Thor: Ragnarok
Nov 18, 2017 18:50:06 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner, Lt. Broccoli, and 7 more like this
Post by Desert Dweller on Nov 18, 2017 18:50:06 GMT -5
Yes, it is really me posting in an MCU thread.
So, I was out last night with some friends for dinner. They all decided they wanted to go see Thor: Ragnarok. I am not the slightest bit interested in comic book movies. Comics are not my realm of geekdom. I have seen some of the X-Men films, and I think one Spider Man film back when Tobey Macguire was in them, but I don't think I've seen anything in the MCU. (I just googled MCU to check. No.) People, I'm a hardcore Benedict Cumberbatch fangirl and Tilda Swinton is one of my favorite actors, and I still didn't see "Dr. Strange".
Needless to say, I was not keen on this idea. I was then mercilessly bullied by the group into seeing this movie. One of them had already seen it. I asked, "If I've never seen any of these will I even know what is happening?" She said yes. Another friend added, "And Cate Blanchett is the villain." The one who'd seen the movie then offered up, "Chris Hemsworth is shirtless in this movie for several minutes." One of them offered to buy the ticket for me.
Anyway, I ended up seeing this movie. So, thoughts on this movie from someone who has never seen a single MCU movie.
First, I'll get to a couple of things I didn't like at all. Primarily, the plot was predictable. The ending was obvious within the first 15 minutes of the movie. I started to feel annoyed with Thor and Loki that they didn't figure this out sooner. I'm pretty sure the entire middle part of the film exists just because the solution to the main problem was so obvious that Thor and Loki simply couldn't be in that location until the end, otherwise they'd figure it out. The other big problem I had with the movie was that Hela was a severely underwritten villain. Her entire story is "I'm evil and I am going to kill everyone just because I can! Also, I hate my daddy." This was especially irritating because there were two action scenes in the film that felt like they dragged on too long. Could have used that time to make a decent villain. Also, while her antlers were awesome, her costume looked cheap.
As far as stuff I liked, first on that list is Chris Hemsworth. Oh my God, I had no idea he was that funny. He's hot AND funny? That is unfair. He has a couple moments of very nice physical comedy. And the movie takes on this unexpected "buddy comedy" feel, which I enjoyed. Hemsworth brought a lot more warmth to the role than I expected.
While the ending was predictable, I did enjoy the way the film took seriously the concept "What is the worst thing I can do to this character?" I enjoyed the way Thor just kind of careened through the first 2/3 of the movie, not in control at all, and just reacting to all this terrible stuff that was happening. Thor is a pretty powerful character, so it was nice to see him completely confused and stuck in uncontrollable situations. I also enjoyed the WTF? feeling of the middle location, which almost had a Douglas Adams vibe. The gag with the Willy Wonka music was delightfully absurd. And Jeff Goldblum was fun in what is possibly the Jeff Goldblumiest performance I've ever seen.
Finally, I really appreciated that the film wasn't set on Earth, and the climax wasn't the villain trying to destroy Earth. There were only a few moments spent on Earth, which was lovely. And those moments were filled with Thor and Loki being completely confused about what was happening.
In between good and bad was that I wasn't in love with the action scenes in the movie. The first one with Thor breaking out feels too long. I will say that I did like the gag with Thor in the arena going to fight the Grandmaster's champion. I do know a little about comics, so, like, I know who the Incredible Hulk is. And I know that Thor and Hulk are both Avengers. So, this was a truly funny gag. However, my God, that fight scene dragged on. OMG, we all know neither of those characters is going to kill the other. They blew a TON of $$$ on visual effects for a pointless scene. Have I mentioned that the villain needed more time to be developed?? Yeesh. That said, the scene between Hulk and Thor after that was nice. The climax action scene also felt like it was too long. Especially since I was by then extremely irritated that it was taking Thor so long to figure out the solution.
Also, it is amusing to me as someone who hasn't seen any of these movies the way that all the characters completely shit all over Loki way out of proportion to anything that he does in this specific movie. I'm still not remotely interested in seeing any of the other movies, but I can only imagine what kinds of stuff he must have done prior to justify the reactions of the characters towards him in this one.
I'd give it a B/B-. It was fun for what it was.
PS. The cast of this film is insanely hot. Is this the best looking cast of all time? 10/10. I'm not even bi, but I probably would do everyone in this cast.
PPS. I did enjoy the scene of Chris Hemsworth shirtless.
So, I was out last night with some friends for dinner. They all decided they wanted to go see Thor: Ragnarok. I am not the slightest bit interested in comic book movies. Comics are not my realm of geekdom. I have seen some of the X-Men films, and I think one Spider Man film back when Tobey Macguire was in them, but I don't think I've seen anything in the MCU. (I just googled MCU to check. No.) People, I'm a hardcore Benedict Cumberbatch fangirl and Tilda Swinton is one of my favorite actors, and I still didn't see "Dr. Strange".
Needless to say, I was not keen on this idea. I was then mercilessly bullied by the group into seeing this movie. One of them had already seen it. I asked, "If I've never seen any of these will I even know what is happening?" She said yes. Another friend added, "And Cate Blanchett is the villain." The one who'd seen the movie then offered up, "Chris Hemsworth is shirtless in this movie for several minutes." One of them offered to buy the ticket for me.
Anyway, I ended up seeing this movie. So, thoughts on this movie from someone who has never seen a single MCU movie.
First, I'll get to a couple of things I didn't like at all. Primarily, the plot was predictable. The ending was obvious within the first 15 minutes of the movie. I started to feel annoyed with Thor and Loki that they didn't figure this out sooner. I'm pretty sure the entire middle part of the film exists just because the solution to the main problem was so obvious that Thor and Loki simply couldn't be in that location until the end, otherwise they'd figure it out. The other big problem I had with the movie was that Hela was a severely underwritten villain. Her entire story is "I'm evil and I am going to kill everyone just because I can! Also, I hate my daddy." This was especially irritating because there were two action scenes in the film that felt like they dragged on too long. Could have used that time to make a decent villain. Also, while her antlers were awesome, her costume looked cheap.
As far as stuff I liked, first on that list is Chris Hemsworth. Oh my God, I had no idea he was that funny. He's hot AND funny? That is unfair. He has a couple moments of very nice physical comedy. And the movie takes on this unexpected "buddy comedy" feel, which I enjoyed. Hemsworth brought a lot more warmth to the role than I expected.
While the ending was predictable, I did enjoy the way the film took seriously the concept "What is the worst thing I can do to this character?" I enjoyed the way Thor just kind of careened through the first 2/3 of the movie, not in control at all, and just reacting to all this terrible stuff that was happening. Thor is a pretty powerful character, so it was nice to see him completely confused and stuck in uncontrollable situations. I also enjoyed the WTF? feeling of the middle location, which almost had a Douglas Adams vibe. The gag with the Willy Wonka music was delightfully absurd. And Jeff Goldblum was fun in what is possibly the Jeff Goldblumiest performance I've ever seen.
Finally, I really appreciated that the film wasn't set on Earth, and the climax wasn't the villain trying to destroy Earth. There were only a few moments spent on Earth, which was lovely. And those moments were filled with Thor and Loki being completely confused about what was happening.
In between good and bad was that I wasn't in love with the action scenes in the movie. The first one with Thor breaking out feels too long. I will say that I did like the gag with Thor in the arena going to fight the Grandmaster's champion. I do know a little about comics, so, like, I know who the Incredible Hulk is. And I know that Thor and Hulk are both Avengers. So, this was a truly funny gag. However, my God, that fight scene dragged on. OMG, we all know neither of those characters is going to kill the other. They blew a TON of $$$ on visual effects for a pointless scene. Have I mentioned that the villain needed more time to be developed?? Yeesh. That said, the scene between Hulk and Thor after that was nice. The climax action scene also felt like it was too long. Especially since I was by then extremely irritated that it was taking Thor so long to figure out the solution.
Also, it is amusing to me as someone who hasn't seen any of these movies the way that all the characters completely shit all over Loki way out of proportion to anything that he does in this specific movie. I'm still not remotely interested in seeing any of the other movies, but I can only imagine what kinds of stuff he must have done prior to justify the reactions of the characters towards him in this one.
I'd give it a B/B-. It was fun for what it was.
PS. The cast of this film is insanely hot. Is this the best looking cast of all time? 10/10. I'm not even bi, but I probably would do everyone in this cast.
PPS. I did enjoy the scene of Chris Hemsworth shirtless.
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