Spoilers Thunderbolts* grade and discussion thread

[FPAlpha]

Speaking of Rachel Weisz, for all the talk about Yelena and Alexei's relationship she doesn't seem to care all that much about her "Mom" or mention her. Alexei doesn't seem to want to reconnect with his "wife" either.

I think it's ok in this case as she doesn't feature in the movie but Alexei does. Introducing her in name but not in person would just needlessly confuse people even though i figure they left in good terms after Black Widow.

We also see why Alexei cut her out as he was dealing with his own problems and depressions feeding back into the narrative of the whole movie. It would have been hard coming up with a realistic reason why her mom would cut contact and they already cut the shame rooms for the other characters in the movie.

 

[FPAlpha]

I guess a lot of actors in that franchise are aging out?



Ghost - Ant-Man 2.
Red Guardian - Black Widow, What if?.
Black Widow II - Black Widow, Hawkeye.
Bucky - Captain America 1 - 4, What If?, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Avengers 2 - 4, Ant-Man, Black Panther.
US Agent - Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Taskmaster - Black Widow.
Valentina (Elaine from Friends) - Black Panther Wakanda Forever, Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

I don't know wha you mean by aging out?

Sebastian Stan has been in it for the longest time and is nearing the end of his 10 movie Marvel contract, i figure his contract is up after Doomsday/Secret Wars but he's only 42, so has a few years left to be a believable action star even though he's taking on rather serious drama movies lately that don't feature too much action.

The others are in their prime age and career wise, so they have a good mix of older and younger characters.

It's just too bad that Marvel failed to really build up favorite new characters post Endgame or rather has failed to push while it was hot like Simu Liu as Shang Chi.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Sebastian Stan has been in it for the longest time and is nearing the end of his 10 movie Marvel contract, i figure his contract is up after Doomsday/Secret Wars but he's only 42, so has a few years left to be a believable action star even though he's taking on rather serious drama movies lately that don't feature too much action.

Speaking of which...

Remember how we were all shocked by the huge number of films in that contract? Jackson's big contract made sense...but Stan's Bucky?

And yet now? We can't wait for more Bucky. Bucky forever, please and thank you.

 

[FPAlpha]

Yes, Bucky belongs to the cream of Marvel characters and is a shining reason why Marvel was so successful, i.e. they wrote engaging and interesting characters and over the course of the movies and TV shows deepened their backstory and journey, so we truly cared for them ( plus Bucky is just so damn cool ).

That made deaths like Black Widow or Tony Stark that much more powerful - i have seen reactors cry full on when those two died.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I don't know wha you mean by aging out?

Sebastian Stan has been in it for the longest time and is nearing the end of his 10 movie Marvel contract, i figure his contract is up after Doomsday/Secret Wars but he's only 42, so has a few years left to be a believable action star even though he's taking on rather serious drama movies lately that don't feature too much action.

The others are in their prime age and career wise, so they have a good mix of older and younger characters.

It's just too bad that Marvel failed to really build up favorite new characters post Endgame or rather has failed to push while it was hot like Simu Liu as Shang Chi.

Lets explain the Joke.

I pretended that TFATWS stood for The Fast and the "something, Something" as if it was part of the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, and not Marvel.

I'll get back to my Star Wars Day celebrations, thank you.

May the Fourth be with you.

 

[Turtletrekker]

In the theater. See you on the other side.

 

[FPAlpha]

Lets explain the Joke.

I pretended that TFATWS stood for The Fast and the "something, Something" as if it was part of the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, and not Marvel.

I'll get back to my Star Wars Day celebrations, thank you.

May the Fourth be with you.

Ok, still don't understand what that has to do with aging out but you go do your thing

Happy Star Wars day to you too!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ok, still don't understand what that has to do with aging out but you go do your thing

Happy Star Wars day to you too!

The Fast and the Furious actors are ageing out, after 25 years.

The Rock is much younger than I thought he was, just 53, and I suppose Paul Walker stopped aging a while back.

 

[Turtletrekker]

That was a lot of fun. I love that they're setting up a rivalry between Avengers and New Avengers, just like in the Dark Reign era in the comics. And the Fantastic Four have arrived! I noticed the credit for Michael Giacchino for the Fantastic Four theme in the credits as well, so I was spoiled on that point, but it did not diminish my excitement upon seeing that glorious number "4" on that arriving extra dimensional ship. Is it July yet?

 

[tomalak301]

I've fallen out of favor somewhat with the MCU. I haven't seen many of the Disney+ shows, and the last Marvel property I did see was Deadpool and Wolverine. I've actually been looking forward to Thunderbolts based on the fun trailer, but this is far from a fun film. It's actually a good film dealing with a difficult topic of depression and loneliness and when it dealt with that, it was one of the better MCU films in the catelog. When it was trying to be funny and whitty, the tonal shift did feel a bit off. With that said, I did enjoy it and I really liked how it felt more of a character piece than the action that these films have shown lately. Every character got a chance to shine, and I felt empathy for them by the end, especially Yelana and Bob. I'm not sure if I'm really to be fully back on board with the MCU, but this felt like a step in the right direction.

And maybe i need to subscribe to Disney+ for a month and finally watch Falcon and Winter Soldier.

 

[DarKush]

This movie didn't do it for me. It didn't feel like a summer blockbuster. I feel like it should've been on Disney Plus where they could give more of the characters development and delve even deeper into the subject matter the film explored. I am doubtful this movie will get strong repeat business because I don't feel it has enough wow moments.

 

[Thestral]

That was much better than I would have expected when the cast of characters was first announced. I liked that everybody got something to do, and as somebody who thought the Sentry's entry into Marvel Comics was exceptionally hamfisted I love what they did with Bob here. I do wish that we'd gotten to see some of Eva's shame; I think she was the only one that pretty much got nothing.

Will, almost the only one. In the end, was there any reason at all to include Taskmaster? She was barely a cameo with no lines and I think we saw Olga Kurylenko herself for less than 10 seconds?

Still, great time and great spending some time on a humane portrayal of mental illness. I especially love what it took to best the Void.

 

[John Clark]

Just back from seeing it. I enjoyed it, but the cinema was busier than I expected (Half Nine, Sunday morning).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Well, almost the only one. In the end, was there any reason at all to include Taskmaster? She was barely a cameo with no lines and I think we saw Olga Kurylenko herself for less than 10 seconds?

Yeah, although we all knew it was coming, I was still disappointed by Antonia's lack of role and quick dismissal from the story. I get that the film wanted to demonstrate the influence of Val's machinations against the four of them at the beginning, but I feel that could've worked just as well as them nearly killing each other before they finally de-escalated.

I also think it's a shame that the film, and even us with our expectations that she would die at the Void's hand later on, only ever saw Antonia as cannon fodder. This version of the character deserved more and I still wish Black Widow had better explored and implemented the characterization it had established.

Along with the limited focus on John's and especially Ava's shame, Antonia's extremely finite role is one of my few disappointments with the film.

 

[CaptainWacky]

It's good, I liked it. Florence Pugh is a great actress and feels like a proper movie star so she makes an excellent lead. Lewis Pullman was really good as Bob too and the part with him defeating the manifestation of his dark side was quite moving. David Harbour gets a LOT of broad humour and, while it might be a bit much in places, he really goes for it and did make me laugh several times. He delivers on the emotional stuff with Yelena too. I like Hannah John-Kamen as a Ghost though I did wish they went into her character a bit more, like maybe show what she saw in the void or at least mention Bill Foster. On the other hand I liked that they didn't go into Bucky's backstory again because that's very much been done.

Taskmaster's death was a nice surprise moment though ultimately does'nt mean much since they only mention her once afterwards. Not really sure how well Val works as a villain, she feels too much like Selina Meyer a lot of the time. Giving her a void vision was a good idea but she dosn't really seem any different afterwards and it doesn't do much to recontextualise her actions.

Action is good - thanfully the editing isn't all choppy like some of these movies - with the fight against Sentry in the tower being the highlight. I found the murky colours a bit annoying in the first act when they're underground, it was hard to see things at times. Or I'm getting old! The void stuff looked good.

Overall it's good and feels like it has a lot more substance than the shallow nothing of things like Brave New World.

 

[tomalak301]

Taskmaster's death was a nice surprise moment though ultimately does'nt mean much since they only mention her once afterwards. Not really sure how well Val works as a villain, she feels too much like Selina Meyer a lot of the time. Giving her a void vision was a good idea but she dosn't really seem any different afterwards and it doesn't do much to recontextualise her actions.

There were parts of that movie (especially during the impeachment proceedings) where it felt like she was playing Selina Meyer.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Didn't realize Lewis Pullman was Bill Pullman's son until it was mention in a YouTube reaction. I knew there was something familiar about him. Like Wyatt Russell he looks like his dad, but not exactly.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Hmmm. Bill Pullman should appear in the MCU. I think the role "US President" is available.

 

[Set Harth]

Happy Star Wars day to you too!

Bah humbug!

The real Star Wars Day should be May 25!