Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel's latest offering, makes film critics swoon
Thor: Ragnarok, the latest addition to Marvel's Cinematic Universe (MCU), is set to hit movie theatres on 3rd November. Preliminary screenings of the movie, starring Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, and Jeff Goldblum, have made film critics swoon. We take a look at some of the reviews, and at a brief analysis of the movie.
A brief history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) kicked off in 2008 with the first Iron Man film, and has, since then, dished out 17 movies over a span of nine years with an ever-expanding ensemble of stars.
Thor: Ragnarok hailed as one of MCU's finest movies
The Daily Telegraph called the movie one of Marvel's "best films to date...funny, charming, dazzling, gorgeously designed". Variety called it "easily the best of the three Thor movies". Empire called it "a full-bore comedy using blockbuster spectacle as a backdrop for gags". Screen Daily called it a "grinningly goofy comic-book movie that reverberates with boyish delight". The Independent, however, criticized the movie's "convoluted" plot.
Special character mentions by critics
Radio Times praised two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett for playing Hela's character with "haughty relish". Meanwhile, The Guardian said that Hulk's appearance in the movie was "the most fleshed-out performance of Hulk we've yet had in this Marvel universe".
The superhero genre remains a male-centric one
Thor: Ragnarok marks MCU's attempt to integrate Thor's character and universe with the wider MCU landscape. Despite taking its name from the Norse word for apocalypse, the movie is comic and joyous. However, its comic nature promptly sidelines and underplays the chief antagonist Hela's (Cate Blanchett) dark threat - something which does little to dispel one's feelings of the male-centric nature of superhero movies.
