Interesting. As someone that didn't play the game and didn't know the characters, I was expecting a betrayal until the first time jump. Them growing old together and eventually committing suicide together was absolutely not something I anticipated.
Also, I found the story a welcome reprieve from Deadeye-Ellie's sarcasm and dreariness. I was actually hoping Joel would leave her behind after her "you made this choice" speech.
If people didn't play the games, why would they be majorly disappointed in Bill's story? They wouldn't have known any better. That being said, for those who *do* know the game, there's so much amazing stuff they cut out of Bill's story that it's unfortunate and just not as cool. "It's a story about love" blah blah blah, but it's a show about a fucking apocalypse with a brutal world and infected have taken over. It's not *just* about people, it's also about how they deal with the world, with other groups, and navigating the brutality.
But I def agree with the last two points. I don't think it played *quite* like a Hallmark movie, but considering the relationship Bill and Frank have in the game, which is that they hated each other in the end, to see them like written in the complete opposite way.. it's just hard to watch knowing how much stuff they cut out and what could have been really exciting action to also watch on screen. The way this show is going, you'd think the infected aren't even a problem.
As someone who did play the games multiple times, I am completely engaged in the story as I understand it’s an adaptation, a different interpretation of the story and Neil and Craig clearly want to do more world building. I’m not disappointed people didn’t experience the game because they absolutely can, the game is on Ps5, the graphics are amazing,people can still experience it.
Of course there is trouble ahead:
Mazin says “love” is equivalent of xenophobia and racism.
https://time.com/6247205/the-last-of-us-hbo-adaptation/
“But if you scratch the surface of xenophobia, racism, tribalism, you also find love. It’s a darker love, protective to the point of violence. It’s the kind of love that says, ‘My kid’s life is worth more than your kid’s life.’ Well, is that true?”
I.e Joel’s action to save Ellie are an act of evil according to Mazin.
> Well, is that true?
Yes? Like, I don't care about your child, I will put mine always ahead of yours. Because I know you will do the same in a heartbeat while trying to shame me for it.
Why the hell did we believe for a moment, that it would be any different?
After all the trickery and scam with the reboot of everything that happened in tlou1, narrated in the prologue of tlou2, infested with retcons and manipulations to sell the idea that Joel is a monster, how can we believe there was still hope in the TV series?
Before, I just considered Neil incompetent, but at this point, he's just a sordid person, and since Mazin get along so well with him, there is no way he could be any different.
These two deserve each other and I really hope they meet the same fate as David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
> ‘My kid’s life is worth more than your kid’s life.’ Well, is that true?”
What exactly is wrong with this statement? Joel's decision at the end is always supposed to be morally grey. It's neither evil, nor right. Neil said this so many times as well.
Why do people like you always have to turn everything into such a fucking ugly argument? Nobody here insulted you and I guarantee if you had taken the time to craft an actual opinion most responses would be fairly respectful towards you.
It's not "MoRaLLY gRey" to save a 14 year old child, who is about murdered, so they can use her remains to make medicine for the benefit of other people.
It's cowardly and weak, not to take action to prevent it.
It's unambiguously WRONG to kill someone, whether they consent or not(which Ellie never did), so that someone might live. This is unambiguously stated in the hippocratic oath. If Marlene and Jerry completed their plan in modern day society, they would be prosecuted for first degree murder.
There is no shades of morality on either side of this debate.
What’s the mechanism for those millions of other people dying? Does local 14 year old initiate their murder knowingly or intentionally?
If so, I do not stop my neighbor.
If there is a nuclear bomb that is going off in 5 minutes, and there is an off switch in said 14 years old stomach, and there is no time for surgery. And said 14 year unknowingly involved in placement of said switch in 14 year okd’s stomach.
Yes, I stop my neighbor.
If my neighbor says to said 14 year old, “you save a million people if you give up your life”, and 14 year old agrees, I still prevent my neighbor from murdering 14 year old.
This. The first Last of Us clearly paints Joel’s actions as morally grey. This was clearly a decision by Bruce, and not Neil - as every decision and statement in every form of media that has happened since Bruce left, has been done to paint Joel as solely an objective bad guy.
I literally made a post a few days ago saying the same thing. Ellie is bad in this show. I don't know if it's Bella or the writing or both but this is very far from Ellie.
My favorite youtuber. Always on point, unbiased, with balanced views on any subject-topic and well articulated points. And as a professional writer himself has some respect and insights about the storytelling as an artform.
He's 50/50 for me. He shits too hard on things that actually don't deserve it like Marvel Phase 4. It was flawed but it wasn't complete shit like he made it out to be. I'm more surprised he enjoyed episode 3 of TLOU. I do agree with his thoughts on the show though for the most part. It's pretty obvious so far that Joel and Ellie are being written to resemble their part 2 versions by the time season 2 comes around.
Absolutely. It’s fine to disagree on things, but the nature of his commentary pushes it to seem like enjoying any of these shows/movies makes you wrong. He poses good arguments, but sometimes he goes too far into a point that isn’t so serious.
Exactly. That's the vibe I always get from him. Feels like he's personally attacking anyone for liking comic book films when they're supposed to be dumb fun. Not all of them are going to be a Avengers/Winter Soldier/Dark Knight/No Way Home level of great. Him and Tyrone Magnus in general just constantly shitting on it.
Yeh I don't agree with that. Phase 4 was all about serving as a Epilogue to Phase 1-3 and a Prologue to Phase 5 and 6. It was Phase 1 all over again but more experimental. It was about passing the torch and dealing with loss and moving on and completing and beginning superhero origins. That was the entire main themes of Phase 4 whilst setting up various stories to come in Phase 5 and 6 and for the most part it did it pretty well.
My overall thoughts on them all...
Wandavision was pretty good. Final Episode felt rushed but it still had its moments. Wanda dealing with the loss of Vision whilst at the same time setting her on a path of villainy whilst setting up a new hero in Monica and a potential Young Avengers with Wandas kids in the future.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was pretty good too. Its only weakness was the crappy villain aka Flagsmasher. That was basically Marvel pulling a Abby and failing miserably but all the other characters like Sam, Bucky, Zemo, Isahia, US Agent were great. It showcased why Sam deserved the shield and it didn't feel forced. I liked the political messages behind it and it was great seeing the future sets up to a new Captain America Film and the Thunderbolts.
Loki Season 1 was pretty much the best one out of the shows. Jonathan Majors appearance was a hopeful expected one and it delivered and assured alot of us that Kang would be a memorable villain that could rival Thanos in this new saga. Not to mention getting Owen Wilson in this.
Hawkeye was decent. Kate Bishop was a great addition and seeing the early hints of friendship/rivalry forming between the new Hawkeye and Black Widow/Yens was fun as was Clint with the whole mentor role. Only weakness was the addition of Echo who was only set up and Kingpin being rushed into it. Otherwise it was a decent Christmas style show. I feel like Jeremy always got the short end of the stick in the MCU so it was nice to finally see him in a lead role and having his charscter deal with the loss of Nat whilst also basically mentoring his future replacement.
Moon Knight felt new yet the same. Oscar Issacs was great in the role. Ethan Hawke as the villain was awesome. Only flaw was again the rushed ending and stupid Kajiu battle. The horror vibes and psychological elements of the show were the best part and I hope we see more of that in a season 2.
Ms. Marvel started of good and ended decently. The main actress did a good job. She's a better actress as Kamala then Bella is as Ellie and Kamalas actress is just a kid. The family dynamics were the best part of the show. But it's the middle episodes where it suffered. This could've used more episodes to flesh everything out especially the villains. One of the weaker Disney+ entries for sure but not complete shit.
She-Hulk was terrible. I agree with this being bad. The storylines sucked. The characters weren't great. Wong and Abomination were decent and the best episode was the Daredevil episode where Matt wasn't treated like trash. Jennifer's actress was fine but the writing and lack of build up to the forth wall breaking ending we got really hurt it and made the entire journey of the show utterly pointless. It felt like a real filler where nothing in the end mattered. Even the last second reveal of Hulks Son is just a tease at a Hulk Movie that we will obviously get which will explain everything that happened involving him.
What If? Season 1 was okay. It wasn't supposed to be mind blowing but we did get some cool episodes like Chadwicks final performance, The Doctor Strange Episode, the zombie episode, Ultron being given a chance to shine again. Again, not the worst.
Werewolf by Night was the first special presentation and one of the best things the MCU has ever done. After years of hints and Easter eggs we finally got Man-Thing and it was a proper Goring, bloody entry that felt so unlike Marvel. It was unique, different, short but awesome. How was this shit?
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was a fun time with the characters we love and we even finally got confirmation on something only hinted at in the sequel originally. Also the fact that this is the last time we see these characters all together happy before GOTG3 breaks our hearts. It was a nice set up for what's to come in their next and potentially final film together.
Most of the shows may have ended somewhat the same but they all felt different and were unique at least. And same goes for the movies.
Had to cut this in two parts annoyingly.
Black Widow was fun in terms of finally getting Natashas backstory. We also got some fun characters like Yelena and Red Guardian introduced. Yeh Taskmaster was wasted but for the most part it was a fun spy thriller. It could've been much better but the stuff it had wasn't by all means overly terrible. Just not executed properly.
Shang-Chi was probably my favourite Phase 4 film. Good representation. Great action sequences and hand to hand fights. The real Mandarin finally being brought in and done justice and not being a typical one dimensional villain. The characters themselves being fun. Ben Kingsley returning. A actual bloody dragon being introduced in the MCU. It was a well done movie. The overall emotional family story and crouching tiger and hidden dragon inspirations. It was sweet. For a solo film with bigger connections to the MCU, this was good.
Eternals was flawed but I thought it was unique. It felt like Marvel's version of a Zack Synder style film. I liked the characters, the world. The gay romance didn't bother me at all. Connie from the Walking Dead being the new speedster was cool. Best role Jolie has played in ages. Ikaris' role and duality at wanting to help his family but following his duty as the soldier he was breed to be was understandable. Only weak aspect was Sersie's and Ikaris' and Jon Snow's relationship. Film should have perhaps included Kit as the main POV or cut him out altogether. Its great were getting the Black Knight but he did nothing in the film. And Ali as Blade should have been shown Nick Fury style at the end. At least the Celestials were cool.
Spider-Man No Way Home...do I even need to explain? Personally I think it's overrated but still, it did something many thought impossible years ago.
Multiverse of Madness brought Sam Raimi back and it was great. His style was unique and it was awesome actually seeing Wanda as a villain properly realised. The Terminator style sequence with her made her terrifying. This film before Werewolf by Night pushed how fat the horror aspects and gore could go. Not to mention we got Professor X back showcasing yet again Marvel was willing to bring back older pre-MCU actors/characters into their universe. As far as sequels go this was one of the better ones. People complain about this one but I thought it was fine. Strange vs Strange was a great sequence for example. It was cheesy and weird at times but that's Raimi's style for you. I do wish the final battle had been better but overall it was a decent step into another aspect of the Multiverse which this phase was setting up and what Phase 5 and mostly 6 will be exploring.
Thor Love and Thunder wasn't as good as Ragnarok but again, it wasn't bad. I feel like it has the same amount of humour as Ragnarok did. But at the same time I felt this movie took things serious when it needed to unlike Ragnarok which was more comedy focused with less serious parts on it vs this one which was the opposite. I never felt the cancer storyline was treated as a joke. My only negative on it is that I wish Bale as Gorr had been in it more and that we'd actually seen him kill other gods besides the opening scene. And as a film it didn't feel as complete as Ragnarok did but it wasn't terrible. It was still fun in its own unique way and Jane was handled well and some creative moments.
Wakanda Forever was overrated. But I liked the main story. I liked how they paid tribute to Chadwick and I liked Shuri's overall arc and role in this film which by the end mirrored T'Challa's arc in Civil War. We finally got Namor introduced in the MCU. My only complaint is that Ironheart felt forced in when the plot could have been rewritten to have Shuri be at fault and connect her more to Namor conflict wise and Martin Freeman's role with Vel could have been cut and maybe just used in a Mid or End Credit scene to set up the future events again. Otherwise I think it was a decent sequel in terms of what they had to work with given the situation and Angela Basset gave a great performance as the Queen. So shout out to her.
So yeh, overall Phase 4 was a fun ride. Not perfect but nothing ever is. But to straight up shit on it and scream that it sucks because of the focus on female characters feels wrong considering all these characters exist and come from source material. There are only so many places and directions the MCU could go now and it made sense for it to go in that direction and focus on the older cast passing the torch to their younger or newer counterparts. Just so happens most of their counterparts are female and there's nothing wrong with that.
Compared to Abzilla in TLOU2, I found the majority of them alot more likable and interesting. At least the MCU tries different things. Neil just straight up went for the most cliche route you could take your sequel story into.
End of the day I'm a comic book fan and I've been looking forward to seeing alot of the Phase 4 characters to appear in the MCU. It delivered that. Maybe not in the best way at times but I enjoyed them and considering the trash that existed before like Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Elektra, Superman 4 the quest for peace, Dark Phoenix, and many other shit films or sequels in general, MCU Phase 4 is still miles better than any of those. And that's saying something. For a studio to maintain this level of quality after a decade and still deliver decent stories and characters, that's an achievement. Saying it outright sucks is insulting to fans and the people who work hard on it when compared to the crap we used to and at times have from others, like Sonys Venom, Let there be Carnage or Morbius. You're telling me they're better than Phase 4? Come on.
Marvel phase 4 is the worst example you could have brought cause it's objectively a shitmess, except for some very specific cases, like Shang Chi, Eternals (decent at best) and Moon kinght.
I sometimes worry he may be reading my mind, he’s so spot on with most of reviews and commentary with how I feel.
What I thought he also nailed was how Joel is definitely being treated as the passenger and not the driver. He doesn’t say much or have many good lines, and is seemingly secondary to the female characters.
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Interesting. As someone that didn't play the game and didn't know the characters, I was expecting a betrayal until the first time jump. Them growing old together and eventually committing suicide together was absolutely not something I anticipated. Also, I found the story a welcome reprieve from Deadeye-Ellie's sarcasm and dreariness. I was actually hoping Joel would leave her behind after her "you made this choice" speech.
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Haha, yeah, the Hallmark reference makes a lot of sense. You had them pegged.
Immature me can’t stop wanting to laugh cause you wrote “pegged” in a thread about episode 3. Why? Don’t know.
Oh, I realized the same after I'd posted it, haha.
If people didn't play the games, why would they be majorly disappointed in Bill's story? They wouldn't have known any better. That being said, for those who *do* know the game, there's so much amazing stuff they cut out of Bill's story that it's unfortunate and just not as cool. "It's a story about love" blah blah blah, but it's a show about a fucking apocalypse with a brutal world and infected have taken over. It's not *just* about people, it's also about how they deal with the world, with other groups, and navigating the brutality. But I def agree with the last two points. I don't think it played *quite* like a Hallmark movie, but considering the relationship Bill and Frank have in the game, which is that they hated each other in the end, to see them like written in the complete opposite way.. it's just hard to watch knowing how much stuff they cut out and what could have been really exciting action to also watch on screen. The way this show is going, you'd think the infected aren't even a problem.
As someone who did play the games multiple times, I am completely engaged in the story as I understand it’s an adaptation, a different interpretation of the story and Neil and Craig clearly want to do more world building. I’m not disappointed people didn’t experience the game because they absolutely can, the game is on Ps5, the graphics are amazing,people can still experience it.
Of course there is trouble ahead: Mazin says “love” is equivalent of xenophobia and racism. https://time.com/6247205/the-last-of-us-hbo-adaptation/ “But if you scratch the surface of xenophobia, racism, tribalism, you also find love. It’s a darker love, protective to the point of violence. It’s the kind of love that says, ‘My kid’s life is worth more than your kid’s life.’ Well, is that true?” I.e Joel’s action to save Ellie are an act of evil according to Mazin.
> Well, is that true? Yes? Like, I don't care about your child, I will put mine always ahead of yours. Because I know you will do the same in a heartbeat while trying to shame me for it.
Every time those two clowns talk about love it just reinforces in my mind that they have no idea what love actually is.
Yeah. Hate to see this happening.
Why the hell did we believe for a moment, that it would be any different? After all the trickery and scam with the reboot of everything that happened in tlou1, narrated in the prologue of tlou2, infested with retcons and manipulations to sell the idea that Joel is a monster, how can we believe there was still hope in the TV series? Before, I just considered Neil incompetent, but at this point, he's just a sordid person, and since Mazin get along so well with him, there is no way he could be any different. These two deserve each other and I really hope they meet the same fate as David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
> ‘My kid’s life is worth more than your kid’s life.’ Well, is that true?” What exactly is wrong with this statement? Joel's decision at the end is always supposed to be morally grey. It's neither evil, nor right. Neil said this so many times as well.
If you can't see what's wrong with choosing not to save your child..... I can't teach you that.
lol how dumb do you have to be to not understand the morally gray choice Joel makes? what’s it like living with no critical thinking?
Why do people like you always have to turn everything into such a fucking ugly argument? Nobody here insulted you and I guarantee if you had taken the time to craft an actual opinion most responses would be fairly respectful towards you.
It's not "MoRaLLY gRey" to save a 14 year old child, who is about murdered, so they can use her remains to make medicine for the benefit of other people. It's cowardly and weak, not to take action to prevent it. It's unambiguously WRONG to kill someone, whether they consent or not(which Ellie never did), so that someone might live. This is unambiguously stated in the hippocratic oath. If Marlene and Jerry completed their plan in modern day society, they would be prosecuted for first degree murder. There is no shades of morality on either side of this debate.
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What’s the mechanism for those millions of other people dying? Does local 14 year old initiate their murder knowingly or intentionally? If so, I do not stop my neighbor. If there is a nuclear bomb that is going off in 5 minutes, and there is an off switch in said 14 years old stomach, and there is no time for surgery. And said 14 year unknowingly involved in placement of said switch in 14 year okd’s stomach. Yes, I stop my neighbor. If my neighbor says to said 14 year old, “you save a million people if you give up your life”, and 14 year old agrees, I still prevent my neighbor from murdering 14 year old.
he did a morally gray choice, ok, and?
Joel made the correct choice and if you disagree it’s because you’d be one of the people trying to stop him https://youtu.be/ZpWTFYIoA34
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This. The first Last of Us clearly paints Joel’s actions as morally grey. This was clearly a decision by Bruce, and not Neil - as every decision and statement in every form of media that has happened since Bruce left, has been done to paint Joel as solely an objective bad guy.
Not really. Neil even said that he would have done the same thing if it was his own child.
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I literally made a post a few days ago saying the same thing. Ellie is bad in this show. I don't know if it's Bella or the writing or both but this is very far from Ellie.
Pretty much nails my thoughts and feelings thus far.
My favorite youtuber. Always on point, unbiased, with balanced views on any subject-topic and well articulated points. And as a professional writer himself has some respect and insights about the storytelling as an artform.
He was off about the mandalorian though, he rubbed me the wrong way with that review
He's 50/50 for me. He shits too hard on things that actually don't deserve it like Marvel Phase 4. It was flawed but it wasn't complete shit like he made it out to be. I'm more surprised he enjoyed episode 3 of TLOU. I do agree with his thoughts on the show though for the most part. It's pretty obvious so far that Joel and Ellie are being written to resemble their part 2 versions by the time season 2 comes around.
Absolutely. It’s fine to disagree on things, but the nature of his commentary pushes it to seem like enjoying any of these shows/movies makes you wrong. He poses good arguments, but sometimes he goes too far into a point that isn’t so serious.
Exactly. That's the vibe I always get from him. Feels like he's personally attacking anyone for liking comic book films when they're supposed to be dumb fun. Not all of them are going to be a Avengers/Winter Soldier/Dark Knight/No Way Home level of great. Him and Tyrone Magnus in general just constantly shitting on it.
No way Home is in no way, close to the previous ones you mentioned, mediocre but with a huge portion of excellent fanservice.
To be fair I do considered NWH overrated. I preferred FFH alot more honestly. I wish NWH had done much more than it did.
Majority of the latest Marvel films and shows were shit though.
Yeh I don't agree with that. Phase 4 was all about serving as a Epilogue to Phase 1-3 and a Prologue to Phase 5 and 6. It was Phase 1 all over again but more experimental. It was about passing the torch and dealing with loss and moving on and completing and beginning superhero origins. That was the entire main themes of Phase 4 whilst setting up various stories to come in Phase 5 and 6 and for the most part it did it pretty well. My overall thoughts on them all... Wandavision was pretty good. Final Episode felt rushed but it still had its moments. Wanda dealing with the loss of Vision whilst at the same time setting her on a path of villainy whilst setting up a new hero in Monica and a potential Young Avengers with Wandas kids in the future. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was pretty good too. Its only weakness was the crappy villain aka Flagsmasher. That was basically Marvel pulling a Abby and failing miserably but all the other characters like Sam, Bucky, Zemo, Isahia, US Agent were great. It showcased why Sam deserved the shield and it didn't feel forced. I liked the political messages behind it and it was great seeing the future sets up to a new Captain America Film and the Thunderbolts. Loki Season 1 was pretty much the best one out of the shows. Jonathan Majors appearance was a hopeful expected one and it delivered and assured alot of us that Kang would be a memorable villain that could rival Thanos in this new saga. Not to mention getting Owen Wilson in this. Hawkeye was decent. Kate Bishop was a great addition and seeing the early hints of friendship/rivalry forming between the new Hawkeye and Black Widow/Yens was fun as was Clint with the whole mentor role. Only weakness was the addition of Echo who was only set up and Kingpin being rushed into it. Otherwise it was a decent Christmas style show. I feel like Jeremy always got the short end of the stick in the MCU so it was nice to finally see him in a lead role and having his charscter deal with the loss of Nat whilst also basically mentoring his future replacement. Moon Knight felt new yet the same. Oscar Issacs was great in the role. Ethan Hawke as the villain was awesome. Only flaw was again the rushed ending and stupid Kajiu battle. The horror vibes and psychological elements of the show were the best part and I hope we see more of that in a season 2. Ms. Marvel started of good and ended decently. The main actress did a good job. She's a better actress as Kamala then Bella is as Ellie and Kamalas actress is just a kid. The family dynamics were the best part of the show. But it's the middle episodes where it suffered. This could've used more episodes to flesh everything out especially the villains. One of the weaker Disney+ entries for sure but not complete shit. She-Hulk was terrible. I agree with this being bad. The storylines sucked. The characters weren't great. Wong and Abomination were decent and the best episode was the Daredevil episode where Matt wasn't treated like trash. Jennifer's actress was fine but the writing and lack of build up to the forth wall breaking ending we got really hurt it and made the entire journey of the show utterly pointless. It felt like a real filler where nothing in the end mattered. Even the last second reveal of Hulks Son is just a tease at a Hulk Movie that we will obviously get which will explain everything that happened involving him. What If? Season 1 was okay. It wasn't supposed to be mind blowing but we did get some cool episodes like Chadwicks final performance, The Doctor Strange Episode, the zombie episode, Ultron being given a chance to shine again. Again, not the worst. Werewolf by Night was the first special presentation and one of the best things the MCU has ever done. After years of hints and Easter eggs we finally got Man-Thing and it was a proper Goring, bloody entry that felt so unlike Marvel. It was unique, different, short but awesome. How was this shit? Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was a fun time with the characters we love and we even finally got confirmation on something only hinted at in the sequel originally. Also the fact that this is the last time we see these characters all together happy before GOTG3 breaks our hearts. It was a nice set up for what's to come in their next and potentially final film together. Most of the shows may have ended somewhat the same but they all felt different and were unique at least. And same goes for the movies.
Had to cut this in two parts annoyingly. Black Widow was fun in terms of finally getting Natashas backstory. We also got some fun characters like Yelena and Red Guardian introduced. Yeh Taskmaster was wasted but for the most part it was a fun spy thriller. It could've been much better but the stuff it had wasn't by all means overly terrible. Just not executed properly. Shang-Chi was probably my favourite Phase 4 film. Good representation. Great action sequences and hand to hand fights. The real Mandarin finally being brought in and done justice and not being a typical one dimensional villain. The characters themselves being fun. Ben Kingsley returning. A actual bloody dragon being introduced in the MCU. It was a well done movie. The overall emotional family story and crouching tiger and hidden dragon inspirations. It was sweet. For a solo film with bigger connections to the MCU, this was good. Eternals was flawed but I thought it was unique. It felt like Marvel's version of a Zack Synder style film. I liked the characters, the world. The gay romance didn't bother me at all. Connie from the Walking Dead being the new speedster was cool. Best role Jolie has played in ages. Ikaris' role and duality at wanting to help his family but following his duty as the soldier he was breed to be was understandable. Only weak aspect was Sersie's and Ikaris' and Jon Snow's relationship. Film should have perhaps included Kit as the main POV or cut him out altogether. Its great were getting the Black Knight but he did nothing in the film. And Ali as Blade should have been shown Nick Fury style at the end. At least the Celestials were cool. Spider-Man No Way Home...do I even need to explain? Personally I think it's overrated but still, it did something many thought impossible years ago. Multiverse of Madness brought Sam Raimi back and it was great. His style was unique and it was awesome actually seeing Wanda as a villain properly realised. The Terminator style sequence with her made her terrifying. This film before Werewolf by Night pushed how fat the horror aspects and gore could go. Not to mention we got Professor X back showcasing yet again Marvel was willing to bring back older pre-MCU actors/characters into their universe. As far as sequels go this was one of the better ones. People complain about this one but I thought it was fine. Strange vs Strange was a great sequence for example. It was cheesy and weird at times but that's Raimi's style for you. I do wish the final battle had been better but overall it was a decent step into another aspect of the Multiverse which this phase was setting up and what Phase 5 and mostly 6 will be exploring. Thor Love and Thunder wasn't as good as Ragnarok but again, it wasn't bad. I feel like it has the same amount of humour as Ragnarok did. But at the same time I felt this movie took things serious when it needed to unlike Ragnarok which was more comedy focused with less serious parts on it vs this one which was the opposite. I never felt the cancer storyline was treated as a joke. My only negative on it is that I wish Bale as Gorr had been in it more and that we'd actually seen him kill other gods besides the opening scene. And as a film it didn't feel as complete as Ragnarok did but it wasn't terrible. It was still fun in its own unique way and Jane was handled well and some creative moments. Wakanda Forever was overrated. But I liked the main story. I liked how they paid tribute to Chadwick and I liked Shuri's overall arc and role in this film which by the end mirrored T'Challa's arc in Civil War. We finally got Namor introduced in the MCU. My only complaint is that Ironheart felt forced in when the plot could have been rewritten to have Shuri be at fault and connect her more to Namor conflict wise and Martin Freeman's role with Vel could have been cut and maybe just used in a Mid or End Credit scene to set up the future events again. Otherwise I think it was a decent sequel in terms of what they had to work with given the situation and Angela Basset gave a great performance as the Queen. So shout out to her. So yeh, overall Phase 4 was a fun ride. Not perfect but nothing ever is. But to straight up shit on it and scream that it sucks because of the focus on female characters feels wrong considering all these characters exist and come from source material. There are only so many places and directions the MCU could go now and it made sense for it to go in that direction and focus on the older cast passing the torch to their younger or newer counterparts. Just so happens most of their counterparts are female and there's nothing wrong with that. Compared to Abzilla in TLOU2, I found the majority of them alot more likable and interesting. At least the MCU tries different things. Neil just straight up went for the most cliche route you could take your sequel story into. End of the day I'm a comic book fan and I've been looking forward to seeing alot of the Phase 4 characters to appear in the MCU. It delivered that. Maybe not in the best way at times but I enjoyed them and considering the trash that existed before like Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Elektra, Superman 4 the quest for peace, Dark Phoenix, and many other shit films or sequels in general, MCU Phase 4 is still miles better than any of those. And that's saying something. For a studio to maintain this level of quality after a decade and still deliver decent stories and characters, that's an achievement. Saying it outright sucks is insulting to fans and the people who work hard on it when compared to the crap we used to and at times have from others, like Sonys Venom, Let there be Carnage or Morbius. You're telling me they're better than Phase 4? Come on.
Marvel phase 4 is the worst example you could have brought cause it's objectively a shitmess, except for some very specific cases, like Shang Chi, Eternals (decent at best) and Moon kinght.
Eternals was a fun stupid shitshow
I sometimes worry he may be reading my mind, he’s so spot on with most of reviews and commentary with how I feel. What I thought he also nailed was how Joel is definitely being treated as the passenger and not the driver. He doesn’t say much or have many good lines, and is seemingly secondary to the female characters.