Why Thunderbolts is a Cheap(but expensive) Movie

好莱坞编剧公式

Thunderbolts was a cheap movie, but not cheap in the way that it was a small budget film, but cheap because they had so much money to make it great, yet it still fall into the traps of the whole cliche, double-standard, “hero” or “anti-hero” whatever they call it narratives. The movie follows pretty much the exact same storytelling template that was written in Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat. There are typically 15 beats in the storytelling template he created / summarized, which is also one of the most popular templates in Hollywood for writing commercial, crowd-pleasing scripts, especially in superhero and blockbuster genres.

The 15 beats are as follows:

#1 Opening Image: The very first image that shows the protagonist’s current world, in this case, is Yelena working in Malaysia and finds work and life not fulfilling.

#2 Theme Stated: A character will state the story’s theme, as Yelena says, it’s about “mental health”, and being overworked and finding no meaning in life.

#3: Set-Up: Introduce characters, flaws, goals, and the world they live in. This is when Yelena goes to see her dad, the two have a conversation about how they no longer have their old glory, and everything felt like a dream. They are left with the remains of the old days, working day after day, and it was no longer the same.

#4: Catalyst: The life-changing incident that disrupts the status quo. This is when Yelena goes to finish her “last job”, only to realize she’s been set up for failure, and she’s supposed to get eliminated.

#5: Debate: The hero struggles with the decision to change or not. The Thunderbolts struggles to decide if they want to work together against Val. They work together to get out of the vault, a new team is formed.

#6: Break into Two: The hero makes a choice and enters the “new world” (Act 2 starts). Thunderbolts decides to join forces, escapes successfully with the help of Yelena’s dad.

#7: B Story: A subplot begins (often romance or friendship) that supports the main plot. Winter Soldier joins, and plans to them all to the court to testify against Val.

#8: Fun and Games: The section that delivers on the movie’s promise—action, humor, spectacle. There was a short break when Winter Soldier talks to Thunderbolts about their mission, weather they should testify, or just go ape shit on Val.

#9: Midpoint: A major twist or false victory/defeat that raises the stakes. This is when Sentry enters the story, Thunderbolts realizes what they are against.

#10: Bad Guys Close In: Everything gets worse, both externally and internally. In this case, is Void.

#11: All Is Lost: The hero hits rock bottom; everything seems hopeless. The Void takes over NYC downtown, leaving Thunderbolts stranded. They feel like they are losers, Yelena and the rest not sure what to do, they feel they have lost.

#12: Dark Night of the Soul: A reflective moment where the hero has to find inner strength. Yelena’s dad gives her a speech, they talk about how hard it has been, and how Yelena needed him. Yelena finds her strength, and embraces the darkness.

#13: Break into Three: A new plan or revelation propels the story into Act 3. The rest of Thunderbolts join the darkness, fights for Yelena and Bob.

#14: Finale: The big climax. The hero faces the antagonist and resolves the main conflict. Thunderbolts tries to help Bob with the Void, but they all get pinned to the wall. Yelena is the only one breaks free, saves Bob, saves the day. Thunderbolts win, on the ruins of NYC streets, Val brings them out to cover her own ass.

#15: Final Image: Reflecting the hero’s transformation and how their world has changed. Thunderbolts now take the old Avengers building, Bob sitting in a chair reading “The Creative Act: The Art of Being", final images closes.

B: You see, it follows the exact structure of the Hollywood template, mixing all the “in” elements, such as mental health, feminism, depression, bipolar, but applied in the most straight-forward, not very well-thought-out ways at all. They have everything taken at face value: feminism, so we will literally have Florence Pugh save Bobby. Mental health, so we will combine bipolar, depression and dissociative personality disorder, describing them in the most blatant way possible, regardless of how people / patients feel about it. Depression is also explained in the most black-and-white, linear way possible. The heart of it all is to use minimal effort, underpaying artists, even the director of Beef Lee Sung Jin (Sonny) who probably wanted to take this film way more seriously, and make it more appropriate to audience when it comes to mental health, and at least do the topic its justice, didn’t want to be credited for the film. I could understand… When your work is picked apart like that, you don’t want to be the one be known by the person that made it anymore (this reminds me of something happened with kids in college, when I didn’t want to be credited either - Annie Song, Steven Lao, I’m talking about you two).

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Artist Statement

My work is not about explaining the world; it’s about dismantling the emotional structures that everyday life tries to conceal. What I focus on is not “story,” but the dynamics between people—the pull and tension of intimacy, the quiet control embedded in family, the fractures that come with migration, and how an individual maintains their boundaries within these systems.

I grew up between shifting cultures and languages, often in environments where I was expected—needed—claimed by others. I was asked to understand, to accommodate, to take care, to adjust. Even the gentlest relationships carried an undercurrent of consumption. That tension became the foundation of my creative work.

The characters in my stories are not moral types. They each carry a kind of private conflict: they want closeness but fear being swallowed; they long to be seen but can’t fully expose themselves; they are asked again and again to give—to family, to love, to work—without knowing how to keep space for themselves. These aren’t inventions; they’re reflections of lived experience. Writing, for me, is a way to unearth the emotions that have been suppressed, ignored, or normalized—and let them speak again.

I gravitate toward rhythmic narrative structures: compressed scenes, quick shifts, intentional gaps, silences between characters. These spaces reveal more truth than dialogue ever could. The themes I explore—migration, family, identity, trauma, intimacy, female autonomy—ultimately point to a single question: how does a person protect their boundaries in a world that constantly pulls at them, demands from them, watches them?

Creating is neither escape nor self-soothing. It is a way of reclaiming authorship over my own narrative. When I write a character’s silence, resistance, hesitation, or departure, I’m answering one essential question:

When the world insists on defining me, how do I choose to define myself?

艺术家陈述

我的创作不是为了解释世界，是为了拆开被日常掩盖的情绪结构。我关注的核心不是“故事”，而是人与人之间的力量关系——亲密带来的拉扯、家庭带来的隐性控制、身份在迁徙中的断裂，以及一个人在这些结构里如何保持自己的边界。

出生在不断变化的文化与语言之间，长期处在“被期待—被需要—被占用”的环境里。很多时候，我被要求理解别人、照顾别人、顺着环境。那些看似温和的关系里，也潜藏着吞噬性的需求。这种张力成了我创作的源头。

在我的故事里，人物不是善恶分明的类型。他们都带着某种困境：他们想靠近别人，但又害怕被吞没；他们渴望被看见，却无法完全暴露自己；他们在家庭、爱情、工作里不断被要求付出，却不知道怎样为自己保留空间。这并不是虚构，是现实经验的折射。我写作，把那些长期被压抑、被忽略、被习惯化的情感重新挖出来，让它们重新发声。

我倾向于使用节奏性的叙事结构：压缩的篇幅、快速切换的场景、留白的空间、人物之间的静默。这些“空隙”比对白本身更能暴露一个人的真实状态。我处理的主题是移民、家庭、身份、创伤、亲密、女性的自主性，但它们都指向同一件事：一个人如何在被拉扯、被要求、被凝视的世界里，维护自己的边界。

创作不是逃避，也不是自我疗愈，是重新夺回叙事权的方式。当我写下一个人物的沉默、反抗、犹豫或离开，我其实是在回答一个核心问题：
当世界不断定义我时，我选择如何定义自己？

Artist Statement

艺术家陈述

Artist Statement

艺术家陈述