#THOR RAGNAROK 2017 MOVIE#

When Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner, Ruffalo reminds us that heвЂ™s giving two performances here, both superb. (When youвЂ™re mainly good at Hulk Smash, itвЂ™s a relief to land a job that asks you to do nothing but.) There are times when it gets close to that promised film, and when it hits pay dirt, it is delightful-particularly during very broad slapstick moments, as when Hulk enters the arena and Thor laughs with relief and announces, вЂњI know him-he's a friend from work!вЂќ and in moments of relatively subdued character development, as when Thor and Hulk commiserate in private and we learn that the big green guy loves it on Sakaar because the people treat him as an athletic superstar and folk hero, in contrast to the pariah treatment he gets back on Earth. It was sold as a light, funky, largely comedic effort-practically a spoof of MarvelвЂ™s usual, with Thor and the Hulk serving as the anchor of, basically, a buddy movie, like the kind Bob Hope and Bing Crosby used to churn out. In the run-up to release, much was made of the allegedly drastic shift in tone that would make this project unique. As Skurge, a warrior who survives HelaвЂ™s destructive takeover of Asgard and joins her in order to survive, вЂњLord of the RingsвЂќ star Karl Urban captures the unhappiness of a sellout who knows heвЂ™s better than the life heвЂ™s expediently chosen but so much of his performance is reduced to anguished reaction shots that you may wonder-as you might with Thompson-whether the best bits got cut for pacing. She's hard-boiled, like a tough dame in a 1940s detective film spitting wisecracks. Furter in ' The Rocky Horror Picture Show' or the late Gene WilderвЂ™s title performance in вЂњ Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.вЂќ (The latter seems to have been what Waititi and company were going for in casting Goldblum: when Thor is introduced to Sakaar, вЂњ Pure ImaginationвЂќ plays on the soundtrack.)ДЄs Valkyrie, an alcoholic bounty hunter who once fought against Hela and now works for The Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson more than holds her own in scenes opposite Hiddleston, Hemsworth and Ruffalo.

Either there should have been a lot more of him-though not at the expense of Blanchett, whoвЂ™s a slinky hoot-or his efforts shouldвЂ™ve been more finely shaped by the filmmakers, so that his brilliance cohered into a bona fide character or else pushed on towards toward Dadaist madness, like Tim Curry as Dr. Goldblum's unique genius is his ability to toss off lines that might've seemed as overripe as week-old avocados on the page, like, 'Let's have a hand for all of our undercard competitors who died so gruesomely.' (From the inventive way he adds 'ums' and 'ahhs,' you can tell that he's also a jazz musician.)В The worst thing I can say about him is that heвЂ™s more appealing here than well-used. SakaarвЂ™s вЂњGrandmasterвЂќ is Jeff Goldblum, who gives exactly the sort of performance youвЂ™d want Jeff Goldblum to give in a project like this: intellectually detached, droll and smart-alecky, yet also somehow petty, arbitrary and sadistic. The overqualified supporting cast does a lot with not-quite enough. As revealed in trailers, Tom HiddlestonвЂ™s Loki is back, too-and why wouldnвЂ™t he be? HeвЂ™s easily the most entertaining villain, or antihero, in the franchise, so beguiling that when Thor inevitably succumbs to his charisma and fights alongside him, both he and the audience momentarily forget how much death and property destruction heвЂ™s caused in prior chapters.

#THOR RAGNAROK 2017 MOVIE#

The other вЂњThor: RagnarokвЂќ is a largely comedic gladiator movie with prison thriller accents: Thor is trapped on the planet Sakaar, where heвЂ™s forced to fight the planetвЂ™s reigning champion, the Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo).

After that, the film splits into a couple of parallel narratives.ДЇully half the film is a court intrigue/war picture, charting the takeover of Asgard by ThorвЂ™s long lost sister Hela ( Cate Blanchett), a black-clad force of nature who seems to turn into a demonic stag-beast when she fights: her head sprouts elegant antlers that might have been sketched in the air with a brush dipped in India ink. The demon tells him that his father Odin ( Anthony Hopkins) is no longer on Asgard and that their homeworld will soon be destroyed in Ragnarok, a prophesied apocalypse. Written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost and directed by Taika Waititi (вЂњ Hunt for the Wilderpeople,вЂќ вЂњ What We Do in the ShadowsвЂќ), this is almost but not quite a stand-alone picture, tethered to previous вЂњAvengersвЂќ entries only by ThorвЂ™s opening search for the Infinity Stones, which has led him to be imprisoned by the fire demon Sutur. HemsworthвЂ™s charisma holds вЂњThor: RagnarokвЂќ together whenever it threatens to spin apart, which unfortunately is often.

Thor ragnarok 2017