Board Thread:Movies/@comment-3048593-20170411234907/@comment-1895174-20171109035403

FINALLY saw Ragnarok today. I'm still mulling over parts of it, but some thoughts:


 * I have a feeling the next big, memetic criticism of the MCU that won't stick is the proliferation of somewhat-amorphous, giant CGI monster bad guys. Dormammu, Ego, now Surtur, and who knows maybe Zzzax is next.


 * The stuff about Odin's revisionst history of Asgard was good. The movie is pretty deep once you look past the comedy and imaginative alien worlds.


 * There are a few major character deaths (I won't say who for spoilery reasons) that happen so quickly and have so little bearing on the story that they are more frustrating than they are shocking.


 * The Planet Hulk stuff mostly works for a Thor movie, and I suspect something like that sort of blending (for lack of a better term) of properties will be an operating principle of the MCU moving forward. Interesting characters, storylines, and other story elements will appear in movies whose main character nothing to do with them. Like how the main villain of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has so little connections to those characters that Marvel didn't even have the rights to use him in a movie until after James Gunn finished his script.


 * Valkyrie is almost more Caiera than she is Valkyrie. Like the MCU's Caiera the Oldstrong is just Caiera the Valkyrie.


 * Korg and Miek are the best and I wish there was more of them and the gladiator stuff in general. Given how much that was part of the movie's promotional material, I'm surprised with how little of the movie that actually was.


 * The first act (everything before Sakaar) is a mess. It's unevenly paced, doesn't progress naturally, and the Dr. Strange's scene (while fun) is just shoe-horned in there in the worst way.