Val Halen should’ve gotten his own cartoon.
There is SO MUCH there to play with. Godly, superhero, rock tropes, crazy fans, sight gags, puns…I want it!
Gender: Male Location: 4th Street Underpass, Manhattan
I loved this film and thought it was the best MCU film since Infinity War, and possibly the second best MCU film after the first Dr Strange. Everything about this film was great. The plot was amazing, and the physical stakes were perfectly utilized as a vessel to explore the character's inner struggles. The quest for the Gate to Eternity was a thrillride and arguably better than Thanos' IG quest.
All of the actors were amazing and all of the characters had intriguing arcs. Bale owned the role of Gorr, who was an amazingly threatening mix of Thanos, Kratos, and Dr. Facilier. Bale owned the hell out of the role, and he even entertainingly paid homage to Ledger's Joker performance in a few scenes. Similarly, Russell Crowe was practically unrecognizable as Zeus and gave a hilarious performance with a excellent Greek accent. [SPOILER - highlight to read]: I also enjoyed seeing HE'S HERE! HE THERE! HE'S EVERY ****ING WHERE! ROY KENT! ROY KENT! as Hercules in the post credit scene.. The Guardians were superbly entertaining as a cameo and, just like Strange in Ragnarok, they were given the exact amount of necessary screentime without overriding the main story of the Asgardians.
I enjoyed how the film was ita premise of deity demolition to explore existential themes of hope during nihilism, rather than being a generic God -Of-War Mythological bloodbath. All of the characters were grasping with inflicted or imminent loss and finding the strength, faith, and hope to overcome their grief through productivity and generosity rather than violence and self-destruction, whether it was Thor mourning the death of his family members, Jane mourning her imminent death, Gorr mourning the death of his daughter, Valkyrie mourning the death of her girlfriends, Axl mourning his father's death, Korg and the Asgardians mourning the destruction of their homeworld, or the Guardians mourning the death of Gamora.
Unlike other post-Endgame MCU projects, I thought this film had a perfect blend of superheroic wonder, peril, and heartwarming emotional characterization, and balanced its own internal story perfectly with the MCU mythology. The film actually felt more like an actual mythical poem rather than a standard blockbuster, although it delivered in both regards.
All in all, I would give it a solid 8.5/10. Again, it was definitely the best of the Phase 4 MCU films.
I'm a big fan of Thor, and though I'm glad this was a hit, this is now my least favourite MCU film. Even though I've given all the MCU films a thumbs up(thumbs up to absolute rave), this is at the bottom. I liked it less upon a second viewing - the humour was obnoxious. and Christian Bale was one of few giving a serious performance. Thor's personality regressed in this - he's more like the God of Jackasses.
__________________
"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
^ He does bring up a good point about Thor's action's in this movie being reckless causing a war & disaster , Its like he hasn't learnt from past mistakes or maybe its the scriptwriters just ignoring the previous films.
Ragnarok got total critical raves and was the biggest hit of the series. Whoever was griping, it was a small minority.
I was concerned about Waititi's enthusiasm for 1980's Flash Gordon, that he was going to camp it up big time. But Ragnarok proved to be perfectly balanced with the dramatic stakes and the humour. While it may have been the best Thor movie overall, I didn't agree with people that the first one in 2011 should have been like this. That one had to do serious world building to get audiences to buy in, so it should have been more serious (and it still had a strong humour streak.
What this reminds me of, is Tim Burton's Batman Returns. After he amazed the world with the first Batman, proving Batman done dark and serious could be hugely successful, they gave him full reign to go even more Burton-y with the sequel.
And it was...too much. Too twisted, too bizarre, too eccentric. Too much Tim Burton.
(Burton moved on, and maybe he should have, but the studio overreacted and pushed the series too hard the opposite way, going brighter and campier. But that's another story.)
This is what Love And Thunder makes me think of - Too much Taika Waititi. It's at it's best when Thor and Gorr are interacting and fighting, but the comic asides undermine it so much.
__________________
"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
KMC Community Forums
Jul 19th, 2022 04:08 AM
Attachment: 
