Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

[riddler]

Director Taika Waititi has pegged the movie's current runtime at around 100 minutes, making it by far the shortest MCU film to date.

As far as Thor movies go, that's likely a GOOD THING!

I do think the two THOR movies are the weak link of the MCU but I'm actually excited for this one with the Planet Hulk and Jeff Goldblum.

[Silver Nemesis]

[The Laughing Fish]

I see the early reactions to this include that buzzword that's become very common when describing Marvel's movies nowadays: fun, fun, FUN. Well, the last time critics overemphasised how fun Marvel films were turned out to be a complete disappointment for me, and thought they were some of Marvel's worst entries. But that's only my opinion.

Meanwhile, Taika Waititi describes Thor as an Iron Man clone, more or less.

"I said this before, if the movie's called Thor, then Thor should be the best character," said Waititi. Expanding his thoughts on the God of Thunder, "My main focus was making him cool, and funny when he needs to be, heroic when he needs to be."

Thor's changed and it turns out he's picked up a sense of humor from an old friend, "Thor spent two years hanging out with [Tony Stark]. So, he knows a little bit more about irony and sarcasm now. He's got a little bit of Earth humor. He's like a rich kid from outer space who's spent some time slumming it for a bit, you know? So he's instantly become a bit more interesting but he's still in different parts of the Cosmos, and still learning as he goes."

Source: https://news.marvel.com/movies/76745/taika-waititi-talks-taking-challenge-thor-ragnarok/

One thing that's really annoying me now is a LOT of the heroes nowadays are becoming too similar to Stark's personality i.e. Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Ant-Man, even Rocket Raccoon sometimes. Even Doctor Strange, despite I enjoyed that movie, is too identical to Stark. I could sorta excuse Spider-Man because he's an impressionable kid and he's supposed to be Stark's protege, but the others could be the same character for all I care.

Yes, I regret I'm going to skip this movie altogether.

[riddler]

I see the early reactions to this include that buzzword that's become very common when describing Marvel's movies nowadays: fun, fun, FUN. Well, the last time critics overemphasised how fun Marvel films were turned out to be a complete disappointment for me, and thought they were some of Marvel's worst entries. But that's only my opinion.

Meanwhile, Taika Waititi describes Thor as an Iron Man clone, more or less.

"I said this before, if the movie's called Thor, then Thor should be the best character," said Waititi. Expanding his thoughts on the God of Thunder, "My main focus was making him cool, and funny when he needs to be, heroic when he needs to be."

Thor's changed and it turns out he's picked up a sense of humor from an old friend, "Thor spent two years hanging out with [Tony Stark]. So, he knows a little bit more about irony and sarcasm now. He's got a little bit of Earth humor. He's like a rich kid from outer space who's spent some time slumming it for a bit, you know? So he's instantly become a bit more interesting but he's still in different parts of the Cosmos, and still learning as he goes."

Source: https://news.marvel.com/movies/76745/taika-waititi-talks-taking-challenge-thor-ragnarok/

One thing that's really annoying me now is a LOT of the heroes nowadays are becoming too similar to Stark's personality i.e. Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Ant-Man, even Rocket Raccoon sometimes. Even Doctor Strange, despite I enjoyed that movie, is too identical to Stark. I could sorta excuse Spider-Man because he's an impressionable kid and he's supposed to be Stark's protege, but the others could be the same character for all I care.

Yes, I regret I'm going to skip this movie altogether.

Plenty of movies have done fine with their best character's not being the title one. I don't think the fact that Cap wasn't the star of Civil War hurt the movie. Loki's been dormant since the Dark World, Hulk was underused in Phase two , I wont be disappointed one bit if either steal the spotlight, I'm just excited to see them again.

Overall Marvel has done fairly well with phase 3. Guardians 2 was a bit of a let down but Spidey and Civil War are excellent films and Doctor Strange was pretty good too. I've found the Thor films underwhelming so far but this one looks to have promise with the extra characters.

[The Laughing Fish]

Plenty of movies have done fine with their best character's not being the title one. I don't think the fact that Cap wasn't the star of Civil War hurt the movie. Loki's been dormant since the Dark World, Hulk was underused in Phase two , I wont be disappointed one bit if either steal the spotlight, I'm just excited to see them again.

Overall Marvel has done fairly well with phase 3. Guardians 2 was a bit of a let down but Spidey and Civil War are excellent films and Doctor Strange was pretty good too. I've found the Thor films underwhelming so far but this one looks to have promise with the extra characters.

I'm afraid I beg to differ. I've been really dismayed by Phase 3 so far. Last year, I thought Civil War was just okay but nothing special, and I did like Doctor Strange and thought that was the best one in the phase so far. But I have not liked any movie from Marvel this year. I couldn't stand GOTG2 and I didn't think Homecoming was very good either.

If you were to ask me two and a half years ago, I thought Marvel could do no wrong and the only black sheep was Iron Man 2. The first two phases could juggle out different moods and tones and the variety was exciting. There was a better balance in comedy and drama back now.

But fast forward to right now, and I'm becoming increasingly agitated over the films seemingly pandering to the lowest common denominator with cheap jokes - which are progressively becoming more childish and idiotic as time goes by. Seriously - Flash Thompsons yelling "Penis" Parker? Not even Iron Man 2 would regress to that level of such juvenile humour. Every film seems to be a half-assed comedy nowadays.

After hearing all the things about Ragnarok, Thor has become a complete parody and a copycat. Since I have no interest in seeing this film, I don't see any point in talking about it in this thread again.

[riddler]

Saw this yesterday.

I'm glad to say this one is easily the best Thor movie. I found the first two somewhat underwhelming, mainly because of the portrayal of Aasgard: I found those scenes lackluster beyond the visuals. This time around, not much time is spent there, this one has a new setting with a new cast of characters. Visuals are well done, The action is handled fantastically, much the way the Russo brothers paced Winter Soldier. The film takes cues from other Marvel movies. In Iron Man 3 we saw separation anxiety between Tony and his suit, likewise with Spider-man in homecoming. Both those characters had to assume the man they were without relying on the suit, the same happens here between Thor and his hammer. The hammer is a cool feature of the character but removing it allowed the character to stand out on his own and Chris Hemsworth does. Since he lacks the hammer, Thor is forced to use his powers as the god of thunder which leads to outstanding character effects once he channels the lightning.

There is no love story to blind our title character this time around, instead the stakes are much bigger. When the action is on hold, Hemsworth shows his acting chops. He has unique relationships with all three of his allies in this film, his sister, his brother, and his friend Banner/Hulk and all 3 have special scenes with the title character.It was good to see Loki back in action, this time around he is far more of a protagonist than he had been in the previous films. Perhaps he's finally given up trying to beat Thor and decided to join him instead of executing menacing schemes only to be stopped by Thor. Sakaar is an interesting place, blending concepts from our past (Gladiator tournaments for sport) with futuristic technology. Goldblum is fantastic as a gentle dictator. He doesn't act intimidating but once you see what he's capable of, you understand he doesn't need to.

If you are a fan of the Incredible Hulk, you're in luck. He hasn't had this much screen time since his title fan in 2008 and it doesn't go to waste. His fight against Thor was legendary. We find out that the character has been in hulk form since Sokovia (2 years) and thus we have a more developed hulk capable of deeper thought and dialogue. He still maintains his character trait but the big difference is more dialogue. Sadly for fans of Mark Ruffalo, there isn't an awful lot of Bruce Banner. The character had been the hulk for so long, he realizes that it has taken over as his dominant personality which adds another moral dilemma for Banner. His fear of hulking out is back on the basis that he fears that due to his last hulk out lasting two years, he may not return to human form after his next hulk out. 

As far as the fun factor? It's there, the film is well paced between action, comedy, and drama. There are more jokes than the previous films. I felt there was the right mix, the humour was a nice touch but not enough in which it becomes a satire the way Guardians 2 came off. Comparing this film to the other phase 3 films, I thought it wasn't as good as Spider-man Homecoming or Civil War but better than Guardians and doctor strange.

Final grade: 8/10

[GoNerdYourself]

I found the film entertaining. Admittedly, though, some of the humor caught me off-guard. I didn't realize until later on, but the dialogue sometimes feels like it was written for one of those "How It Should Have Ended" parodies.

To be honest, I am still not sure how I feel about that. I did find myself laughing, but there are times where I wish the tone was a little less casual.

[riddler]

I found the film entertaining. Admittedly, though, some of the humor caught me off-guard. I didn't realize until later on, but the dialogue sometimes feels like it was written for one of those "How It Should Have Ended" parodies.

To be honest, I am still not sure how I feel about that. I did find myself laughing, but there are times where I wish the tone was a little less casual.

Thor is a tough character to pull off with a lot of humour. Fantasy and humour don't often mix well hence why the only 'space comedies' which exist are satires such as Spaceballs. In the first two films, most of the humour was reserved for the scenes on earth. With Ruffalo and the Hulk playing such a big part of the story, I'm glad they didn't take the material too seriously, Ruffalo is great with the dry humour.

[The Joker]

FLASHBACK 1998

Wizard Magazine fan casts a Thor film based on the then-current "Heroes Return" Thor comic book run.