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| Thor: Ragnarok (2017) |
Alright, starting out, the visuals are insane. Drop dead gorgeous. There is so much to look at, so much variety, and it all looks stellar. Right from Surtur in the opening scene to the bright, pastel streets of Sakaar, and Asgard looks immaculate as always. I love how much colour is in this movie, and Taika Waititi does an excellent job in this regard. I know everyone likes to talk about his sense of humour, but his visual style shouldn't be overlooked. Stuff like the reverse crane shot through a mirrored floor; that's why you get the relatively more obscure directors for movies like these: they do the things big-budget directors might not. I was already a fan of his after Hunt for the Wilder-People was such a surprisingly amazing movie (and I'll get to that one at some point, don't worry), and this just made me fall in love with him. The soundtrack is also great, and I love how the orchestral themes we've come to expect from a movie like this blend with the 80s synth prevalent on Sakaar. Also, this film uses Immigrant Song flawlessly in my absolute favourite battle entrance in the entire MCU. It's so fun; it's a fun movie overall. A movie's first and foremost job is to entertain, especially a movie like this, and this is a damn entertaining movie. It never really stops, right from the moment it begins, the film moves along at a breakneck pace and doesn't really let up.
The action scenes are great, too. Any time Thor is in action, it's just so entertaining, but this film gives us a lot of variety with its Thor scenes. Taking away the hammer was a great idea since, as much as I love seeing him use it, it was starting to get a little old. Ramping up his lightning powers is more visually interesting, allows for more varied battle strategies and is just plain f***ing awesome. Also, the Thor vs Hulk fight is perfectly staged, and gives us a really great blend of action, suspense and comedy. And, finally, let's get this out of the way, the thing that absolutely everyone has said about this movie: it's funny. It's bloody hilarious. I've always made the case that Chris Hemsworth is at his best when he's being comedic, and this movie gives us the best showcase for that. Apparently a lot of this movie was improvised, and I wouldn't say that it shows, but it wouldn't surprise me. Basically everything out of Korg's mouth was fantastic, and a character like that was really unexpected in the first place, which just made it even funnier. I know it was a departure from the comics, in fact a lot of this movie goes against the comics and even Norse lore, but who cares? It's an adaptation. Any adaptation is going to take liberties, and this is far from egregious. The changes suit the style, tone and director better, and made for an entertaining movie and more unique MCU experience, so I see no reason to complain.
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| Taika Waititi as Korg |
The cast are great here, too. A lot of them look like they're really having fun here, as they should be. I mentioned Chris Hemsworth already, and, yeah, he's great. I love how the Avengers have clearly rubbed off on him by now, as he's far less serious than he has been, but you've still got that aspect of the character there underneath, as well as the cocky warrior hero. All the different aspects of the character come together wonderfully. The Thor/Loki relationship continues to be strong, and it actually evolves more here, as there's more respect than there ever was from both sides. There's a great moment where Thor tells Loki he's accepted Loki will never be the brother he wants him to be, and that level of acceptance really hits Loki, as does Odin truly accepting him as his son. It's moments like that in this otherwise silly movie that really ground the film and give it the depth that makes it truly great. This is also the best Hulk's been. Years of no 'puny Banner' have turned him into sort of a toddler, and it's a great change of pace, and really impacts the Banner/Hulk dynamic moving forward, which is also really needed after so many movies. Even Dr. Strange's brief appearance at the beginning is great, as it shows us how far the character's come in his training since the end of his movie, which is something that helps us accept it when he's holding his own so much in Infinity War.
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| Tom Hiddleston as Loki |
As for new characters, they all do their jobs well enough, too. Tessa Thompson plays a great Valkyrie, and though I felt the character was a little flat at times, what we get of her backstory more than makes up for it, as it's compelling and beautiful to look at. Jeff Goldblum basically just plays himself, but it works for the character and the movie, and is still entertaining, so that's fine. Moving on to our villains, and Cate Blanchett plays Hela really well. I like how she really hams it up, and it helps to stand out from the silly antics that are going on elsewhere. I also love how powerful she is, as not only is she a true threat to Thor and Asgard, but it makes the extent of the ending all the more called for. That being said, I do find the scenes on Asgard that focus on her to drag a little. Seeing what we see of her backstory is really compelling, and is enough to stop me from calling her a 'bad' or even 'meh' villain. She's a good villain, she's just not a great one. I think it's also because she shares most of her scenes with Karl Urban, and you can see his character arc coming a mile away. I almost wish he had more scenes like his ones at the beginning of the movie before Hela arrives, since once she gets there, his role is to watch things happen begrudgingly until taking a stand right at the last minute. You know it's going to happen from the word 'go', and Karl Urban does a fine job, it's just not a compelling character. These are things I can look past for the most part, since the rest of the movie is so entertaining, but critically they are problems, and do stop me from giving this film the perfect score I selfishly think it deserves.
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| Cate Blanchett as Hela |
However, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) is still a great movie, and easily the best movie in the Thor trilogy. I still consider this #1 on my personal, subjective list, and while it's not quite there critically speaking, it's pretty dang close. 9/10.
Next, it's the movie I'll try my best to review as spoiler-free as I possibly can but I promise nothing: it's Avengers: Endgame. Goddamn, I'm so excited for that one.
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