Movie Crush Monday: Little C and Thor Ragnarok

Readers, tis a glorious day. For CT gave me Lord of the Rings last week which meant I could write about nearly any kind of movie I chose. And yes I could have gone with a quiet drama, or something serious as it's Oscar season... but look, all the movies that have come out lately have made me cry. Yes, even our beloved Black Panther had me shedding tears (damn you Sterling K Brown!!!) and what I need in my soul is a film that makes me laugh. Preferably about once every 30 seconds. Enter Taika Waititi and his comedic gem of a Marvel film, Thor: Ragnarok.

source IMDB

I know what some of you are thinking, "Isn't Ragnarok the end of the world? How is that funny?" Well, when you take a cast of highly talented actors and a director who landed the gig off his reputation of not taking anything too seriously even the apocalypse can be fun! No, really. It's estimated that about 80% of the dialogue is improvised, and even in the battle scenes everyone on screen is having such a blast that characters that I loved and have invested a lot of time in DIED right in front of me and within a few seconds someone else managed to make me chuckle. Such is the power of a madman with a lot of cameras and a truly ridiculous budget.

source IMDB

We can't talk about this movie without addressing Cate Blanchett as Hela. She, like many an Oscar winner before her, accepted the role because her kids wanted her to. Her oldest son told her that this would really "boost her career" because he somehow thought that his mom needed the help. Teenagers, amiright? But bless that boy cuz she is truly the stuff nerdy dreams are made of. I can't think about her headdress without devolving into a series of strangled fangirl noises. With every line she takes such delicious pleasure in being the villain that until she threatened Idris Elba I was sort of on her side. Turns out trying to kill Idris is sort of my line in the sand.

source IMDB
Pictured: The man I would follow into Hell

Now is this a perfect comic book film? No. It has a tendency to sacrifice plot points for jokes, and while they filmed a scene showing Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie as bisexual, it got left on the cutting room floor which is a stone cold bummer and a long winded rant on inclusivity and representation that will need to be saved for another post. But while Marvel has the market on fun superhero movies cornered at the moment (At least until DC releases Shazam! next year) this is far and away the most fun of the Marvel 'verse. It's also a testiment to what happens when you give a completely unique filmmaker the reigns to a comic book film. More of this please!

source IMDB

Happy watching,

Little C