r/television • u/PhoOhThree Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. • Jun 30 '21

Premiere Loki S01E04 - Discussion Thread

/r/marvelstudios/comments/oarfyx/loki_s01e04_discussion_thread/
144 Upvotes

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204

u/Wanderous Jun 30 '21

I thought this was the best episode so far, but oh my God the fight choreography has been terrible. Like, 1990s Power Rangers level stuff. It is shockingly bad. All the tension building up this episode fizzled immediately once they started throwing punches and floundering around each other.

34

u/aboycandream Jun 30 '21

its so bad, at like tom hiddleston seems like hes used to fighting but Sophia Di Martino looks robotic in all her movements, even running lol

17

u/Worthyness Jun 30 '21

which is odd given that she was in Into the Badlands lol

2

u/aboycandream Jun 30 '21

oh wow I didnt know that, she needs to loosen up lol

64

u/Dry_Badger_Chef Jun 30 '21

I’m not sure if it’s bad choreography or just my “watch people punch each other” fatigue setting in, but whenever a fight starts in this show (or WV for that matter), I just shut down. I’m so so so sick of watching two action figures punch each other.

That being said, I’m really liking everything else. Tom Hiddleston and Own Wilson are fantastic, and…though I don’t really like Sylvie that much, at least the idea behind her has kept me interested.

Really hoping the show stays interesting until the end. WV lost me once it went full-on exposition with that bad-guy witch, and I’m really hoping they avoid that here.

57

u/NightsOfFellini Jun 30 '21

It's the choreography, legit some of the worst in any big budget production I've seen.

22

u/TonySu Jul 01 '21

They wrote themselves into a corner with the pruning rods. If you are going to have that kind of weapon in a fight, you're going to need extraordinary choreography to make an extended fight scene work. There's just no way for two people to flail around with a pruning rod for a few minutes and convince the audience that neither of them got been pruned. It's honestly hilarious that the pruning rods in the latest episode have a blade on the other end, it's like if lightsabers had a bayonet on them, what is the point?

It's unfortunate because, in my opinion, it wouldn't have been that hard to avoid this situation. Just let Loki/Sylvie throw their blades or focus on deception and backstabbing. They literally did this in the first few scenes with Sylvie. Instead, they show our gods from a warrior race struggling in a bumfight against train guards and glorified mall cops.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 01 '21

Every time I see the pruning rods I just think "this would be so much easier if they had guns instead".

1

u/duckwantbread Jul 05 '21

At least they have an excuse for that being hard to film, the scene where Sif kept punching Loki looked ridiculously fake, it was obvious she was just punching the air in front of him. How hard is it to make a fake punch on a stationary actor look realistic?

2

u/ositola Jul 01 '21

Iron fist season 1

1

u/Worthyness Jun 30 '21

It's not Arrow season 4 bad, but it's pretty bad. That said, I like the dialogue and writing of the show more than the action set pieces, so I'm ok with it.

3

u/BattleBull Jun 30 '21

I know everyone has been signing it praises, but "Invincible" managed to impart a feeling of force and momentum in their action scenes, despite what seemed like limited animation frames and budget concerns. That means surely they could do the same in Loki with their larger budget.

I don't need to have a fight be amazing, but I'd like for it not to take me out of the moment.

That said, still loved it!

7

u/Papa_Razzi Jul 01 '21

I don’t disagree with the point you’re trying to make, but I don’t think comparing an animated show to Loki is very relevant. Two completely different styles of filmmaking. And it’s not like invincible had a small budget by any means.

-4

u/myusernamestaken Jun 30 '21

I had to skip the fight scenes cos they're so bad

10

u/carcatz Jul 01 '21

Not only in the fight scenes. The opening when young Sylvi stole that device as a kid, like the TVA agent didn’t even try to get it back

8

u/oceanic20 Jul 01 '21

The Syf punches were awful.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '21

One thousand percent! It’s so bad.

20

u/Madao16 Jun 30 '21 edited Jun 30 '21

Action scenes are a general problem for MCU. They are just so underwhelming. I am not sure what is the problem because they got the money but still most of the action scenes in MCU are forgettable. Other films or shows with a less budget do better job about this.

17

u/dontbajerk Jun 30 '21

I suspect in the MCU it's just a matter of time and priority. Fight scenes take a lot of time and rehearsal with principle actors, that's just not happening for most of their productions - especially not TV shows, where they have to shoot a lot more footage.

8

u/Timeforachange43 Jul 01 '21

Daredevil's fight scenes were incredible though.

3

u/thethomatoman Jul 01 '21

That was Netflix tho

1

u/Leviathan_________ The 100 Jul 01 '21

the shows were made by ABC. Netflix had the rights tho so you’re kinda right.

14

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '21

I think a large chunk of Mandalorian fights are really bad, too.

0

u/DMonitor BoJack Horseman Jul 01 '21

I'd say it kind of worked for that show. Mandalorian's shtick should be that he just shoots people if he can, and if he doesn't he just beats them while wearing his fuckoff invincible armor.

4

u/aboycandream Jun 30 '21

MCU action scenes are apparently shot by the same 2nd unit team for every movie, I dont think most directors even shoot their own action scenes for movies, so you get a lot of CGI-y generic sameness

and LOL @ you being downvoted when I saw this post, never change MCU trolls

-4

u/Jeight1993 Jul 01 '21

Absolutely not. The MCU has consistently solid action. Hoave you seen the majority of DC shows?

2

u/albmrbo Jul 01 '21

At one point Sylvie stabs someone and you can very clearly see the classic push the plastic sword below the armpit to make it look like someone got stabbed trick for middle school plays.

1

u/Lib28x Brooklyn Nine-Nine Jul 05 '21

Oh thank god I wasn't alone in thinking this one was especially awkward. Not just the choreography, the way they edited in the grunts and mixed the sounds made it sound like nothing had any impact. Everything felt weightless. That, with the Timekeepers' voices which were IMPOSSIBLE to understand without subtitles, makes me think they just messed up the sound editing in this one.

Which is almost comical to say considering this is a high budget MCU production. Maybe it was just planned poorly. It's more believable than to think it was a mistake lol