Thor (T) is taken as a captive and imprisoned by Ragnarok (R). T prods R by casual banter. The deliverance and style indicated that this movie was going to be different from the erstwhile T films. The final nail in the coffin was when T addressed his skeletal companion in the cage and you knew 100% sure that Thor: Ragnarok (T:R) is going to be something special in the Marvel Universe.
Is it better than CapAm? No.
The Avengers? Nope.
Antman? Nada.
GoTG 1? Anti-Yes.
Deadpool? Certainly Zilch.
Logan? Hell No.
Then, how is T:R special?
The previous 2 stand-alone installments of Thor were only mediocre. But, what makes T:R a really enjoyable ride is that it doesn't take itself too seriously. Take for example the scene where the One-Eyed Thor sits on the chair in the spaceship and his friends address him as the King. Chris Hemsworth simply turns and gives his fellow Asgardians an unceremonious and easy-going wave to them instead of being stiff, affected and formal.
As far as the story is concerned, you know that Thor will defeat his sister by the end. There is no surprise in that inevitability. However, the real party is in the narration which is richly filled with sparkling fun and scintillating colors.
When Loki says "I'm Loki and not Lackey", it's a scream of a dialogue. I will do great injustice to the witty script-writers who made use of the "Rock-Scissors" joke to such a brilliant effect. Freaking fantastic. Likewise, the way T checks whether he is the real Loki or not was gut-busting. It was a good thing that the Grandmaster didn't give the moniker "Sparkles" instead of "Lord of Thunder" when T was introduced in the fighting den with Hulk!
Speaking of Hulk, it will be extremely interesting to see whether the Green Monster would turn into the 7-PhD Mark Ruffalo again in the forthcoming films. Hulk had a decent enough screen space and time alongside Thor and Loki. The entire sequence of Thor and Hulk in the kingdom of the GrandMaster was simply superb especially the gladiator-ish physical show of strength between the "Strongest Avenger" and Strongest Avenger.
Loki was up to his own usual self without which T:R may have been a bit boring despite its raving funniness. As ever, he's the central component on whom the movie makes its twists and turns although T is the hero. In the end, Loki stops for a moment when he sees the Tesseract in the vault before he brings back Ragnarok to life again to destroy Hela. We have to patiently wait and watch to know as to whether he couldn't resist its temptation though knowing Loki's shady character, we know what he would have done.
As we are on the topic of Hela, the screenwriters ensured that she didn't have a dragged and extended backdrop but a crisp and brief story of her life. The way she stopped Mjolnir and crushed it to pieces was the highlight that even left T in a state of shock and suspension of astonishment. She had quite a Wonder Woman-esque stunts but being the Goddess of Death, her character could have been utilized much more.
Nevertheless, there were no unnecessary quips and ripostes when the last remaining Valkyrie meets Hela in the climax portions. I had the foreboding sense of intuition that these two would lock themselves in a verbal torpedo and stretch the movie's time. Luckily, sanity prevailed and everyone got down to actual business by fighting each other.
That said and done, T:R totally belonged to T for the way in which he transformed himself from being dependent on his unliftable hammer by others to realizing his true potential as the God of Thunder. It was electrifying, pun intended, when he has a drastic changeover as soon as he is able to put to best use of his powers with the banshee-screaming music of Wonder Woman playing the background. Besides his terrific bod, Thor was as handsome as a Greek God, though he is Norse, with his hair-cut.
Worthy mentions to the cinematographer for the way they captured the lush fields and peaceful oceans of Norway. Also, the straight view of the Rainbow Bridge connecting it to other realms was spectacular as a glittering platter under the shiny sun. There was also one scene where Hela's horns' shadow was shown where the cinematographer's skills were put to great effect. It really created a feeling of ominousness.
The only problem which was there in the entire film was the lack of emotional depth. It took itself a little too relaxed than striking a balance between fun and seriousness. Similarly, the movie also seems to have been tremendously inspired by GoTG 2 like the way Mjolnir flies and trashes others akin to Yondu's arrow. In the same way, the amazeballs of a grand send-off with fireworks for Yondu which we saw in GoTG 2 was also replicated in T:R as the Valkyrie alighted the spaceship with the pyrotechnics ablaze behind her.
With all its flaws, T:R is still a thoroughly entertaining humor fest that will make you smile with all its jokes like referring Stan Lee as "a creepy man"
PS:
Moving from objectivity to subjectivity, my personal favorite scene is where Loki screams with full vehemence "THAT'S how it feels" when Thor was bashed by Hulk from side to side in the ring. It was an incredible touch of ingenuity on the part of the director and script-writers for having made wise use of the plot shown in The Avengers where Loki was smashed by the Hulk. That complete scene was transpiring in front of my eyes when Loki uttered the to-be famous words.
As far as the story is concerned, you know that Thor will defeat his sister by the end. There is no surprise in that inevitability. However, the real party is in the narration which is richly filled with sparkling fun and scintillating colors.
When Loki says "I'm Loki and not Lackey", it's a scream of a dialogue. I will do great injustice to the witty script-writers who made use of the "Rock-Scissors" joke to such a brilliant effect. Freaking fantastic. Likewise, the way T checks whether he is the real Loki or not was gut-busting. It was a good thing that the Grandmaster didn't give the moniker "Sparkles" instead of "Lord of Thunder" when T was introduced in the fighting den with Hulk!
Speaking of Hulk, it will be extremely interesting to see whether the Green Monster would turn into the 7-PhD Mark Ruffalo again in the forthcoming films. Hulk had a decent enough screen space and time alongside Thor and Loki. The entire sequence of Thor and Hulk in the kingdom of the GrandMaster was simply superb especially the gladiator-ish physical show of strength between the "Strongest Avenger" and Strongest Avenger.
Loki was up to his own usual self without which T:R may have been a bit boring despite its raving funniness. As ever, he's the central component on whom the movie makes its twists and turns although T is the hero. In the end, Loki stops for a moment when he sees the Tesseract in the vault before he brings back Ragnarok to life again to destroy Hela. We have to patiently wait and watch to know as to whether he couldn't resist its temptation though knowing Loki's shady character, we know what he would have done.
As we are on the topic of Hela, the screenwriters ensured that she didn't have a dragged and extended backdrop but a crisp and brief story of her life. The way she stopped Mjolnir and crushed it to pieces was the highlight that even left T in a state of shock and suspension of astonishment. She had quite a Wonder Woman-esque stunts but being the Goddess of Death, her character could have been utilized much more.
Nevertheless, there were no unnecessary quips and ripostes when the last remaining Valkyrie meets Hela in the climax portions. I had the foreboding sense of intuition that these two would lock themselves in a verbal torpedo and stretch the movie's time. Luckily, sanity prevailed and everyone got down to actual business by fighting each other.
That said and done, T:R totally belonged to T for the way in which he transformed himself from being dependent on his unliftable hammer by others to realizing his true potential as the God of Thunder. It was electrifying, pun intended, when he has a drastic changeover as soon as he is able to put to best use of his powers with the banshee-screaming music of Wonder Woman playing the background. Besides his terrific bod, Thor was as handsome as a Greek God, though he is Norse, with his hair-cut.
Worthy mentions to the cinematographer for the way they captured the lush fields and peaceful oceans of Norway. Also, the straight view of the Rainbow Bridge connecting it to other realms was spectacular as a glittering platter under the shiny sun. There was also one scene where Hela's horns' shadow was shown where the cinematographer's skills were put to great effect. It really created a feeling of ominousness.
The only problem which was there in the entire film was the lack of emotional depth. It took itself a little too relaxed than striking a balance between fun and seriousness. Similarly, the movie also seems to have been tremendously inspired by GoTG 2 like the way Mjolnir flies and trashes others akin to Yondu's arrow. In the same way, the amazeballs of a grand send-off with fireworks for Yondu which we saw in GoTG 2 was also replicated in T:R as the Valkyrie alighted the spaceship with the pyrotechnics ablaze behind her.
With all its flaws, T:R is still a thoroughly entertaining humor fest that will make you smile with all its jokes like referring Stan Lee as "a creepy man"
PS:
Moving from objectivity to subjectivity, my personal favorite scene is where Loki screams with full vehemence "THAT'S how it feels" when Thor was bashed by Hulk from side to side in the ring. It was an incredible touch of ingenuity on the part of the director and script-writers for having made wise use of the plot shown in The Avengers where Loki was smashed by the Hulk. That complete scene was transpiring in front of my eyes when Loki uttered the to-be famous words.
No comments:
Post a Comment