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Thor: Ragnarok- Review(SPOILERS)


TheGoodHoms
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Before I begin I just want to say I'm not a professional film critic and as such this is more of a "thoughts on" rather than a "review" of the movie, but just really wanted to talk about it while it's timely. So the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pretty much the most popular thing on the planet and it's really hard to say if any of their movies have ever really been truly bad, sure there are some low points in the series(Iron Man 2, Thor: The Dark World) but even those films aren’t unbearable to sit through. So I don’t think it comes as a surprise that Thor: Ragnarok is a good movie, in fact I think it’s a great movie. I know it might be the hype talking here, but it’s easily in the top ten MCU films, maybe even the top five. It really is a ton of fun so if you haven’t seen the film yet and you enjoy Marvel movies you’ll probably enjoy it. Now let’s get down the the specifics, I’ll probably get into some spoilers here so if you just wanted a recommendation I suggest leaving now.

First let’s start with the plot which is honestly one of the weaker parts of the film. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it definitely feels very safe for a Marvel movie. It mainly boils down to yet another save the universe from a bad guy because the bad guy is evil and must be stopped. It works, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen ever since you started watching Marvel movies, But I do like the change in mood from the other Thor movies, I think having a more Guardians of the Galaxy style, fun action vibe works well since it is a comic book movie which benefits from a more lighthearted tone. However, the characters and how they are developed are what really shines in this movie, there are so many great characters that I could write a paragraph for nearly all of them, but I’ll try and do just the most important ones.

The star of the show himself Thor has had some pretty significant changes made to him in this movie, but I’d say it was for the better and Chris Hemsworth adapted fantastically. He is alot funnier this time befitting the change in tone and I hope Hemsworth can get into more comedies in the future. I also think that striping his power from him by destroying the hammer was the best way to give him a reason to grow and change as he encounters new challenges and overcomes them to become stronger, I can’t wait to see more Thor in the next Avengers and possibly a Thor 4(fingers crossed). Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki and he’s killing it as always. He’s still the same trickster we all love, but by the end of the movie it feels like he’s gotten his full redemption and will most likely become a hero moving forward while still being somewhat of a trickster(I don’t doubt the idea that he may have taken the Tesseract from the vault during the final battle). A big selling point of the movie was the inclusion of the Hulk as a main character and I think this movie delivered, it gave Mark Ruffalo some much needed spotlight I’ve been waiting for ever since the original Avengers. Much like Thor, Hulk has become pretty comical to better fit the tone and is the source of some great moments throughout the film, but one minor complaint I have is the idea that we might be having more Hulk than Bruce Banner moving forward because while I don’t mind it too much I think I prefer having the duality between the man and the monster. Anthony Hopkins returns for his last performance as Odin, he’s not in there for too long, but he get’s the job done admirably when he does show up. I think what makes Odin interesting in Ragnarok as opposed to the other films is that he’s pretty much responsible for all the conflict in the story because he just had too many skeletons in his closet to not suffer consequences(no really he had enough to make a whole army), but I really liked his final talk with Thor, it was a really touching moment for as cliche as it was.

Now let’s talk new characters starting with the big bad herself Hela. I’m not sure how many people noticed this, but Hela is actually the first ever major female villain in the MCU which is a huge landmark, but while I loved Cate Blanchett’s performance I felt that as a character she was very one dimensional which was a huge disappointment, but I guess we have been spoiled recently with both Kurt Russel’s Ego and Michael Keaton’s Vulture being fantastic villains so the bar may have been set a little too high this time. One of the characters I was most excited for was Valkyrie mainly because she was played by Tessa Thompson who I really loved in 2015’s Creed. Going in I thought she would be a strong female character which is not a bad thing at all, but as soon as she showed up my expectations were shattered when right out of the gate she falls over drunk. I was completely caught off guard by such a simple character flaw, making the strong female warrior an alcoholic trying to run from her past makes her way more interesting and relatable as a result. It was a change in perspective I would compare to James Spader's Ultron where the trailers made him out to be really intimidating, but in the actual movie he had a sarcastic side to him we didn't know about that made him a lot more entertaining. Then there’s Grandmaster played by Jeff Goldblum who… well he’s Jeff Goldblum. He’s just a goofy oddball who’s highly entertaining and thankfully never overstays his welcome leaving me hungry for more Grandmaster in the future(assuming he survived the post-credits scene).

While I said I’m not a professional, I’d also like to take a moment to admire the craftsmanship behind the film. The worlds are are full of stylistic flare and bright colors creating a very comic like atmosphere I wholeheartedly embrace. The action set pieces are bombastic, flashy, and super fun to watch thanks to some great looking special effects. The movie is also really well paced, never once did I feel it was moving too slow or too fast while watching which is impressive to say the least. There’s even a great match cut in the film that when I saw it I all I could think was “Wow! That was a really cool transition!” Once complaint I do have though is the music, Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song may have gotten me really pumped whenever it started playing, but the original score was really bland, it’s become a recurring issue I have with a lot of the Marvel movies that I really hope someone decides to fix one of these days.

I think you're probably ready to kill me by now seeing as how long winded this “thoughts on” has gotten so I’ll just end it here saying that Thor: Ragnarok is a film that I thoroughly enjoyed and is easily the best Thor movie yet.

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I do agree with a lot of your thoughts on the film. The direction of the film was quite impressive, mostly at Sakaar that felt it was not afraid to go deep in Marvel history. The casting was good, with Hulk finally speaking after saying nothing in the Avenger movies.

It just that for I'm starting to  become tired on Marvel movies, this is the 17th film in the Marvel movie. I need something new plot-wise other than a person that wants do to something bad with army or some person who wants revenge against the hero. Sometimes for the films to take themselves a little seriously. Asgard got destroyed and less than twenty seconds later there is a joke. (Minor grip). But all and all, another good film to add for Marvel's reputation.

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Its probably the best Thor movie which isn't actually that hard. I'm glad with it. Loki and Thor deserved a ''bigger'' film and I feel they got it. 

I actually really like the villain. I found it funny how often she's seen just really obviously rolling her eyes and snarky in a more casual way. 

I remember Thor being less humorous in the other films but here he cracks jokes or gets abused quite a lot more often. I'm happy with the change.

My main problem with the film is that the slaver arc goes on for a tad to long. Its not really connected to the whole Hella situation and its just there for Thor and Hulk to meet up. It should have ended when they did and focused more on Hella. 

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I really enjoyed the movie, it was a lot of fun. My only gripe is that I felt it was a little too comical for a Thor movie. but I can understand how adapting the original comics over to the big screen can be challenging, so bringing it in a new direction is perfectly understandable. Especially considering Thor and his attached universe was never a big part of Marvel to begin with, it was typically just Thor.

I liked a lot of the new characters, I agree that Hela felt a little one dimensional, but I honestly wasnt expecting much considering unlike Vulture and Ego, she is the goddess of death and is kind of meant to be a purely evil character. Cate Blanchett did a good job though. I also liked the inclusion of Skurge, I was curious when he was finally going to be brought into the movies and the minute they said Karl Urban was going to be portraying him on screen I knew it was perfect. Considering the way they left off with him dying, it seems like they did everything they need to for him to return later with The Enchantress, so I hope they go that route in the future.

I found it interesting the way everything played out in the end, and I am curious where they will go with it all by Phase 4. I still think Thor and Hulk are going to be our only 2 original avengers to return once we enter Phase 4 so I am pretty sure they will be doing something with all of that later.

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Bit spoilery thoughts ahead.

If you want synthy sounds, big fights, fun performances and a simple, to-the-point plot which isn't worrying too much about itself, this is the movie in the MCU you want. It's not amazingly deep, but it's certainly far better than The Dark World and better than the first movie.

I didn't catch the Grand Master being Goldblum, and I couldn't help but smirk at comparing Galadriel to Hela (Of course, this being if she'd been corrupted and started taking over) and thinking the comparison fitting in some way. The arena sequence is a lot of fun and the referencing to that one scene in Avengers might have been overdone, but it still was fun. I do think it leaves some of its plot points short because of the amount it works with and honestly Skurge needed to be introduced earlier on, so that we could get an idea of who he was before this movie and for him to matter as a result. Apparently he might come back based on comments here, but I don't pretend to know.

I think the opening sequence was very well paced, barring the Strange cameo which might have been my least favourite part of the whole film, limiting the time on Midgard was a really good idea and it was also cool to see Elba's role here. I think it might have been better in the beginning than in the end, but it's still a fun flick.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/7/2017 at 10:10 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

 

I actually really like the villain. I found it funny how often she's seen just really obviously rolling her eyes and snarky in a more casual way. 

My main problem with the film is that the slaver arc goes on for a tad to long. Its not really connected to the whole Hella situation and its just there for Thor and Hulk to meet up. It should have ended when they did and focused more on Hella. 

It's too bad, as Hela stole the few scenes she was in. Hela was actually a very entertaining and funny villain, something that MCU fails to deliver at times (I'm looking at you Ronan :dry:), but she suffers from lack of screentime sadly.

About the tone of the movie.... I was a bit skeptical the one time I've knew of it's more comedic approach, but....... GOOD GOD ANT-MAN AND GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, EVEN YOU TROLLPOOL, YOU'VE GOT OWNED BY THOR XD. Seriously, that movie was very hilarious, and I've missed a couple of seconds because I was busy trying (and failing) to contain my laughter (I think it was the Devil's Anus joke) 

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