Thor: Ragnarok Review

Thor: Ragnarok Review

UNLEASH YOUR ALTER EGO

Marvel has the tendency to keep churning out movies and one after the other, they all get branded as “Marvel’s best movie yet” - the studio’s latest movie is no exception. Thor: Ragnarok is, simply put, a beautifully cinematographed and humorous film that keep its audiences entertained from start to finish.

A Much-Needed Sequel

It’s no exaggeration to state that Thor: Ragnarok has blown audiences away. Primarily, we were all pleasantly surprised at how the third Thor movie turned out compared to its previous installment, Thor: The Dark World - which is often regarded as the worst Marvel movie according to Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, out of the 17 films Marvel has created in almost a decade, Thor: Ragnarok wins the silver just behind the first Iron Man film. A lot can be attributed to this film’s success and here are a few:

An Eccentric Director

One of Marvel’s greatest strategies is by handing over the reins of direction to a wide variety of directors. Because of this, their films have acquired a certain variety that comic book fans will completely understand and appreciate.

For this film, Marvel handed the directing honor to Taika Watiti. Evident in his past work, Watiti brings much color and excitement to Marvel, especially to Thor, that was previously lacking. With this installment of Thor, Watiti also attempts a more adventurous sense of humor. In fact, it can be regarded as the most comedic film that Marvel has ever dared push the boundaries with.

Coloring Outside the Lines

It is completely understandable that Marvel would want to keep everything neat and clean for every movie. It’s not only difficult to create a blockbuster hit, but it’s an even bigger challenge when all of those movies have to sync and come together in one giant cinematic universe with a magnitude that is unprecedented.

Marvel shows that letting loose and pushing its boundaries can still result in a huge success. A testament to this is through Hulk and Thor, two characters who started out with rather serious personalities in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the beginning, it was only Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord who had the comical lines.

No one could have expected that these two would have such a dynamic performance together. It also helped that Hulk was able to construct far more complex sentences than he previously could at the beginning of the franchise.

Bringing In the Big Guns

Back in the pre-comic book movie era, a celebrity with a comic book character role under their belt may have been something they and some fans would rather forget. However, being cast as a comic book character today is totally ‘in’ and Thor: Ragnarok has brought in a couple of big names. If you find that the plot doesn’t quite impress you, you’d find that the talented cast will more than make up for it.

The villain of the movie Hela is played by Cate Blanchett. Aside from a specific Netflix character that will not be mentioned, one thing that could be said about Marvel is that their casting choices are most often than not completely on point. That said, Blanchett plays the Asgardian perfectly. Her driven performance pays off, giving Hela a personality filled with just the right ounce of evil.

Another big name to join the ranks of the comic book universe is Jeff Goldblum, most popularly known for his roles in the Independence Day and Jurassic Park movies. Goldblum plays the role of the Grandmaster, one of the oldest beings in the universe. Goldblum plays his part exactly like how audiences have come to expect of him – he brings an air of intelligence and even standoffish and sadistic vibe to the Grandmaster character.

There is nothing wrong with actors playing the roles of themselves, since the highly successful Robert Downey Jr. has been doing it with Iron Man for almost a decade now. Other comic book characters are given life in the movie such as Valkyrie (by Tessa Thompson), Skurge (by Karl Ubran) and many more. Fans are also pleased to see the familiar faces of Anthony Hopkins (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Idris Elba (Heimdall).

Unfortunately, Nothing is Perfect

Although the movie receives high praise by most moviegoers, there are some who have left the cinemas feeling unsatisfied. Collectively, the movie can be described as a fun experience, but unfortunately, it seems that the fun was prioritized. Compared to the other Marvel films to date, Thor: Ragnarok can be said to have one of the weakest stories to date. Not everyone who watched the movie was too bothered, but some fans were less than satisfied.

For this film, jokes seem to drive the film, rendering the story low key and underdeveloped. However, a popular reasoning is that this particular film was simply to explain where Thor and the Hulk were while other events were happening on Earth - such as Captain America: Civil War.

With the release of Spiderman: Homecoming and this Thor movie, the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline is under extreme scrutiny because of some issues that should not be discussed here. Overall, the movie was a good movie through and through, but the plot was somewhat lacking when compared to the other Marvel movies.

Conclusion

The pros clearly outweigh the cons in this movie, which is why it’s quantitatively the second best Marvel movie to date. Just from the humor and excitement alone, this movie will have you laughing and cheering pretty much all of the way.

If you haven’t watched Thor: Ragnarok yet, then it’s definitely worth it. If you’re still able to catch it on the big screen, you’d be in for a fantastic movie experience.