Yesterday, for the third time in three weeks, I got to go to the movies. Usually, I see maybe two movies a year, so this was pretty cool. Yesterday’s movie was “Thor: Ragnarok”, and I was one of 5 people in the movie theater. This is the third movie in the series and far and away the best. Also, it’s the campiest.
Part of why I didn’t take to the earlier “Thor”s was the relationship concocted for Thor and his earth girl Jane (Natalie Portman), which was like an old bandaid smushed onto a slimy foot wound; that relationship is now over and Thor’s a free agent. (Read my review of the first Thor here: https://steemit.com/movies/@sopa-pekar/two-hours-of-flowing-capes-and-barfy-romance-a-review-of-marvel-s-thor, if you want more on that crappy combination). This Thor is also the most comic booky of the triology, with a very sharp palette, graphic action sequences, and a kickin’ sound track. The opening fight scene music is Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, and two hours later it’s played again, in the last smashtastic battle of Asgard. An excellent directorial choice by Taika Waititi—how can you not get amped up listening to Zeppelin in a dark theater?
Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth, who has grown as an actor throughout the series—I liked him a lot better this time around. Thor’s dad, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) makes a few poignant appearances, while Loki (Tom Middleton) is another main god, with plenty of plot points to hijack. But the real star is Hella (Cate Blanchett), who looks quite fetching in black latex and a many antlered black crown. She’s Thor’s lost older sister, the rightful heir to the throne who emerges when Odin dies. Odin, all-father, was keeping her imprisoned deep in the earth; she’s the goddess of death.
I won’t go too far into the plot, because it’s rather intricate for a comic book movie, but I will say that it surprised me at the right times and didn’t drag (like the first two “Thor”s did). And it was kind of slapstick; Thor gets knocked out, laid up, playfully tazed and otherwise taken down a peg, but all in jest. He’s a god, he can walk off getting slapped by the Incredible Hulk (who also shows up in this movie, and eventually turns back into Bruce Banner). The Hulk/BB is played by Mark Ruffalo, who looks a little stunned to be back in the franchise after missing the last “Avengers”.
Jeff Goldblum has an interesting part, Grandmaster of bloody ceremonies on some fabulously trashy 80s planet. This planet is where Thor gets ejected from off the bifrost (wormhole transit to Asgard), and it’s full of interesting, brightly colorful garbage. It’s kind of a hip-hop planet, actually, and Jeff Goldblum’s costume is gold, red, baby blue, and deep yellow. A “Fifth Element” vibe, with bumping midi beats and crazy hairdos, was the framework—very good for a comic book movie. Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has a five-minute cameo earlier on, and a new Brit, Tessa Thompson, is introduced as an alcoholic Valkyrie working for the Grandmaster. She’s the nascent new love interest for Thor, and that match makes way more sense than him and Jane. I mean, imagine the sex between the god of thunder and a Valkyrie: way better than with some wimpy lady scientist who didn’t even have sexy librarian glasses.
I could go on with this review for a while, but the only thing I really forgot to mention is that, per uszh for Marvel movies, CGI does most of the heavy lifting in “Thor”. Fully 95% of the images are computer generated, and whole scenes happen between one live actor and some hand puppets in front of a green screen, later turned into armies of the undead/a giant lava monster/Fenris Ulch, massive wolf god. But it works, CGI has come so far that I can just sit back and suspend disbelief. Asgard is beautiful until it goes down in flames (the Ragnarok prophecy—“twilight of the gods”—revealed five minutes into the movie, so, not a spoiler), the bifrost is like a trippy rainbow road. These layered background shots, frightening monsters, badass fight scenes, and tours of deep space made me glad I saw “Thor: Ragnarok” in the movie theater. CGI just looks better on a big screen than at home on your laptop.
Star rating, for this movie that’s now been out almost a month? Four out of five, because for some reason I can’t give a comic book movie five stars, even though I liked this “Thor” better than any earlier one, and maybe even more than some of the Avengers movies. It took me on a wild ride in a nearly empty theater, and I got to hear Zeppelin at full blast too. Aaah-aaahh-aaaaaaaah-aaah!
Good comic book movie review, and glad to hear this is better than the previous Thor movies!
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