire cast shows off strong comic timing, bolstered by chemistry just exploding off the screen. That is, when the charismatic witticisms aren’t being upstaged by the actual explosions.