In Thor: Ragnarok, one of the latest installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the storytelling is becoming more robust, and the development of the characters is providing more depth to the comic world as a whole.
The overall tone of the movie plays similarly with other Marvel movies, bringing a unique mesh of comedy, action and stunning visuals. In this instance, Thor is imprisoned on the planet of Sakaar where he is forced to be in a gladiator death match with his old pal “The Hulk.”
While Thor is stuck fighting the big green mean machine, Hela, the goddess of death plans to invade and destroy Asgard. This forces Hulk, Thor and Loki to band together and take the fight to her.
The problem with Loki’s involvement, who is the trickster, is that you never really know whether he’s for or against Thor. Loki always plays games and keeps the audience guessing his motivations throughout the film.
One of the most significant issues most of the Marvel movies have is that they don’t know how to elevate the “stakes” of the heroes.
Asgard being under siege by Hela does provide some conflict, however to the audience member, how much does he or she care? In this aspect, they didn’t create a sense of dread that would impact the rest of the Marvel universe.
In fact, Spider-Man: Homecoming did a much better job at this.
Hela also doesn’t strike all the right chords. While she is powerful, and she has an army at her disposal, her plight isn’t as relatable as one would like.
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, the villain is someone you care about it. It is essential in any storytelling device seeing that the antagonist must be on par with the protagonist.
One of the things that Thor: Ragnarok achieved well-introduced characters that comic book fans have been waiting for it. From the Valkyrie, the Rock beast Korg and others, there are strong new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will hopefully appear in Infinity War and beyond.
One thing is sure and undeniable; the visuals of the movie are exceptional. In many cases, movies of this caliber banks on the visual appeal of the film to sell tickets and in turn lacks in the storytelling devices. While there were undoubtedly some aspects missing from the storytelling, the visuals didn’t overshadow the story that much.
It keeps you locked in a focused on the development of the plot.
Of course, as with most Marvel movies, we follow the Hero’s Journey, and this is a cookie-cutter approach to these kinds of stories. Personally, I wish they would play around a bit more with these aspects to provide more depth to the character development. Given that these characters receive numerous comic issues for exploration, we cannot expect the same approach to be taken with shorter films.
Thor finally gets a bit of a makeover in his third solo outing. No longer does he have his long hair; he now is more of your “bad-ass” short haired version. Additionally, they increased the comedic appeal of Thor as well.
It is significant because the humor between Thor and Hulk is crucial. They have a natural chemistry that was lacking in the previous movies, and it seems to me that this time they banked on this aspect.
Overall, the movie lives up to the hype, and while there indeed are a few aspects that could be improved, Thor: Ragnarok will entertain throughout the film.
With all the Easter eggs and setting up the tone for the future movies, I can say that Thor: Ragnarok is entertaining. It’s not the best Marvel movie by a long shot, but it’s also not the worst. Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy did a much better job in their storytelling devices. However, Thor is very entertaining and a great time if you’re looking for a unique mesh of action and comedy.
We’ll see what happens with Thor and the rest of the gang next year when Thanos comes knocking for the Infinity Stones.
About the author: Lauren Bradshaw started writing in 2003. Since then she tried her hand in website copywriting, writing for different blogs. Currently she is working as a movie review writer at Custom Writings. Her major interests lie in content marketing, developing communication skills, and blogging. She’s also passionate about philosophy, psychology, literature and painting.
