TA121: Making Loki a Joke

Jul 24, 2023 · 44m 18s

Description

Minute One Hundred Twenty One: From Nat’s Tuck-and-Roll Landing to Erik’s Big Reveal... AlmostLachlan Thiele from the Quiet on Set Podcast joins us in this episode!
In the one-hundred-twenty-first minute of The Avengers...Nat nails her landing on the tippity-top of Stark Tower, and luckily they have walls so she doesn’t roll right off. What’s perfect about her landing is the fantastic match cut we get from her flipping her hair (certainly required in every film by this point) to Loki doing the exact same thing. Those gorgeous locks. The filmmakers clearly knew what they were doing with this moment.
But what is Loki looking at? It’s not Nat because she’s behind and above him. It’s not Clint because he’s 400 feet below him. It’s not Hulk because he hasn’t arrived yet. We stew on it and think perhaps he didn’t realize she leapt from her chariot so might be scanning the skies for her?
That does take us to the arrival of Hulk, which gives us plenty to discuss. The humor. The “puny god” line. Loki’s speechifying. The film style where if it’s not in frame, it doesn’t exist. Asgardian pain tolerance. The awkward shifting of antagonist with the end of our villain in a comedy beat. It’s a great moment but certainly brings up many angles of discussion.
We end our conversation back on the roof with Nat as she talks to Erik about his machine. It’s a shame it’s a bit of an exposition dump, but we are at that point in the film where they’re trying to hurry us through to the end. Still, Erik does give us a line here which certainly feels like it’s setting him up as a tremendous villain in future films. It’s a shame he was never used in that capacity. Tune in!
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