Movie Review - Thor: Ragnarok
There a only a few of movies which deliberately make no effort to follow a set narrative. Such movies make up the plot as they go along. However, in that, these movies are very good at keeping the audience entertained throughout. Thor - Ragnarok is one such movie. One might say that this movie is riding the coat-tails of another one of Marvel's property, Guardians of the Galaxy. The approach is quite evident right from the beginning. But weirdly and quite ironically, it worked here.
The story is the same old, same old. A bad guy (gal) shows up to destroy the world. Our hero, The Mighty Thor, stops her evil plans...well, sort of (I'll get to that later). Only this time Odin was naughty when he was a young lad and therefore the "bad gal" is his daughter - The Goddess of Death, Hela. The tone of the movie is clearly different from those of the previous two Thor movies. Where the first Thor was a serious, sometimes funny, Origins story and the second one was a DC-levels-of-dark bore-fest, this one takes a very light-hearted approach. There are jokes every few minutes which actually, surprisingly work, thanks to Helmsworth. There are even a few instances where Thor was really awkward which is an extreme persona change if you think about it. And like I said, it works! All the characters, including Jeff Goldblum as the "mini-boss" and Cate Blanchett as the "main boss", were outstanding in their roles. I was particularly fond of this character called Korg, who is a really tough-looking SOB but has a very soft-spoken and mild mannered South African accent (?). Also, this movie is more of a Hulk movie than The Incredible Hulk ever was. The ending felt a bit dodgy to me since there was no proper closure. It is as if a boxing match came to an end because the referee stopped it. A let-down for sure but the movie, as a whole, was great. I cannot believe I'm saying this (especially for a nerd who is a sucker for stories) but take my advice - forget about the story. You'll enjoy this movie even more.
The visuals and the cinematography were excellent. Every shot has this artistic, neon filter to it which was a pleasure to my eyes. As with most Marvel movies, the CGI was in-your-face at times but it was nothing bad. Sometimes, the green screen effects were quite evident but it wouldn't affect a casual viewers eyes. Honestly, I fell I am starting to nit-pick here since there wasn't nothing bad about the visuals.
I never expected to hear Led Zep's Immigrant Song to blaringly play during the movie (since it was the selling point for the trailers) but it did during a few action sequences and it fell in place perfectly for what was going on the screen. The choice of music was excellent for these scenes. The rest of the music wasn't anything memorable. Because this is a Marvel movie with Mjolnir and a big green monster, I would suggest you go to a cinema hall where they have Dolby Atmos. It adds so much more to the experience.
Apart from the ending and a lack of a serious narrative (which is not necessarily a negative point, mind you), I enjoyed the movie as a brainless action flick. If you've seen the trailers, you know exactly what you are getting - a fun, laid-back superhero adventure with a minimal focus on the story. If any of those adjectives interest you and you are on the fence about watching this film, then by all means, go ahead. You will get your money's worth. For all the comic-book nerds and casual superhero fans, I don't have to tell you.
Score - 7.5/10
To 3D or not to 3D - The 3D wasn't particularly interesting since it was post-converted but I feel I could've appreciated the movie even more if it wasn't. I was missing out the smaller details which were begging for my attention but my focus was on Thor's hammer which was flying out of the screen. I would suggest 2D version since 3D didn't add much to my experience but pulled me away from it a bit.
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