Thunderbolts*, as a film, is a bold choice for Marvel. It’s also smaller and more… intimate doesn’t feel like the right word, for a Marvel film. That being said, it’s a big action movie for anyone else.

With Jake Schreier helming this outing, and a script by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, we catch up with characters we’ve met in various Marvel films and series. None of them can really be defined as heroes. But they soon find themselves thrown together and dealing with a dangerous threat.

Sounds like a lot of other Marvel films, sure. They have a system, and a colossal amount of talent in front of and behind the camera. But this one resonated with me, they took a but of a risk on this one I think.

Because despite the superhero/anti-hero trappings, the film talks about mental health and depression. In fact, it is the crux of the entire plot.

That’s not to say the film is a huge downer. On the contrary, the actors know their characters, and there are a lot of fun character bits, David Harbour verges on stealing every scene he is in, with his boisterous portrayal of the Red Guardian.

The film follows a group of not quite heroes, Yelena (Florence Pugh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), disgraced former Captain America, U.S. Agent John Walker (Wyatt Russell). When a mission each of them is on, under orders from Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), goes sideways, they find themselves having to work together, and stop their former boss.

Valentina is under investigation by an oversight committee headed Wendell Pierce’s congress man, and watched by new junior congress member, Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). She’s getting rid of anything that could incriminate her, and that includes any of her dark operatives.

Throw in a troubled young man, Bob (Lewis Pullman), who is part of Valentina’s programs, and there are going to be problems for everyone.

Florence Pugh is amazingly talented, and her Yelena is front and center through it all. Still reeling from the loss of her sister, her missing connection with her father, and the terrible things she’s done and continues to do, she struggles with the same darkness that seems to plague Bob. And countless others around the world.

That’s the part that resonates. It’s a fairly honest look (at least for a superhero movie) at trauma, mental health, and depression. That darkness can be all consuming, and as glimpsed in the trailers, it does.

But Schreier keeps things moving, there are solidly executed set pieces, and moments of heroism that have a lot of power on the big screen.

It’s fun, has a strong emotional core, and ties itself solidly in with the continuity of the MCU. And I applaud the fact that the film’s plot is dealing with mental health issues.

Thunderbolts* opens tomorrow nationwide. Check it out in IMAX, and make sure you hang around for those tantalizing and oh so entertaining mid and post-credit scenes.