by Elijah Varner
Ok, so I saw this on opening night, but my computer's been out of commission, so I'll attempt to make up for lost time. For this movie I'll be breaking scoring down to five components: humor, visuals, story, action and character development.
I. Humor 8/10
This movie is
funny. Really funny. It's easily the funniest out of every Marvel movie ever, in most part to improv by the cast and humor genius director Taika Waititi. There's a lot of physical humor, minimal innuendoes as well as smart humor with perfect timing and execution. The humor itself gets a 10/10 in my book. However, what drops it two points is the placing of said humor. A movie needs a break between humor and dramatic moments. While this movie had dramatic moments, they were simply rolled off the shoulder by an inappropriately placed joke soon thereafter. Because of this, the film is severely lacking in dramatic moments that make the threats seem real and imposing. I compare it to the humor of a teenage boy. While he can be funny most times, his humor can be ruined by making jokes in a serious moment, like a funeral. (Yes, I have seen this happen) Most of the characters themselves are really funny (kudos to Taika Waititi's Korg), Thor seems to suffer the most from these comedy mishaps. They tried to make him funny, which he is, but to the point where it sacrifices his character at times.
II. Visuals 9/10
My highest visual ranking in the MCU still belongs to Doctor Strange, and will continue to, so I can't give it a perfect score. However, as well as the improved Asgard visuals, we're introduced to a entirely new location, Sakaar. This imaginative world ruled by Jeff Goldblum's The Grandmaster, is extremely creative. I can't say much more without giving things away. Also, the lightning effects we saw with Thor's powers were both amazing and exhilarating.
III. Story 8/10
The story of this movie is great. It's really good....after the first fourth of the movie. The first act is very scatterbrained, and for lack of a better term, ADD. It bounces around really fast, so much to that the story is sacrificed in some part to pack in enough exposition and setup. However, once all that goes by, and we finally get to Sakaar, things pick up. We have great character moments, and it really takes the time to get to know everyone. Maybe a little too much. I can't help but wonder if they should have given more time to the beginning so that the whole movie would remain and a consistent pacing. Especially with Hela. We never get enough time to really understand Hela and her motives, and her own character. Nevertheless, still a great story.
IV. Action 9/10
For the action that this movie has, it's great. It could have been enough for them to make a funny Marvel movie and call it quits. The arena fight between Thor and Hulk is brilliant in both pacing and action, as well as the second half of the final battle. It's really great stuff, and those two scenes are the ones that make up the majority of my positive score. I wish they would have shown a little more of some other characters in battle, such as Heimdall, Korg and Miek, but it works out.
V. Character Development 8/10
This movie is first and foremost a Thor movie before anything else, and the creators of this movie really wanted to showcase this. You take Thor, strip him of his hammer, his friends, his home, (his golden locks) and what are you left with? It's a really interesting arc that takes center stage in this movie. Hulk/Bruce Banner, Loki and Valkarie all get interesting arcs as well, which I can't go into because of spoilers. The only reason the perfect ten didn't get scored this time around, is because of Hela. She's scary, and they definitely showcase that, and they explain her motives, but they're never enough for us to really care about her. I feel like the acting abilities of Cate Blanchett should have been able to take this character and make us really care about her. It could have worked, if they had spent more time with her. But, if they had to sacrifice all that for the amazing scenes on Sakaar, well, I'm all for it.
Final Verdict: 87%
What did you think of Thor? Let me know in the comments below!
