Review of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) by Jose R — 21 Feb 2018

Thor: Ragnarok was one of the most disappointing movies I've sat through in a long while. I enjoyed the grand visuals and fantastic characters in the first two films, but what I got here was an awkward, unfocused, studio-quirky mess.

The plot is your standard affair of a new villain arriving to take over the universe, disarming Thor in some way, and Thor recruiting a ragtag bunch to retake Asgard. It could have worked had the heroes been more likeable and Hela been better developed as a character. Instead, the plot decided to take a painful detour to a planet with its own time passage: for every few weeks in this planet, about an hour passes outside of it. This is a fitting setup because I can tell you once Thor, Hulk, and Valkyrie flew away it felt like an eternity had passed. Thor arrives on the planet without his hammer or most of his powers (even tazers knocked him out over and over again, which was very annoying considering he's supposed to be the God of Thunder), and he has to spend a good third of the movie getting kicked around by the slapstick comedy until he can recruit the Valkyrie and Hulk to finally come back to Asgard for a showdown against Hera. An admittedly clever climax that brings all the characters (minus Goldblum) together later, Thor and the Asgardians set sail for Earth for what I'm guessing is a sequel hook. I don't think I will watch it, because in this movie it was like the whole cast was the same and I'd rather not watch the same movie again.

Why has Marvel decided to make every character Tony Stark? Literally every hero in this movie fit the same mold: they're quirky and handsome, then they're arrogant and dismissive, then they're smugly quipping as their scene partner gets hit by something. Even Heimdall, known to be the silent, stoic guardian of Asgard, says the line "Sorry about that. These bloody things are everywhere," as he effortlessly smashes through some of Hela's soldiers.

Speaking of Hela, I had the greatest expectations of her. Here was a character with the potential to be one of the greatest villains of the EMCU; she's the Goddess of Death with a clear motivation and a personality wildly different from the rest of the clowns here. At first, it works! The scene where she destroys Thor's hammer is terrifying, and Cate Blanchett's performance carries it through well. Later, however, the director's 'comedic' instincts kick in, and she's making sex jokes like the rest when she walks past the all-powerful Surtur's skull and notes "Smaller than I thought it would be". Only Doctor Strange and Loki, to some extent, were enjoyable in this film. Strange's scene was the best in the movie and Loki had some legitimately funny lines.

It's hard to determine which character got it worst, but our top candidates are Thor himself, who has barely grown as a character since Thor (2011), The Incredible Hulk, who is jarringly autotuned and spends his time in a staged gladiator contest managed by Jeff Goldblum, the Valkyrie, who is a cowardly drunkard who keeps electrocuting Thor, and Korg, who is essentially the New Zealand version of Jar Jar Binks. I've heard much of the dialogue is ad-libbed and it shows with Korg. Here are some of the brilliant lines: "Oh my God. The hammer pulled you off?" "Who's asking? I know you're asking. Is anyone asking, or is it just you?" "Oh, Miek's dead. I accidentally stepped on him on the bridge; I've just felt so guilty I've been carrying him around all day...".

The visuals in Thor: Ragnarok are good, as expected in a Marvel production, but the soundtrack is so odd. It's not often you get Led Zepplin and Willy Wonka in the same movie. Overall the flashes of creativity in this film are buried under the safe, marketable silliness Marvel is now known for. If you're a fan of Thor, especially the comic books, give this one a miss.