From a comic book point of view, Ragnarok has two storylines; both of which can be seen sprinkled through the entire length of the film. Since the initial days of MCU, Marvel has always been on the lighter side of storytelling. But ever since the runaway success of Guardians of the Galaxy it seems like they have moved further towards the lighter tone. Now generally speaking, I don’t mind comedy movies at all. But when there is a looming threat of Surtur (A demon literally made of fire) and Hela (The Goddess of Death) is involved, and the term Ragnarok (Meaning- A cycle of Apocalypse of Asgard) is in the title of the film. I hope they took a darker tone for the third installment of Thor.
Let’s talk about the score of the movie first. Music can either make or break a movie, except theImmigrants (the song which is featured in the trailers). The rest of the music is really pale and fails to generate the right emotions at the right moments. There has been no epic scores in marvel movies since the Tobey Maguire starring Spider-man Trilogy.
The characters who stood out for me in the movie are Thor and Loki. Tom Hiddleston played him as perfectly as he did in the previous Marvel films. Thor however had a lighter tone than in any of the previous Avengers or Thor installments. And with the basic plot of Infinity War having been released this week, it seems like it may remain the same for the next 2-4 years as well. I really hope Black Panther brings something unique to the table. The table being 17 Marvel films which seem to have the same bland structure and the same generic outline.
For me, a movie is good when it makes me feel the right emotions at the right time. It should make me cry during an emotional scene. Make me have a fit in a comedic scene. Bring me to the edge of the seat during an action scene. Thor is only successful in doing one of these three. Emotional scenes are gambled and there is a joke basically in every fifth line. Now I don’t mind laughing hysterically in a movie and it may look hypocritical of me to diss a movie on the basis of comedy. But, as an audience of comic book movies; I think we deserve stronger emotional pay-offs with the characters we love so much. If I needed 2 hours of jokes with some story built around it, I would have rather watched a few episodes of any sitcom.
Hela, the Goddess of Death and the main villain of the movie Ragnarok (aka apocalypse) becomes nothing but an expositional character giving us history lessons on the Norse mythology. I am sure there could have been better and more subtle ways to do that. Another weak villain from the Treasure Trove of Marvel villains. This movie failed to resonate with me on any level and I was fairly disappointed.
Overall, it is a very lighthearted movie which does not take itself seriously. There are also a few special appearances by some actors( which I obviously won’t spoil). The action scenes during the first and the last phase of the movie are great. And the fight between Hulk and the Lord of Thunder is worth watching. It can be a good time if you do not have any expectations from the film and are just watching it to have fun. I would suggest watching it with a bunch of friends.
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