Spoiler-Free Review: Thunderbolts*

0:00 You get more out of life when you go out to a movie. No On with the show. Hello everybody, I'm Jeff Johnson and I'm Garret Gibson and for a Film by podcast, we are once again back to the box office with a quick spoiler free review. And dare I say a return to proper form for the MCU Garrett, because we're talking about Thunderbolts. What gun of superstium did you get a regular hid?

0:50 Oh fancy, look. At you are also adorable. So we'll just punch and shoot. He's just makings of keevils that can raise the. Be the heroes we are. The thunder Volts can't call ourselves that. Thank god, thunder Volts the cool man. Yes, proper return. Indeed, this film delivered in many aspects and I'm excited to go over a few the spoiler free moments here.

1:36 Let's talk about this cast because because the chemistry is solid, I mean, nobody's hogging the spotlight, nobody's getting left behind. Quick rundown for our listeners, talking about Florence Pugh as Yolena Belova, black widow, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes. Winner soldier David Harber as Alexi Red Guardian. Whyatt Russell as Walker. And that is the US agent. Former Captain America. Right, how about uh, how about Hannah John Kaman as Ava. That'll be ghosts absolutely. And uh rounding out the package. You can't have all these uh these great anti hairs without a villain to face off against. And she's so much fun. Julia Louis Dreyfuss as Valentina Alegre d'efontaine.

2:28 That is Defontaine to you. Great great inside joke in the in the movie about her name. I was really digging that. Garrett. Let's talk about these guys like I mean, we've seen everyone several times in several movies. This is their their debut as as a team, and they are fantastic. You would have thought this was like their third, third time out as a as a crew. It really is. It works on so many levels. It's it's about the second or third event film almost the way this cast works so well together. It's like these guys have been together for years, haven't they. They have not for the first time of them being on screen with one another.

3:11 I think it was executed absolutely perfect. I liked I like how you said it. You know this feels like Avengers three Avengers four with the way they're treating each other, because you're absolutely right, man like, Like I said, the chemistry is absolutely solid. You would have thought these actors they know these characters inside and out, they've played them several times, and they're doing an absolute bang up job here. I want to say something. I'll be careful because we're spoiler free, but we got to mention this. We see Lena Florence Pugh, she's she's gonna do something in this movie that basically it's it's a stunt on the level of, Hey, Tom Cruise, hold my beer and check this out. Because when you're watching it, you're just like, oh, yeah, it's it's Marvel magic with you know, nothing too exciting. We know that, we know she's fine, we know she's safe, Garrett, and I hope you know what I'm talking about. Towards the beginning of the movie, Florence Pugh did that for real?

4:06 That Yes, the opening scene with her as she's getting the dialogue at the beginning, Yeah, I did not real that, but that is a very Tom Cruise esque move. So I gotta say mad respect her for. That, Mad respect, right, Yeah, David Harbor. I think he's clearly he's the comedic relief. We're having so much fun with him. Wyatt Russell, who is he is Kurt Russell. He's becoming Kurt Russell. Did you notice that, like I have? Just the way he talks and carries himself in this film, it's just simply amazing. It's very reminiscent of his father. And I kind of want to see him in some if they ever remake anything, whether it's the Thing or whatever it may be, I want them to cast this man.

4:49 He's that believable. Listen, I would love that. When there was talk about an Escape from New York remake or another Escape from an Escape movie, they went straight to him and he said he would never take that role from his father. That's his father's role. It'll always be his father's role. But I'll tell you, man, he Walker is giving a little bit of Jack Burton vibe in this movie, because they are there have been misfits, they're anti heroes, but they're they're also they're they're they're finding their way, and man, he's he's got some real Jack Burton moments. I was laughing several times, and I was just thinking about Big Trouble Little China, with his. Delivery, with a lot of his delivery and just a lot of his voice lines in this film.

5:32 You get that Kurt Russell vibe from. Him, and I think this is something that you know with age of course, he's starting to follow in his father's footsteps. You know, career starts out kind of slow, and now here we are something huge and I'm excited to see where he goes from here. For him, I'll tell you who I'm I'm excited for, and I think I think you're gonna agree with me. Let's talk about the breakout performance we got. We got an actor named Lewis Pullman, and again we want to be safe here, no spoilers, but we can we can safely say he's playing a character named Bob. Bob is such a great character in this film. Right after we see him, he cracks a you know, crooked half smile, and I'm.

6:16 Like, this looks so damn familiar. Where do I recognize this kid from. It's not until the credit started and I see the last name and I'm like, Louis's that's Bill pullman Son. Hold on, it takes me back to Lake Placid, just that little smile and I'm like, oh shit, yep, that's definitely a sound. As soon as you said that's Bill Pullman's son, I could not see it. I mean, he looks a lot. This is like a Jack Quaid situation. You know, he looks just like his dad. You know, well, Whyatt Russell looking a lot like Kurt Russell. Lewis Pullman though, absolutely awesome job. He is the breakout performance. We can't even talk about why without giving anything away. But here's something that's that's surprise that might surprise you, Garrett. You may recognize him from another big franchise movie that he was in recently. I'm talking about Top Gun Maverick.

7:14 Oh my goodness, okay. And he played a character named. Bob that is priceless. Is this Lewis Pullman's calling card from now on? Is he just like the script? But uh, you know, character, I can't play a guy named Jim Jag. You to Bob and I'm all in man. We go ahead and far up? What about Bob? Yeah? Reboot here. You know I'm expecting to see Lowis pullmanis in there. Right, Let's talk about this movie a little bit, uh, Garrett, this is not another MCU paint by number superhero slugfest. We are introduced to this unconventional team who are collectively carrying plenty of emotional baggage.

7:55 Uh. And but for all the fun that this film is having, it manages to go dark just enough for us to take the character seriously and empathize with their traumas. Is that fair to say? That is terribly fair to say. I've gotta be honest with you. It really gives you a lot of deep dive and knowledge to these characters' backgrounds and let you know exactly how they became them. And I feel like a lot of that development and everything that we see in this film is a lot of groundwork. That is going to build something beautiful. With regards to the villain, who we won't talk about at all, I'm gonna say this first off, thank you MCU for giving us a proper villain. And it's someone that's intimidating, someone's a little edgy, a little creepy, a little scary. Fantastic work there. But for all this movie is doing, let let's let's let's get the blender out and let's let's throw in some some Avengers, some Oceans eleven, some Superman three, a little Nightmare on Um Street, and then like a whole lot of like happenybe half a bottle of vodka and you get Thunderbolts. Is that fair?

9:04 I think that's absolutely fair. And the vodka is definitely brought by Red Guardian, I've got to tell you. He absolutely is the music. You know, for years, the MCU has spent most of their music budget on a few popular songs from the seventies, eighties or nineties, and then then they hire like studio musicians to crank out some generic hera music. And I'm just being honest me, I'm being fair, you know, because I can instantly recognize the themes for Superman or Batman, hell even Sam Remy spider Man. But I'm at a loss if you ask me to hum up one bar from Thor or Captain America, I couldn't do it. So does the Thunderbolts deliver on some popular music from decades ago? You bet it does, right.

9:46 It does. It touches on a lot of classic songs to where you're like, oh, I like this all right, this fits the vibe. I like where this is going. It's one of those things that they're getting the band back together. So I feel like the music is right on par with it. You can't you can't hear genuine and not start bobbing your head. Oh no. But here's the other thing too, No generic here music because they hired a very unconventional band called sun Lux to do the score here. I gotta be honest, man, what they give us is fresh, it's atmospheric, it's memorable. And what you think of the music.

10:27 I honestly thought it was composed like masterfully. No scene was like questioning, like the tempo's not right, Ah, they're not building this moment just right. I feel like they hit the nail right on the head and they delivered with the soundtrack, and I'm very impressed with it. For a band that I'm not very familiar with, I think they knocked us one that park. Did you see the movie Everything everywhere all at once? I have not, no, sir Ah, you got. Homework, buddy. It's an amazing film. They did the music for that, and it's the one you know, you know the movie I'm talking about. Okay, cool awesome music. Though I definitely now that I recognize them from that movie.

11:12 I'm gonna go check out some of their albums because I think they're fantastic. Also fantastic director Jake Schreier, who mostly he's done TV and music videos. I think his work here though, I think he makes him stand out among MCU directors. How do you what do you think? I really think it does. I want to say everyone better take notice because the way he delivered on this film, I don't think he could have done anything better that. I mean, the casting is perfect, the direction is perfect, the production of course with Kevin Fige and everyone is perfect. It's one of those things.

11:53 Where I don't think I would have one single complaint, and for this being his first major production, I don't think you get better than this at all. Do you remember the first time we saw Captain America the Winter Soldier and it was groundbreaking and we were like, who are the Russo brothers? Yeah? You know they made a mark right, And then we were excited anytime we saw their name. I mean, heck, they're they're coming back after all these years, They're coming back for Doomsday and in Secret Wars, I feel like Shreyer is on that path, like we're gonna we're gonna be like, man, are they gonna get Jake Schreyer to do another of the movie because they need to. That's that's where I'm at with it.

12:34 See, that's the thing. We're gonna see his name pop up because undoubtedly they have to make a Thunderbolts too after this film. You're going to see his name pop up on that one, and then somewhere down the line a few years you're going to see it pop up under whether it's a new Captain America film or whatever it may be, and you're gonna see that name and you're gonna holy shit, this is about to be awesome. Absolutely. Like we said, this is I feel like this as a return to form for the MCU, which also means don't go anywhere, stay to the end, because we get not we get the mid credit sequel easter egg, right, and then we get one at the end, so uh, you know, and and and true to form, you're gonna get one that's gonna make you chuckle, and then you're gonna get one that's gonna put a big smile on your face, right.

13:22 Yes, sir, So the mid credit scene, of course, it's always gonna make you smile. It's a you know, funny little thing like have a good night, folks. Yeah, and then the. Final credit scene you're like, oh, okay, we're cracking into this already. All right, let's get ready for it. A little bit of world building. Thunderbolts getting very positive reviews, very strong reviews. The critics are loving this. It's already a seven point seven out of ten on IMDb. It's an eighty nine percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Garrett I absolutely loved it. This is this is We're back. The MCU is back in business. Absolutely it. We we just came from a sneak preview. I wish we we had the IMAX for this. I'm going back. I'm going back to watch this on IMAX. So I say, see this one.

14:08 How about how about you? I say, run out and see this one ten out ten times. I know I'll be going back and watching this in IMAX as well, just to get that little bit of added experience. But now this is a film that I plan on seeing two, maybe three, possibly even four times in theaters. It was that good. Hey you have it. Thunderbolts is at your local theater today, releasing this weekend. Go check it out. You will you will not be sorry that you did, Garrett. I'm loving that we're back to the box office. I'm loving we're getting getting back into the movie review business. What we got next, We where we go? What we see in next?

14:54 Now a little film coming out this coming weekend. Uh, we're looking at Clown in the Cornfield. Clown in a Cornfield. I'll tell you what. Any chance you could buy the tickets? Yeah, but I think we're sitting C nine, C ten if I'm not mistaken. Not that bad when you're sitting that class. We'll see you next time.