THOR: RAGNAROK Review

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
A Review By Ben Hunter
3.5/5 Stars 

GET TO THE POINT BEN!

Great effort with the new tone, but we’ll forget all about this come time for the next one. Still good though. 

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“According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.” –Plato

It was never about the object itself. It was always meant to be a tool to channel your great power, not to be the source of it. So through your toils and despair, never forget your potential. To face your problems, not run away from them, to bring your people together when you never thought possible, and be the leader you’re betrothed to become!

Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor in the latest Marvel installment.

A father, once again, sending his son his blessings as he steps more into the light of his destiny. King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) gracefully bears his life’s burdens to God and reconciles with his sons Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and our beloved hero Thor (Chris Hemsworth). In a beautiful release of inhibitions to the wind, Odin beautifully brings his sons together, keeping a family together so as they not forget what’s really important in life. A theme not forgotten in this particular narrative. We see similar characters in a new light with new responsibility: to save the tribe of gods, home, Asgard … from … sister? That’s right, long lost big sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) is back from banishment and angry!

With a new tone of voice, Marvel tackles the latest installment of the cinematic universe (MCU) by changing things up a bit with Ragnarok, the fate of Thor’s home in a heavily laced, comedic tone. As my college Spanish professora would always say, “you always get an E for effort”. So in theory, in the marketing that I wanted more of to drive the point home more solid, it was a breath of fresh air to keep things crisp in the MCU. The execution? Not so much. Come time for the new Avengers movie to kick off next Summer (that will hopefully break the funk Hollywood’s been in for years now) or even Black Panther in a couple months, we won’t be talking about how funny the last Thor movie was. I heard simmers in my screening, not the cleansing of stomachs from all the gut busting. So, humored me, but didn’t knock me out of my seat.

Throwaway villains, that’s Marvel’s biggest problem. Their only exception was Loki. Loki! Loki! Loki! I can’t believe I’m saying this but, I LIKE LOKI!! He’s awesome! He’s a complex character, not just the evil bad guy “that needs to die at the end”. That’s Marvel’s problem. You can throw away all the villains, they’re just needed to make that one movie complete. Instead of working them in a lot more in the writer’s room to enrich the entire cinematic universe. Think past this one movie. No sign of only Loki as the exception changing anytime soon, big opportunity missed here. But I am eager to see how he pans out as the stories progress.

Family Drama

Within that progression, I’m still holding out hope for an Oscar quality Hulk movie. Though after Ragnarok, I know that’s just wishful thinking. With a supporting role here, Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk is a key ingredient to the completion of this story. I liked how Hulk is becoming more the character we all know and love, or at least the comic geeks know and love. He talks more, lives more, and just is more. At one with his “hulk-ness”. Not just a rage of anger that when calm, turns back into Bruce Banner. Which is what I always feared. But after this newest experience with one of the most iconic superheroes ever, I know his future realms well within the fun commercial side of things and only passable for that audience. Edward Norton’s Hulk (The Incredible Hulk, 2008) really gave me hope though for something more than just a commercialized “fun” time at the movies and I’ll keep this in the back of my mind to resurface if I’m happily surprised someday. In the meantime, Ragnarok: Hulk good, not great. Ruffalo’s acting was even a bit disappointing at times.

It was nice to see Doctor Strange fully nestled into the MCU, accepting his purpose and declaring such with his fully decked out costume! Elaborating on the Easter egg we received in his movie. It was not nice to see a reminder of how “everything is racist today” and that there’s “not enough diversity” in everything so, Ragnarok isn’t good enough so, let’s add a black chick. That’ll diversify things up a lot. Idris Elba’s character (a black man) perfectly blends into the world of Asgard, from everything down to the tone of his voice. But he wasn’t a main supporting role like in the first Thor, Tessa Thompson’s character was. A stark contraction of Elba’s character that works. With her, it all came off as filing a diversity quota.

New movie, new direction and tone, new team!

It wouldn’t be a Thor film without a pointless and exaggerated shirtless scene. He looked bigger in the first one, and a bit campy with this one at times, and the haircut didn’t help much. But, E for effort. So add it all up and you’ve got the makings of a new marvel movie! An engaging story that takes a chance with 2 films of decent character, world, and overall story build up to support a divergent revision to plunge our hero further as he discovers his other set of arms, legs, the authentic revelation of "the other side" of his face and true self, his other half! 

Thor: Ragnarok 
Action/Adventure, 130 Minutes, PG-13
Based on the Comics by: Stan Lee & Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby
Screenplay by: Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher L. Yost 
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Glodblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, & Anthony Hopkins 

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