Off My Shelf: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
In case you were wondering -- yes, we did go to see Thor: Ragnarok. I mean, we saw the other two Thor movies, so we were kind of obligated to see this one, right?
Unlike the previous two movies, this film got a number of things right. Sadly, though, it got wrong the main thing that bothered me about the other two Thor movies.
Plot: Thor's evil sister shows up and kicks him out of town and everything goes wrong! He winds up on Jeff Goldblum's garbage planet and is forced to fight the Hulk for about thirty seconds! Then it gets a little dull, and "comedy" happens and then things happen that are important but don't really have any effect on anyone. AND DON'T FORGET IT CONNECTS TO THE REST OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! MARVEL MARVEL MARVEL!
Things It Got Right
*I liked that this minor villain ("Skurge", as played by Karl Urban) had an actual character arc. And not only did he have a character arc -- he had an arc that was shown to us, rather than told to us. This is an improvement on the story-telling in many films I have seen in the past fifteen years or so.
*I liked the basic look of this movie. It was colorful and interesting to look at.
*I enjoyed seeing Jeff Goldblum! He brightens any day!
*I really enjoyed the music in this movie. It was fun, it was extremely 1980's, it was entertaining -- and it was the first time that I've noticed the original score in one of these Marvel movies. Normally, they are generic modern action-movie drek that you couldn't recall afterwards if your life depended on it. But in this case, it turns out the soundtrack was by Mark Mothersbaugh of "Devo" -- who, clearly, has some experience with 80's music. While I was watching the movie, I frequently thought to myself, "What fun music!... I wish the movie I was watching was that fun!"
Things it Got Wrong
EVERYTHING ELSE.
Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. It wasn't a terrible movie-going experience (unlike Thor 2, which seemed to be composed entirely of annoying-voiced women and derp-jokes). No, Thor: Ragnarok at least shed the majority of annoying characters from the first couple films. So, I can confidently say, character wasn't the problem with this movie... in all except three cases.
And of those cases the main one is Thor -- which has been a problem throughout all three movies. So let's discuss Thor, shall we?
The problem with Thor was sown in the first movie; too serious, too low-key, too boring. Not enough smashing things with hammers. I don't remember much that happened in the second movie, but I don't recall any improvements in these areas -- I mostly remember being really irritated and wanting the movie to be over. In the third movie -- too jokey, and the wrong kind of action!
And if you're saying, "They gave you the opposite of your problems with the first movie, and you still have problems with it? NOTHING WILL PLEASE YOU!"
Nay, not so. Let's discuss the 1988 made-for-TV Incredible Hulk special, The Incredible Hulk Returns. (Which was mostly a pilot for a potential Thor TV series, so was very heavy on Thor, and very light on Hulk).
Problems with that movie aside (it's a good bad movie; check it out!) Thor was much more interesting in it than he ever was in the solo Marvel movies because he actually has a character; he's an overly-dramatic, fish-out-of-water, self-centered character who enjoys fighting.
Granted, there's only so long you can play with the "fish out of water" scenario; even Austin Powers had essentially spent that nickel by his third movie. But Thor should always be a bit short-sighted due to excessively high self-esteem; thinks about things in a very surface manner (i.e. his strategy in any fight should be, "We attack them head-on!"); is a perpetual ox in a china shop (the type of person who would get excited and accidentally punch a hole in your ceiling -- and not even notice that he's done so); behaves with excessive gravitas due to the fact that he essentially lacks a sense of humor; and ultimately be aggressively male in that he actively enjoys fighting.
And what do we get in this movie? He takes nothing seriously, he talks non-stop, and nothing really affects him (i.e. nothing is dramatic or a big deal to Thor -- not even his beloved hammer being destroyed, which ought to have been majorly traumatic, a real "Woe is me!" moment for him.) In the first ten minutes, Thor is quipping like there's no tomorrow, goofing around and not taking serious situations seriously. And they're not even good quips. Oh no -- it's a specific type of quipping that absolutely runs me up the wall -- the extremely over-used, Will-Ferrell-style, "I'm talking a mile a minute and saying everything that comes into my head even when it's not appropriate to do so!"-comedy. UGH. For a man-child-like character like Star Lord -- fine! For an egotistical snot like Tony Stark -- fine! For Buddy the Elf or Ron Burgundy -- FINE!
But NOT THOR.
Because he's the type of person who takes himself and life in general too seriously to laugh about it. Humor from Thor should be "accidental" on the part of his character and result from being excessively dramatic -- and from punching holes in the ceiling and not noticing.
And I was rather disappointed by what promised to be the best part of the movie -- the Hulk vs. Thor gladiator battle. The trailer made it look like Thor was FINALLY excited to do some fighting -- but no, when we get there, he's more or less just excited to see the Hulk and really doesn't want to fight with him. That's... unsatisfactory.
The Lesser Problems
As I mentioned, there were a few general story issues.
The General Story Issues
Although the basic elements of the story were there -- it got kind of boring in the middle, and I was never really worried that things weren't going to work out for our heroes because they were so extremely unconcerned about their situation.
Cate Blanchett
Was fine as our evil villainess. Her costume was surprisingly faithful to what her character's costume is supposed to look like (which is always surprising, because Hollywood is secretly ashamed of comic book movies and hate for characters to look the way they do in comic books) but there wasn't enough of her.
And the appearances she did make were pretty one-note, were not super impressive or menacing, and she, too, spent way too much time quipping. Which is, of course, the fault of the script -- not the actress.
Jeff Goldblum Planet
I actually really enjoyed Jeff Goldblum (aka super extreme-Jeff-Goldblum-Liberace) in this movie as the evil dictator of the junk planet. He was entertaining.
The problem is that our our heroes arrive on a garbagey planet with an evil dictator... and WE NEVER SEE THE OPPRESSED MASSES AND WHAT MAKES HIM SO EVIL -- outside of being a bit arbitrary in the operation of his penal system. They mention he has "slaves" (which we never see). They imply that this is a crazy, upside down world where physics don't quite work the way they normally do (which we never see). They mention a revolution happening (which we never see). So, it's yet another case of being told things rather than shown things, which is a big no-no storytelling-wise. In order for one to care about anything that happened on the junk planet, the entire situation needed to be explained visually. Did I see enough of these problems to actually believe it and care whether or not the oppressed masses achieved freedom? No! Seemed like most everybody was having a good time, and even the imprisoned gladiators couldn't stop quipping.
The Hip-Crotch Conundrum
Okay, this isn't really a story issue, but... although I guess it shouldn't... it always annoys me to see this part of Thor in movies:
I don't know why they feel the need to show this part of his body. OKAY, I mean, I DO know why they show that part of his body, but is it really necessary? Does any man really comfortably walk around with his pants so low you can see his hip/crotch-join area? It's one thing to have a man walk around with his shirt off -- but it's something else to make him push his pants down this stupidly low. It's JUST NOT NECESSARY and also makes Thor look like he's too dumb to understand the concept of belts.
Ultimately...
In the end... the problems I mentioned above really interfered with my enjoyment of the movie. Oh, I wasn't as actively bored or annoyed as during previous Thor romps -- but neither was this an ideal experience, lacking in characterization, story and any sense of there being "stakes" for the main characters. They made up for this with constant dumb jokes, which sometimes worked but mostly didn't. There were okay performances of lackluster material -- but at least it was a lot more colorful than previous outings.
In the end, I have to break out a new rating for my blog:
VERY WEAKLY RECOMMENDED
Unlike the previous two movies, this film got a number of things right. Sadly, though, it got wrong the main thing that bothered me about the other two Thor movies.
Plot: Thor's evil sister shows up and kicks him out of town and everything goes wrong! He winds up on Jeff Goldblum's garbage planet and is forced to fight the Hulk for about thirty seconds! Then it gets a little dull, and "comedy" happens and then things happen that are important but don't really have any effect on anyone. AND DON'T FORGET IT CONNECTS TO THE REST OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! MARVEL MARVEL MARVEL!
Things It Got Right
*I liked that this minor villain ("Skurge", as played by Karl Urban) had an actual character arc. And not only did he have a character arc -- he had an arc that was shown to us, rather than told to us. This is an improvement on the story-telling in many films I have seen in the past fifteen years or so.
*I liked the basic look of this movie. It was colorful and interesting to look at.
*I enjoyed seeing Jeff Goldblum! He brightens any day!
*I really enjoyed the music in this movie. It was fun, it was extremely 1980's, it was entertaining -- and it was the first time that I've noticed the original score in one of these Marvel movies. Normally, they are generic modern action-movie drek that you couldn't recall afterwards if your life depended on it. But in this case, it turns out the soundtrack was by Mark Mothersbaugh of "Devo" -- who, clearly, has some experience with 80's music. While I was watching the movie, I frequently thought to myself, "What fun music!... I wish the movie I was watching was that fun!"
Things it Got Wrong
EVERYTHING ELSE.
Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. It wasn't a terrible movie-going experience (unlike Thor 2, which seemed to be composed entirely of annoying-voiced women and derp-jokes). No, Thor: Ragnarok at least shed the majority of annoying characters from the first couple films. So, I can confidently say, character wasn't the problem with this movie... in all except three cases.
And of those cases the main one is Thor -- which has been a problem throughout all three movies. So let's discuss Thor, shall we?
The problem with Thor was sown in the first movie; too serious, too low-key, too boring. Not enough smashing things with hammers. I don't remember much that happened in the second movie, but I don't recall any improvements in these areas -- I mostly remember being really irritated and wanting the movie to be over. In the third movie -- too jokey, and the wrong kind of action!
And if you're saying, "They gave you the opposite of your problems with the first movie, and you still have problems with it? NOTHING WILL PLEASE YOU!"
Nay, not so. Let's discuss the 1988 made-for-TV Incredible Hulk special, The Incredible Hulk Returns. (Which was mostly a pilot for a potential Thor TV series, so was very heavy on Thor, and very light on Hulk).
Problems with that movie aside (it's a good bad movie; check it out!) Thor was much more interesting in it than he ever was in the solo Marvel movies because he actually has a character; he's an overly-dramatic, fish-out-of-water, self-centered character who enjoys fighting.
Granted, there's only so long you can play with the "fish out of water" scenario; even Austin Powers had essentially spent that nickel by his third movie. But Thor should always be a bit short-sighted due to excessively high self-esteem; thinks about things in a very surface manner (i.e. his strategy in any fight should be, "We attack them head-on!"); is a perpetual ox in a china shop (the type of person who would get excited and accidentally punch a hole in your ceiling -- and not even notice that he's done so); behaves with excessive gravitas due to the fact that he essentially lacks a sense of humor; and ultimately be aggressively male in that he actively enjoys fighting.
And what do we get in this movie? He takes nothing seriously, he talks non-stop, and nothing really affects him (i.e. nothing is dramatic or a big deal to Thor -- not even his beloved hammer being destroyed, which ought to have been majorly traumatic, a real "Woe is me!" moment for him.) In the first ten minutes, Thor is quipping like there's no tomorrow, goofing around and not taking serious situations seriously. And they're not even good quips. Oh no -- it's a specific type of quipping that absolutely runs me up the wall -- the extremely over-used, Will-Ferrell-style, "I'm talking a mile a minute and saying everything that comes into my head even when it's not appropriate to do so!"-comedy. UGH. For a man-child-like character like Star Lord -- fine! For an egotistical snot like Tony Stark -- fine! For Buddy the Elf or Ron Burgundy -- FINE!
But NOT THOR.
Because he's the type of person who takes himself and life in general too seriously to laugh about it. Humor from Thor should be "accidental" on the part of his character and result from being excessively dramatic -- and from punching holes in the ceiling and not noticing.
And I was rather disappointed by what promised to be the best part of the movie -- the Hulk vs. Thor gladiator battle. The trailer made it look like Thor was FINALLY excited to do some fighting -- but no, when we get there, he's more or less just excited to see the Hulk and really doesn't want to fight with him. That's... unsatisfactory.
The Lesser Problems
As I mentioned, there were a few general story issues.
The General Story Issues
Although the basic elements of the story were there -- it got kind of boring in the middle, and I was never really worried that things weren't going to work out for our heroes because they were so extremely unconcerned about their situation.
Cate Blanchett
Was fine as our evil villainess. Her costume was surprisingly faithful to what her character's costume is supposed to look like (which is always surprising, because Hollywood is secretly ashamed of comic book movies and hate for characters to look the way they do in comic books) but there wasn't enough of her.
And the appearances she did make were pretty one-note, were not super impressive or menacing, and she, too, spent way too much time quipping. Which is, of course, the fault of the script -- not the actress.
Jeff Goldblum Planet
I actually really enjoyed Jeff Goldblum (aka super extreme-Jeff-Goldblum-Liberace) in this movie as the evil dictator of the junk planet. He was entertaining.
The problem is that our our heroes arrive on a garbagey planet with an evil dictator... and WE NEVER SEE THE OPPRESSED MASSES AND WHAT MAKES HIM SO EVIL -- outside of being a bit arbitrary in the operation of his penal system. They mention he has "slaves" (which we never see). They imply that this is a crazy, upside down world where physics don't quite work the way they normally do (which we never see). They mention a revolution happening (which we never see). So, it's yet another case of being told things rather than shown things, which is a big no-no storytelling-wise. In order for one to care about anything that happened on the junk planet, the entire situation needed to be explained visually. Did I see enough of these problems to actually believe it and care whether or not the oppressed masses achieved freedom? No! Seemed like most everybody was having a good time, and even the imprisoned gladiators couldn't stop quipping.
The Hip-Crotch Conundrum
Okay, this isn't really a story issue, but... although I guess it shouldn't... it always annoys me to see this part of Thor in movies:
I don't know why they feel the need to show this part of his body. OKAY, I mean, I DO know why they show that part of his body, but is it really necessary? Does any man really comfortably walk around with his pants so low you can see his hip/crotch-join area? It's one thing to have a man walk around with his shirt off -- but it's something else to make him push his pants down this stupidly low. It's JUST NOT NECESSARY and also makes Thor look like he's too dumb to understand the concept of belts.
Ultimately...
In the end... the problems I mentioned above really interfered with my enjoyment of the movie. Oh, I wasn't as actively bored or annoyed as during previous Thor romps -- but neither was this an ideal experience, lacking in characterization, story and any sense of there being "stakes" for the main characters. They made up for this with constant dumb jokes, which sometimes worked but mostly didn't. There were okay performances of lackluster material -- but at least it was a lot more colorful than previous outings.
In the end, I have to break out a new rating for my blog:
VERY WEAKLY RECOMMENDED
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