Saw Thor Ragnarok over the weekend.
Overall, I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10. I thought it was the most entertaining of the Thor movies, although each one has its strong points and weak points.
The good:
Both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger did a good job of bringing the characters "down to earth" to allow them to eventually play on a level playing field for The Avengers. I liked that Thor Ragnarok tosses that aside and focuses on Thor as a "cosmic" superhero, much as Marvel Comics had their Earth-bound heroes and their more powerful cosmic-level heroes. Outside of an Avengers-class event, Thor (and the Hulk to some extent) were really out of place alongside Iron Man, Cap, and the likes of Hawkeye, Black Panther, Black Widow, and Spiderman. Pushing him off into space and into the Ditko-verse made a lot of sense, and allowed Marvel to explore the character more.
I have no idea why Anthony Hopkins was in Transformers The Last Knight but it is obvious why he is in this movie, even in a relatively small role. It is hard to think of another actor that would provide the gravitas and the dignity to Odin that this movie needed.
A lot of talk was made about this movie being like a "road trip movie" with Thor and the Hulk, but in my opinion this movie had more in common with buddy cop movies like Lethal Weapon. The interplay between Hulk and Thor fit the atmosphere of the movie well in my opinion.
The brother to brother interplay between Thor and Loki was also great. They really felt like brothers. Brothers who loved each other and also hated each other, which is probably half the brothers in existence.
I personally liked Karl Urban's Skurge. It was a small part, and it was perhaps a bit cliche, but I felt Urban did a good job with imbuing that character with the right amount of tragedy. He's an Asgardian that lives in a world with Thor and Odin and Heimdall and just wants a chance to prove he can be of value, and then Hela comes along and basically offers him that chance.
The Meh:
I had no problems with the character of Valkyrie or the actress, but I feel there was more there that could have been explored. Perhaps delving too deeply in her backstory would detract too much from the tone of the main story, but still. Also:
As much as some people complained Jeff Goldblum was too much Jeff Goldblum, I thought that there was perhaps not enough Jeff Goldblum compared to, say, the Collector. Although it will be interesting to see if the MCU every puts them into the same room, given their comic backstories.
I kinda saw the finale from a mile away, although it didn't hurt my enjoyment of the movie overall.
The WTF:
How many Asgardians are there? Like, to start, and now? Spoiler-free statement: really?
Heimdall seemed to get his ass kicked a little too easily at the end.
Why does "the anus" connect to Asgard? Does Asgard occupy a special place in existence even outside the nine realms?
Why was Hela so powerful so soon after being released? If her power works as described by Odin, it doesn't seem reasonable that she would be as powerful as she was when she first encounters Thor.
Definitely recommend. MCU fans seem to like it and even non-MCU fans seem to be finding it enjoyable. If this is the start of the Marvel Cosmic Cinematic Universe, to add to the Guardians of the Galaxy and to lead up to the cosmic battles of the Infinity War, that promises to be interesting.
Marvel continues to show that their corporate suits understand what they are doing much better than everyone else's corporate suits. Certainly, Marvel Studios is not an art house production studio, and they wield the same iron fist that Warners, say, does - perhaps even more. But they keep laying the groundwork for the future, they keep injecting new life into their cinematic universe, and they keep making superheroes the seasoning of the movies not the core foundation. Different movies are allowed to be not just superficially different but different in tone and trope. Marvel has heist movies (AntMan) and spy thrillers (Winter Soldier) and period pieces (First Avenger) and straight up action ensembles (The Avengers). Even flawed movies like Age of Ultron are still heavily character driven and keep the focus on the beliefs and motivations of the main characters. Ragnarok shows they are willing to change directions when they feel it will help a franchise, and willing to overturn the apple cart and make dramatic changes to the world their characters inhabit.
There are people who say, as is their right, that all Marvel movies are the same boring thing. To that I point to Winter Soldier, I point to Ant Man, I point to Dr. Strange. I will now also be pointing to Thor Ragnarok. And I'm not even sure what kind of movie I would describe it as. Action-Comedy-Adventure? The non-Asgardian parts almost felt like it was taking place on the Discworld.
