Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

[Jinzo Ningen]

[Dr Kain]

[Jinzo Ningen]

[Dai]

[Dr Kain]

They are made for both. The movies have been quite accurate to the source material as far as character origins go outside of a few certain instances.

Also, Jeff Goldblum was badass because he was hilarious and over the top.

[Jinzo Ningen]

[lhb412]

[Benjamin Haines]

Thor: Ragnarok is fantastic! Top-tier MCU all the way.

This is exactly the game-changing breath of fresh air that Thor needed. The first Thor was really good and creative, totally unlike any other superhero origin story, but Thor: The Dark World remains the worst MCU entry to date. It's not awful and it does have some good things going for it but the plot and tone are just aggressively generic. Between Malekith's nondescript plan to plunge the entire universe into darkness, the faceless minion Dark Elves, the sitcom-style humor, that whole contrived 'escape from Asgard' sequence, and the token moments of loss and mourning, it all adds up to a really generic action movie. It feels like Marvel is just coasting on the laurels of the first film's success, not unlike Iron Man 2.

With Ragnarok, the Thor series switches from irrelevant to irreverent and it works beautifully. I mean, just compare the original title logo from Marvel's 2014 announcement to the one they ended up using for advertising and merchandise:





The first logo suggests a movie in the same vein as Thor: The Dark World but more somber and grim. The logo Marvel went with to sell the flick reflects what it ended up being: a wild and colorful space adventure.

Director Taika Waititi's style of humor is a rejuvenating change for Thor and for the MCU in general. It's dark humor presented lightly with a satirical edge. As applied to this intergalactic Marvel caper, it's similar to animated sci-fi comedy series like Futurama, The Venture Bros., or Rick and Morty. This kind of movie might have felt out of place for Thor in the early days but at this point, with this being the MCU's 17th entry in ten years, it makes for a refreshing and engaging romp. I'm more able to take this crazy story seriously because of just how grim and somber it isn't.

Thor, Loki, the Hulk and Bruce Banner really grow as characters here while the newcomers are realized wonderfully. Hela, Valkyrie, Skurge and the Grandmaster all feel like real people with distinct qualities driving them and they each lend unique context to the story and the worlds they inhabit. The plot is rapidly paced but it never loses focus even with everything that's going on. Special mention must also be made of the music. The original score by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh mixes symphonies with synthesizers gleefully and the utilization of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song is genius.

[eabaker]

Well, that was a fun time at the movies!

I do feel that it was a bit disjointed, with the need to escape Sakaar pulling too much narrative attention away from Hela and Asgard, and leaving me without a clear sense of how far along I was in the narrative at any given time.

Hela was a better-than-average Marvel villain, and Cate Blanchett was, as always, amazing; but I think the character could have used a little more humanizing. I wonder if it might not have been a better narrative choice to keep Loki in Asgard, give him a relationship with Hela, and use that to explore her a bit more.

[The Shadow]

[Outkaster]

Maybe I am getting old but it's hard to get worried about anything in this movie as the characters don't seem at all worried.

[eabaker]

[The Shadow]

Perhaps we have a couple wires crossed, when you mentioned giving Loki a relationship with Hela I assumed it was of the romantic variety rather than a partnership in evil-doing. Anyone interested in finding out more about Hela is just a couple clicks away from the Marvel Comic's character's page to the Norse goddess, where they would easily find out about Hela's lineage. (Even in the comics Hela is Loki's daughter, although it's a different Loki from before an earlier Ragnarok) I don't think Marvel would appreciate the flood of incest memes that would surely appear if MCU Loki and MCU Hela had a romantic relationship.

I do agree that it would have been nice to see more of Hela as a character (and I believe we will in the upcoming Avengers movies). But I think that in THOR:RAGNAROK MCU Hela in particular serves to demonstrate to movie-goers that Asgardians (in particular the gods) are extremely powerful beings; so far we hadn't really seen much of why Thor is on another level entirely from other MCU heroes and villains.

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

[canofhumdingers]

^can you go into more detail on how the hammer is handled differently in the film than the comics? I've never read a single Thor comic so all I know comes from the films.

I saw this time a few days before I saw Justice League. Really enjoyed it. Although, this was the first movie where I actually felt like I understood the complaints about the "marvel formula" (or whatever people call it) while actively watching the film. Despite there actually being HUGE things at stake () it rarely feels like any of it actually matters to anyone in the movie.

That said, it was a ton of fun. I loved the intensely 80's aesthetic. It was like seeing a classic 80's cartoon in the flesh. The synth score was cool too, although I think it might've been a little too reserved at times when it should've been rocking hard. The big fight between Thor and Hulk didn't disappoint. And seeing Thor go nuts in the fight for Asgard was pretty awesome.

[jellydonut25]

I haven't seen this movie so I don't know the complete answer to that, but given what I saw in the trailer, where the hammer is DESTROYED, I'd imagine that's a BIG piece of what makes it different. I don't really know spoilers about this movie, but I imagine the hammer doesn't come back and he finds out that being the god of thunder is "inside him" or whatever...but that's not what it is. The hammer is basically what grants the power. You have to be worthy to hold it, but the hammer itself is what creates Thor, and why Thor in the comics right now is a woman. She's worthy...and the old "Thor" is actually just called Odinson right now.

[canofhumdingers]

Yeah that definitely answers the question I had. And the movie Thor is definitely not what you described in the comics.

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

I like Waititi, but he actually strikes me as someone who’s a funny guy who makes good comedies and turned a funnybook into a comedic film. Especially when Hemsworth has kinda come out and said he wanted to eschew comic Thor because he didn’t want to be a Shakespearean god of thunder. He wanted to be funny because he has more fun doing that.


No judgment on my part, either. If you’re gonna just make these movies into comedies might as well get GOOD comedic directors instead of hiring action people who stuff in awkward jokes because they lack comedic timing (like with Dr Strange)

[O.Supreme]

I agree. I'm sure Ragnarok is a great comedy. But I don't want to see a comedy in this case, I want t see a comic-book based action film (with occasional moments of comedy sprinkled in to lighten the tone, that's of course ok...) . I know this sounds insane, But the more people are hating on Thor The Dark World, the more I'm thinking it's not so bad...and less people forget, that film had its comedic moments as well. I kind of wish we actually got the film that Age of Ultron was alluding to when Thor had his visions.

[Benjamin Haines]

[jellydonut25]

[O.Supreme]