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[Thor: Ragnarok] Asgardian road trip [TAG SPOILERS]
Harry Dresden
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gWXdAVfiLEThe cast:
Thor (Chris Hemsworth):
Thor (Chris Hemsworth):
Avenger, heir to the throne of Asgard, God of Thunder.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston):
The hero of the story.
Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson):
The new comer Asgardian, employed by the Grandmaster.
Heimdall (Idris Elba)
Protector of the Rainbow Bridge, his role in this movie remains a mystery.
Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo):
The Strongest one there is in the Marvel universe, and Science Bro to Tony Stark.
Hela (Cate Blanchett):
The first female Marvel big bad. About damn time. Who is she? The Goddess of Death
might be who Thanos has a crush on.
Skurge (Karl Urban):
Another villain from Asgard. The Executioner in the comics, and his first appearance in the MCU.
The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum):
Valkyrie's boss.
Ruler of Sakaar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpTdK2kn6TA ElJeffe on
+9
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Saw this last night and it was fantastic.
I thought I was prepared for a funnier Thor movie. I was not prepared for this.
I'm glad Anthony Hopkins came back for this when he wasn't going to initially, it was nice to get an ending for his Odin.
Thought it did a great job of balancing the humour, action and meaningful character moments. Soundtrack was amazing.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
In particular I loved the imagery of
Ian Malcolm... in... SPAAAAACE
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1) Thor: Ragnarok
2) Thor
3) Thor: Dark World
This was a wonderful film, which exceeded expectations and I had high hopes going in. The setting, and tone, had more in common with GOTG, the the Thor movies which worked in its favor - if James Gunn steps down Taika Waititi is the perfect replacement.
Magic
Thor's visions/dreams about Ragnarok he had before meeting Surtur, the visions of Odin he had when he was getting the stuffing beat out of him by Hulk, and Hela. Hela herself being a magical being, a sorceress far above Loki and for some unknown reason she gains strength from Asgard's location which isn't gone into depth or explained how the basics work. Odin himself overcoming Loki's imprisonment spell somehow and doing magic things, which is truer to the Norse mythology and in the comics he's so powerful he can literally do almost anything due to his Skyfather/Odinforce status. How his life-force was linked to Hela's prison, his death being the catalyst for Hela's release. Hela herself is an epic level sorceress, magic through the roof - and it's not ambiguous like Loki's can be it's straight up magic.
Thor
His interactions with Strange are hilarious. Stephen's definitely leveled up, makes Loki look like a rank amateur concerning magic now. It's difficult to tell if his constant teleporting with Thor was simply to troll him or he's just so used to it he doesn't register how off-putting it is.
Valkyrie
Hulk
His relationship/rivalry with Thor is adorable, he's just a big kid who wants to be loved. But he's just angry all the time. It'll be intriguing to see how the Avengers react to this Hulk.
Heimdall
Loki
Until the third act his warrior skills are downplayed significantly, he does ok with a brief scuffle with Valkyrie but overall he's less combat veteran than civilian royalty who just wants to settle down and rule a world without dealing with superhero bullshit.
Hela
Unfortunately she's thinly written, practically a cartoon character who just wants to rule Asgard/conquer the galaxy because reasons. The only depth she had was with her relationship with Thor and Odin.
Her "death" is ambiguous, we don't see her die on screen (it's implied she may not have survived Surtur blowing up Asgard) and considering how powerful she is it's not a sure bet this was the last we see of her. I hope not, she was someone who deserves another appearance or two. She could easily become another Loki. It'd provide extra opportunities to flesh out her motives and character.
Grandmaster
They need to bring back the One Shots, he'd be suited for those.
Skurge
Warriors Three
Infinite Wars speculation
The movie is a bit out of sync with the MCU, trying to do its own things yet not too outrageous that it'd be ignoring the MCU entirely, unlike Iron Man 3.
3 Loki daggers, out of 4.
Also I thought Korg was voiced by Kevin Taumata and that impression didn't leave even after my fiancee told me it was the director. He just sounded so much like Kev from Housos.
It was aggressively comedic. Not Airplane! levels of constant jokes, but this wasn't the usual Marvel gig where they stick in some levity every five or ten minutes. There's some sections where it's basically a joke a minute. There's other sections where they back off on that, but this is generally funny enough that I'd label it an action-comedy. I though it made for one hell of a fun ride, but it definitely does undercut some of the super serious stuff at the end so YMMV and all that.
Cate Blanchett was great. Shocking, I know. She chews all the scenery and does a good job expressing the various emotions that are necessary for whatever she's doing. Hela is pretty well written, at least as far as Marvel villains go. Solid motivation and a plan that isn't utterly batshit.
Jeff Goldblum was great too, which actually was a surprise. I'm generally not a fan of his hesitant stop and start quasi-stuttering jabber style, but he wasn't doing that this time, it was a constant flowing jabber that I thought worked pretty well.
It's definitely one of the better Marvel movies and it's a solid enough comedy that if you somehow scraped away all the Marvel stuff it would still be a solid movie. It also shows the strength of the MCU and the way they've built out all these characters over the course of the various films. You get Loki and Thor together and they can start right in on the bickering sibling thing, Hulk shows up and you're like 'hey, it's the Hulk!'. You know them, you (maybe) love them, and you can just sit back and enjoy watching them. Something something DCEU Justice League Darkness no Parents *cough*.
Next the MCU is going to show them how to Batman right.
Ian, uh, finds a way.
There's also a bunch of stuff left out or not addressed, feels like a lot of harsh editing to get the run time down.
I do miss the earnest Thor sometimes, and some parts of the film could have used just a few more minutes to breath, but it's by far one of the better marvel movies.
Can occasionally be nice working a non-standard schedule.
Felt there was a bit more humor than normal but that all of it wasn't quite as strong as usual but that's mostly an averaging thing.
Some minor quibbles but the only one of significance:
Also, did anybody care about Scourge? No? Yeah.
I wanted to, since I like Karl Urban. But he felt absolutely superfluous. I think they could have cut him entirely.
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It's funny, but I felt the humor undercut the story more often than helped it.
Valkyrie ended up being a much more likable character than I expected. I assumed she would be a lame stoic badass like Gamora (haven't seen GOTG Vol II yet so hopefully thats changed abit) but she actually has a lot of roguish charm.
And the best entrance.
That and while Korg and Miek (100% more likable than the comic book version and he doesn't even say anything) are great in their limited screentime, I was kind of sad they had no bond with The Hulk at all.
Obviously this was only ever going to have elements of Planet Hulk rather than be an adaption of it but as a Hulk fan, it almost hurts as much as it feels awesome to see them get this close to doing it without doing the whole shbang.
RIP Doug. Ouch.
I only remember her being referred to by number and by title.
She probably would have been thrown in the meat grinder along with the warriors three.
This review is coming after being able to digest the film a bit.
2 major plotlines were picked up here: The fate of Odin and Hulk. 2 new plotlines were brought up here: The planet Sakaar and the goings-on of The Mastermind, and Hela's return from Odin's banishment.
While the movie showed a lot of promise in the previews and the general feel, and the visuals are outstanding and colorful and slide right in to the Guardians of the Galaxy aesthetics, the overall progress of the story is constantly stabbed in the back by the attempts at humor. Yes, humor is great, and the intro with the dragons head was fucking hilarious. Yes, Marvel has always been good with their humor, and when the jokes land in Ragnarok, they land hard. But sometimes they're put in the wrong places.
The disappearance of Odin in Thor 2 is picked up here, and treated with clumsy, thick hands. It's got about the same emotional weight as Craig getting fired from his job in Friday, and told entirely in clunky exposition so it can be swept aside easily.
Hela/Blanchette are criminally underused and discarded in this film. Jeff Goldblum is left to Goldblum up the joint, and while it's fun at first it ends up just feeling like they were trying for memes.
The Hulk is a lot of fun, and the scene where Banner gets all high and badass is a goddamned riot, but overall he felt a little too immature. It almost didn't feel like the same Hulk, like the consequences of his transformation have all but been disregarded.
Hemsworth is great as Thor, but Loki is played off as a joke with the lamest redemption arc ever.
This felt like two movies stitched together: A darker, original vision of Ragnarok (See the Heimdall and Thor vision in Age of Ultron for reference) monstrously conjoined with a lighter, more breezy Thor that takes up the majority of the film. If The Dark World was any indication, a grimmdark Thor trilogy cap would've been as welcome as a kick to the throat, but halfway rectifying it with the colorful Sakaar portions of the film just leaves the entire thing feeling disjointed and half-assed.
I really am liking this film less the longer I ruminate on it. The triumph of the emotional arcs in Guardians of the Galaxy were juxtaposed perfectly with the antics and humor, but here there are sections where the humor is literally shoved in right during some of the heavier parts of the story and it kind of ruins the entire fucking thing.
Ragnarok is better than Thor 2, but I really am starting to wonder if it's better than the first film.
This is a comedy with a bit of action, and considering some of the more emotionally complex situations they throw away to serve at the Altar of Gunn, it's kind of a goddamned shame all around.
Minor character spoilers:
accent getting about in the movie.
Poor Doug.
Did anyone else know Mark Mothersbaugh was on soundtrack duties?
Also
Having Thor 4 be
...Yeah I'd absolutely watch this.