MCU Rewatch Issue #17: Thor: Ragnarok

The Geeks loved Ragnarok, but are so excited about Avengers: Infinity War, they didn’t have a whole lot to say.  (It’s much easier to talk about bad movies…)

tomk: Thor: Ragnarok
With Clancy “Lex Luthor and Mister Crabs” Brown as Surtur.

So, who was on set longer: Benedict Cumberbatch or Anthony Hopkins?

And Hela kills the director of A Quiet Place in about five seconds.

You know, I love Cate Blanchett as Hela, but I don’t think Hela is written much deeper than most MCU villains. She’s just so awesome it doesn’t matter. The Grandmaster is a bit different as bad guys go, but that’s only because he’s basically Jeff Goldblum doing his Goldbluminess.

In a movie where Thor loses his father, several friends, and his entire home world, the only thing he seems to mourn the loss of is Mjolnir.

So, apparently, the idea to do a more comedic sequel for Thor came from a moment in Dark World that Hemsworth ad-libbed, namely Thor hanging Mjolinir from a coathook in Jane’s apartment. Someone realized Hemsworth was a funny guy, so his next adventure should reflect that. And it works beautifully. Given the subject matter, this could be a rather dark film. But everything breezes on by with a light, retro air. It’s just fun. I saw it twice last year, though the second time was as a birthday gift for my 15 year old niece. She’s a big MCU fan, and this pleases me because her mother isn’t.

jonathan: I think Ragnarok is just as high on the Fun Scale as Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s a total blast, start to finish.
And with Hela, we get the first female big bad in any comic movie (off the top of my head) who isn’t a witch or seductress. She is a mighty killing machine.
She goes blow for blow with Thor, who holds his own against Hulk.
I also think it gets a slight bonus for essentially giving us a Planet Hulk movie (or as close as we’ll ever come to one) and giving that character some BADLY needed fresh arc.
But, most of all, KORG 4 LYFE!

watson: I think Tom confused Chuck from Chuck with Jim from the Office.
That said, this movie holds up every time. I’ve watched it a couple of times since the theater and it is so full of win.
Much better than Jumanji.

When Loki is impersonating Odin, how good was Anthony Hopkins as playing Loki? You almost forget it is not Hiddleston. Impressive performance.

tomk: You’re right. I got my Chucks and Jims mixed up.
And Hopkins looked like he was having more fun in that one scene than he did in the entire series.

jimmy: My Lord Of Thunder I love this movie.
It was one of my top films of last year, but I think I enjoyed it even more this time around. Sometimes comedies don’t hold up on repeat viewings because you know all the jokes, but I was laughing out loud throughout from Thor spinning around uncontrollably to Miek being alive.

watson: So many good moments!

jimmy: Even more than Jumanji!

tomk: I don’t know what kind of person prefers Jumanji to this movie. Jumanji was fun, but it wasn’t as fun as Asgardian doomsday.

jimmy: Insert Krull joke here.

tomk: Yes, Krull was a joke.

jimmy: What’s funny…in one of the deleted scenes, which is an extension of the scene where Thor and Hulk are arguing in their room and kicking stuff around, Hulk throws what looks like Krull at Thor.

tomk: Wasn’t Krull a planet? Oh wait, I don’t care.

jimmy: Or whatever that awkward blade throwing dealie was.

tomk: The Handslicer 9000?

jimmy: You could even cut a tin can with it, but you wouldn’t want to.

tomk: It’s not as fun as Donald Glover.

jimmy: I won’t lie and say my enjoyment wasn’t heightened by the use of Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. Even being used twice it was perfect and had me smiling the whole time.

watson: Talk about a complete shift in tone. The first two were Elizabethan. Like the comics. This one was the GotG inspired comedy we all felt the trailers were teasing.
Even then, I expected the trailer to have all the funny parts. It just scratched the surface.

jimmy: Agreed. And like Jonathan, I appreciated one of the core storylines being patterned after Planet Hulk.

tomk: Where the previous Champions apparently were the Bi-Beast, Ares, Beta Ray Bill, and the Man-Thing.

jimmy: Also Dark-Crawler and Fin Fang Foom

I assume the giant ship in the mid-credit scene belongs to Thanos. (And I like that I’ve typed his name so much that my phone suggests “Thanos” as a word option.)

tomk: I get the same for Aquaman. And Spider-Man with a hyphen.

jimmy: There’s no other way to spell it.

So I know almost nothing about director Taika Waititi. I know he directed Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do In The Shadows. The Ms and I started watching Shadows but she hated it and turned it off after 15 minutes. I haven’t had a chance to finish it since.

And I know he was Korg. That’s the extent of it.

And he directed these, which are awesome:

 

 

tomk: And the third where the Grandmaster moves in with Daryl.

jimmy:Ha. Yes. I watched that last night.

tomk: Who keeps giving that man a melting stick?

jimmy:

https://youtu.be/Nl3VkYkMa6Q

jimmy: We’re a quiet crew, which is good in a short week I guess. 🙂

Anything else to add? Did anything not work for you?

tomk: I know Jimmy wants to post this for tomorrow, so I’m ready for scoring.

jimmy: Sure. But we have time if anyone has anything to add.

tomk: OK then…did we need a Dr. Strange cameo?

jimmy: You’re going to invoke the wraith of Jenny for that one.

tomk: The answer could be yes.

jimmy: I didn’t mind the cameo, and appreciated the world building, but arguably not necessary. That said, they do need to fast track Strange and his powers in advance of Infinity War.

watson: That cameo made me realize how little I care about Dr Strange. I don’t like a flippant Dr Strange. It is…STRANGE.
If they were going to have him, I wish he had been in the battle at the end.

jimmy: That would have been almost the Defenders (not the Revengers).

watson: I think they would have used the word “Defenders” had it not been part of the Netflix world.

jimmy: I was surprised that wasn’t what they called the team. But you are probably right.

jonathan: i’m ready to score this one.

I’m giving it 9 Not-Dead Mieks out of 10.

watson: This one is a total favorite of mine. I loved every second of it and enjoyed it so much I rewatched it TWICE! I give Thor: Ragnarok 10 “Jumanjis” out of 10!

jimmy: I ranked this only behind Logan and Wonder Woman last year, but it has aged well. I’m putting it up there with Winter Soldier as my only 10 Hammer of the Gods out of 10.

tomk: Not quite a 10 on my end. 9.5 “Hey, Man”s out of 10.

watson: Jenny? Your score for Thor? Less or more?

jenny: 9.5 “I’m the goddess of death” out of 10

watson: Jimmy! The Caulcutron 1984, please!!!

jimmy: Survey says!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 10.0
Thor: Ragnorak 9.6
Iron Man 9.4
Guardians Of The Galaxy 9.4
The Avengers 9.3
Spider-Man: Homecoming 9.0
Captain America: Civil War 8.9
Captain America: The First Avenger 8.7
Thor 8.0
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 7.8
Ant-Man 7.8
Avengers: Age of Ultron 7.6
Doctor Strange 7.4
The Incredible Hulk 6.7
Iron Man 2 6.6
Iron Man 3 6.6
Thor: The Dark World 6.6

MCU overall 8.2
Phase 1 8.1
Phase 2 8.0
Phase 3 8.5

That Phase 3 showing is impressive, and Black Panther should only add to it.

jenny: Whoop! This has been pretty cool to see unfold again.

jimmy: Agreed. It’s been fun. For my part, it didn’t change my views much. What I liked I still liked, what I didn’t I still don’t. A few ticked down a bit (Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Guardians 2) and Thor: Ragnarok got better with viewing #2, but mostly things stayed the same.

watson: For me there were some adjustments. Some of the more mediocre films declined when I started reviewing them in context of each other. My grading became less generic and more about “I gave Thor a 7.5, so where should (insert film) be in relation?”
Because Thor is the absolute median!
Since we’ve already done Black Panther and won’t be able to rewatch, here are my personal rankings:
1 CAP 2 10
2 GotG 10
3 Thor 3 10
4 IRON MAN 10
5 Spidey 9.5
6 BP 9.5
7 CAPTAIN AMERICA 9
8 AVENGERS 8.5
9 Civil War 8.5
10 THOR 7.5
11 Ant-Man 7.5
12 Avengers: AoU 7.5
13 GotG 2 7
14 IRON MAN 3 7
15 INCREDIBLE HULK 7
16 Dr Strange 6.5
17 THOR 2 6
18 IRON MAN 2 5.5

jimmy: Any other final thoughts on New Doug: Ragnarok, or the entire rewatch in general before we put this project to bed?

tomk: All of these movies are automatically better than anything with Captain Marvel.

jimmy:  And this is the point in our show where Jenny kills Tom.