Thor: Ragnarok

[darkphoenix21]

[costas22]

Maybe I'm being picky, but I don't like how this movie comes across as fun and silly instead of serious and haunting. Granted, they weren't going to do the original Ragnarok story, but at no point in the trailer do you feel that the stakes are high.

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

The other character posters can be viewed here: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/t...acter-posters/

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

[costas22]

This must be the most star studded non-Avengers MCU movie.

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

[darkphoenix21]

[costas22]

I'm certain this movie will be loved by many and will make hundreds of millions in the box office. But it's one of the most tonally bizarre hero movie I've ever seen and it's what ultimately what ruins it for me. Look, I get the need for laughter in movies. And I accept that MCU movies rely on comedy a lot. But the standalone franchises need to have their own identity. For example, Captain America movies have a serious tone while GOTG movies are comedic in their vast majority. Thor movies until now were leaning towards the former and IMO that's what worked for them. Thor: Ragnarok does an 180 with jokes and slapstick comedy every 2 minutes it seems. And it's counter productive because it's also supposed to be the most high stakes and menacing Thor movie we've gotten. Some spoilery thoughts:

[SPOILER]
- It was promoted as a game changer and that turned out to be true: Key characters died, the Hammer got destroyed, Thor lost an eye, Asgard got destroyed... One of the post credits scene reveals that a ship is headed towards the Asgardians' ship and I suspect that's Thanos' ship. Which could very well mean that the future for those refugees is bleak.

- I liked the progress Thor made in terms of becoming king and realizing the full extent of his power. I didn't like that the writers turned him into Ace Ventura, with jokes left and right.

- Hulk's inclusion works at times, but the way he's used is part of the tonal problem I referred to above. Even a character like him should be limited in terms of how "funny" he is.

- Cate Blanchette is easily the best part about the movie. Once again, she does an exceptional role of transforming into her role. It's just a pity that Hela goes missing for large portions of the movie because they preferred to focus on the Grandmaster stuff.

- Jeff Goldblum and Carl Urban are both misused here. The former more so than the latter.

- I can't believe that they just wasted the Warriors Three like this. Hogun at least got some screentime, but the other two were slaughtered within a minute. What the hell? I bet Jaimie Alexander is glad her schedule didn't allow her to appear.

- Heimdall was great as usual.

- Loki, especially the way Tom plays him, can only add to a movie. That said, some of the writing for his character was baffling. I mean, he assumes the throne and he spends his time partying and eating grapes? Loki is more ambitious than that, for crying out loud. Also, and this is a nitpick, I doubt this version of Loki would ever say "oh sh*t".

- Didn't miss Earth a great deal in this movie. And I certainly didn't miss characters like Darcy and Selvig. I did miss Jane though. To the movie's credit, it didn't jump into a Thor/Valkyrie romance.

- Hopkins made the most out of the scenes he was in. As one would expect. The scene of Odin's death is arguably the most emotional, even if it came a bit too early in the movie.[/SPOILER]

4.5/10

[Glove]

I enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok probably more than any of the other movie that Marvel has put out since the first part of their projected storyline of the entire franchise. What? Aren't they in the third part, now? I'd give it a B+.



Oh, that's right, I forgot Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. I. That was an enjoyable film.

[nate-dog1701d]

I agree with pretty much everything costas22 said. The tone killed pretty much everything for me. I was disappointed right from the intro in [SPOILER]Surtur's[/SPOILER] lair. I've been increasingly frustrated by the amount of comedy Marvel shoehorns into these movies--comedy I don't typically find funny in the first place. The worst part here is that Thor himself was altered to fit into that comedic style.

The past year hasn't been great for my enjoyment of Marvel movies. Doctor Strange, Guardians 2, now this, though I wasn't expecting too much from those first two. At least I liked Spider-Man: Homecoming.

This was possibly my most disappointing experience with a Marvel movie. Seeing all the positive reviews is making me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I guess there's a target audience that I'm not in.