By Angel
Movie Description: “Imprisoned, the almighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization.”
Story
The movie immediately captured my attention with it’s opening which shows Thor held captive under the power of Surtur who is a new character introduced in the MCU. Thor briefs the audience on the situation in a Deadpool fourth wall breaking style on how Surtur wants to bring the apocalypse upon his home world of Asgard. This hook indicated to me the action, tone, and visual effects. The action was extremely enjoyable! The visual effects were not that great. I believe there was a joke set up every minute of the movie which makes sense due to the comedic director. The majority of the comedy was executed masterfully since I was laughing from beginning to end.
The issue I had with the abundance of jokes was the films failure to recognize the appropriate times to take things seriously. The conflict of the film isn’t focused on enough, the antagonists have little screen time and their motivations are generic such as being evil just because they have power. There were a lot of moments that could have been emotionally moving, but instead get drowned in humor, which isn’t necessarily negative, it just felt tonally inconstant with the subject matters and character arcs. Because of this style, I would consider Thor Ragnarok to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first pure comedy.
Cinematography
To me, great cinematography is when the visuals are contributing to the storytelling. A film should SHOW us what’s going on rather than tell us. When it comes to analyzing cinematography, simply, I ask myself, “Was this film nice to look at?” Then I can choose to get in depth and look for whether colors were symbolic, placement of characters in the frame, composition, lighting, shadows, and point of view.
Did Thor Ragnarok look nice…definitely! I loved the colors and warmth of Asgard, the entire atmosphere of the movie was electrifying. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, which made the poor CGI used in the entire movie hard to miss. The photography isn’t as detailed or intimate as it could have been and I think it’s because it’s very special effects heavy.
Performances
Chris Hemsworth gives a thundering comedic performance as Thor. This is definitely a different Thor than we have seen before and his comedic timing was exceptional.
Jeff Goldblum was made for Taiki Waiti’s humorous style. Goldblum was the best I’ve seen him in years, fully immersed in his character, the excitement he brought to playing the the role was contagious.
I wish there was much to say about one of the greatest actresses in cinema when it comes to her contribution for this movie, but I don’t think they wrote her a great part. She didn’t have much to work with so her performance was just as unsatisfying as the character.
Mark Ruffalo’s acting was so odd. He was not acting like the character Bruce Banner, he completely took me out of the film whenever he appeared. He had some hilarious moments, but again when it comes to performance I have to believe he is that character which I did not.
The rest of the cast did an impeccable job at immersing themselves in this witty realm and delivered on comedy.
Music
Marvel is really killing it with their choices of music for their movies. The soundtrack was wicked, I loved it so much!
Message
The lessons I got from Thor Ragnarok: Objects don’t define who you are, face your problems head on, Asgard is not a place it’s a people.
Overall
This movie is a gag reel with some entertaining action. There isn’t much emotional heart, but it managed to keep me engaged with laughter and happiness for over 2 hours. I loved the humor, character interactions, messages, and soundtrack. I didn’t enjoy the lack of necessary drama, the antagonists, and visual effects. This is a must see on the big screen and I hope you all love it! 9.5/10
