Having just treated myself to an Odeon Limitless subscription, my friend and I decided we’d go and see Thor: Ragnarok as it’s been out a while now. A friend who’d already seen it gave it a thumbs up so we figured it’s worth a shot. Quick disclaimer: although I’ve seen all the previous Thor movies, I am by no means a Marvel fanatic so I’m writing this review based purely on entertainment value!
I’ll go in to a bit more detail below, but my first thought on walking out at the end of the movie was “what the hell did I just see?!” Don’t get me wrong: it’s a really good movie, but it’s way more of a comedy than either of the previous films. I don’t know whether the success of Deadpool has encouraged the studios to give their directors a bit more latitude towards the funny side of superheroes, or if everyone involved was just on some kinda acid trip, but right from the start this movie had me laughing far more than I expected.
From the opening scene, where Thor has been imprisoned by Surtur (yes I had to look up his name, I just remembered him as giant fiery beast), the comedy gets going as Thor, ensnared in a net and dangling helplessly, revolves slowly round in circles and has to keep interrupting Surtur’s speech while he spins back around to face him. I could recount several other similarly humorous scenes but then I’d be spoiling the film: just trust me that, providing you have a sense of humour, you’re guaranteed some laughs. (Okay I must mention the Grandmaster, played fantastically by Jeff Goldblum).
The plot is fairly straightforward and easy to follow (it’s a superhero movie, not a mystery thriller), the pacing is good and it’s nice to see some of the other Marvel heroes reprising their roles (Doctor Strange) too.
My only complaint would be that, at 2 hours 10 minutes, it’s still quite a long movie. I think with a lot of Marvel/DC films there’s always 15 – 30 minutes that could easily be cut without actually spoiling the movie (and probably making it better), but then with the cost of cinema tickets these days, I suppose you do get a sense of value from a slightly longer film.
If you haven’t yet seen Thor: Ragnarok, I can thoroughly recommend it. I’m already looking forward to seeing it again!
