“Thank the God of Thunder it is fanastic”.
(Spoiler Free)
We went to see Thor Ragnarok at the recently opened cinema
in Wexford – The Arc Cinema. The place
is fab, lovely staff, comfy recliner seats, great picture & sound and the toilets are spotless. The Arc Cinema gets 10
out of 10.
Finally, after months of trailers shown in the cinema and
teasers on the net Thor Ragnarok graces the big screen. With a star-studded cast of Chris Hemsworth
(Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Cate Blanchett (Hela), Idris Elba (Heimdall)
& Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster) this movie had the potential of being
superstar heavy with no substance. Thank
the God of Thunder it is fanastic.
Yes...there has been too many superhero/comic character
films over the last 3 years (don’t even mention the crud of Batman v’s
Superman) but Ragnarok is my 3rd in the top three. (Obviously Logan is 1st and
Deadpool is 2nd). In this
outing, the God of Thunder has his toy hammer smashed by his mean older sister
so a family feud ensues of epic proportions.
This gives the Hulk some great lines, really funny (and a little bit
rude like the Carry-On films, adult humour that kids will laugh at but not
really get).
After watching Jeff Goldblum on the Graham Norton show a
couple of weeks ago, he was his usual weird self, now that’s a man that doesn’t
interview well, although I think he was a little drunk on throat lozenges so I
was concerned with his role but he was brilliant. Funny & cruel in equal proportions, he is
one of many characters that make this movie accessible for all the family. On the scale of rulers he’s still not the
worst by any yard stick you could use, especially when you include baboon faced
Trump.
So the nuts and bolts.
Good story line although a little bit predictable, it ties together
other Marvel characters really well especially Anthony Hopkins’s moments &
Benedict Cumberbatch reprising his role of Dr. Strange. At no stage did they seem as cameo appearances. The special
effects were simply awesome, seamlessly tying CGI & real-life together and
the soundtrack is amazing. That iconic
Led Zeppelin masterpiece – Immigrant Song – is brilliant , the only but I have
is that that sh!t should have been cranked up much louder, the walls and seats
of the cinema should have been vibrating to immerse you in the battle scenes.
There is however a general problem that I see more and more
all the time now. Movie producers and
especially Disney always have the classification in mind so it sometimes can
take from a production. We see movies that
have violence and massive battles but then when it comes to the filming it can’t
be shown. The worst example of this
modern-day phenomenon is that useless pile of crap – The Hunger Games. Let me explain. The first movie is a story of children killing
children with projectile weapons, knives and bare hands. This topic and subsequent movie should have an
18’s cert. But no! Lionsgate decided it’s
going to be a PG13 so gut the movie of its substance, not that it had much to
start with. Most of the superhero movies
fall into the same pit of despair, the original artwork and storyline in the
comics are reworked to suit the classification and to market the movie to
family audiences. So the go-to-plan is
to minimise the gore and then make jokes about the violence. I’ve never believed in the rubbish that films
and computer games turn children into psychopaths & murderers, parents need
to take charge, grab the remote control from the kids (cold dead) hands and
just not let them watch violent films.
This then allows me to watch a movie that hasn’t been castrated of its
main plot and action. So we can go full
circle and can consider both Logan & Deadpool, both R rated, violent, rude
and brilliant. Guess what! Don’t complain that it wasn’t suitable for
your 12 year old to see. They are bloody
R rated for a reason. It didn’t stop
both movies being ridiculously successful.
Sorry...let’s get back to Thor. It’s a PG13, Disney family romp so there is a
little bit of “we are killing loads of people but let’s not make an issue out
of the attempted genocide of a whole race” but I think they get the balance
right of making a family friendly movie that adults will still enjoy, this is of
course helped with the double meaning jokes.
Overall, a great film, awesome special effects,
tying together the Marvel universe characters with a good story, albeit a
little predictable (losing 1 planet) and the Disney-fying of genocide (losing 1
more planet) so a planet rating of 8 out of 10.
John "The Captain" Ryan
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