Marvel’s most entertaining movie in ages

Oh, the joys of watching a Marvel movie that doesn’t feel like just another Marvel movie.

Lately, the best of the 36-film-strong Marvel Cinematic Universe are the entries that blaze their own unique path, like Sony’s teen-angst “Spider-Man” series, the filthy “Deadpool & Wolverine” and now the darkly comic “Thunderbolts*.”

A funny-but-tortured femme-fatale performance from Florence Pugh as Russian assassin Yelena Belova, brutal and tactile fights and a merciful lack of confusing backstory makes for the most enjoyable MCU entry in a while.

Far from the all-powerful Eternals (dreadful movie) or generally successful Avengers, the Thunderbolts* are, well, Yelena puts it better than I could.

“Oh my God. We suck,” she says.

Most of the time, she’s dead right. For these complicated antiheroes, getting the job done is strenuous, sweaty work. A stark contrast from Tony Stark, they’re a Poor Man’s Everybody.

Yelena, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) comprise a scrappy crew of misfit toys who, while talented, are not too talented.

Against their will, the whiny pack is crammed together in a locked vault when shady CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) separately assigns them to kill each other — a lethal move to wipe away her misdeeds as well as her dangerous plan to bioengineer a super soldier.

Most of the mercenaries survive, and they band together to defeat Val, who Dreyfus chomps on like an evil Selina Meyer from “Veep.” They also must contend with the seemingly harmless but uneasy Bob (Lewis Pullman, freaky).

A lot of these characters have appeared in other MCU films or TV shows before, but, for once, you don’t have to know anything about them to like and understand “Thunderbolts*.” They’re instead defined by vibes and attitudes that are made clear right from the get-go.

Yelena’s dry wit is as sharp as her jabs and kicks; Loud-and-proud Red Guardian, who drives a creaky stretch limo, comes in like a wrecking ball; Ghost has the best ability, invisibility, but is fuzzy on her powers; Walker is an embittered has-been with a chip on his shoulder; and out-of-his-depth politician Bucky’s just over it. The quintet easily clicks, sitcom-like.  

That could be because “Thunderbolts*” isn’t so green-screen heavy, and the actors appear to be actually talking to one another. Groundbreaking.

As much as the film is a loner, director Jake Schreier does the meat-and-potatoes comic book moments, from clever jailbreaks to affirming rescues, very well.

Simple yet effective sequences, such as when it takes the strength of all four to prevent a slab of concrete from crushing a woman in Midtown, provide shivers that I thought unfeeling Marvel forgot how to provoke.

The ending, involving a psychological trap called “The Void” that replays prisoners’ worst memories, wobbles a touch. New Yorkers trapped in a painful, alternate mental plane reminded me of the angry pink slime from “Ghostbusters 2,” which is something I’d rather forget.

However, the finale is short. All of “Thunderbolts” is breezy and narratively uncomplicated, unlike “Captain America: Brave New World,” which turned two hours into a lifetime.

Should “Thunderbolts” spin out into a sub-franchise? Probably not. However, I’d like to see a lot more of Pugh’s Yelena — practically “Killing Eve”’s Eve Harrington — who was also in 2021’s barely-remembered film “Black Widow.”

Yelena introduces herself by saying, “I’m in the clean-up business.”

Well, Pugh’s is the business of cleaning up the MCU.