Film Review : Thor Ragnarok

The third installment of the Thor movies is the most entertaining of the three, but is that really saying much considering how flawed the first two are. The first well Thor doesn’t have his powers most of the movie, the depowering route means the writers don’t know how to handle the character in their true form. The second movie was better to some extent though we had elves in space ships. The third film is fun , but has major problems. I am a huge Thor fan, I have the Walt Simonson Thor tattooed on me. So the bar is high, but I want to see Thor on screen. I like Chris as Thor, I think the script he has to work with most of the time leaves something to be desired.

Clearly this movie was following a blueprint laid out by the Guardians of the Galaxy films.As it tried to inject more humor into the story. To the point of making the Hulk come across like Drax when he was given something to do aside from smash. Sometimes this worked better than other, using the Hulk in a humorous context worked better on the first Avengers movie , if the Hulk was going to have a sense of humor which he is typically to angry to have one, it should be handled more like it was there. But of the movie’s problems this was actually the mildest one. I can understand on following the comic books frame for frame. When it comes to the actual Norse mythology, the comics have been more faithful to it than others , but have adhered to the basics, aside from obvious faults like turning Jane Foster in a Thor. I get that Valkyrie was not Brunhilde, though I did like the wink to her in the flashback sequence. The problem is Valkrie’s are not sworn to protect Asgard they are sworn to take dead warriors to Valhalla, pretty basic core stuff.

Another big plot fail is the fact Hel is the daughter of Loki, not his sister. OOPS, that pretty much pisses on the point of the movie. Toilet flushing inserted here. So with the basic premise being foolish, let's look at what I liked. Dr Strange being way more powerful was cool to see. I also liked Korg and Meik being included in the wink to the Greg Pak “Planet Hulk” storyline. Funny how it made it into this movie after having Beta Ray Bill replacing the Silver Surfer in the cartoon adaptation. Why Beta Ray Bill wasn’t in the movie I don’t know , while the Hulk is my favorite superhero I would have prefered Beta Ray Bill fighting Thor in the arena if we had to go that route. I thought Hel looked good and Skurge was fairly true to the character. The film leads us up to where Thor and Loki are going to fall into the Infinity War. We already know the Hulk buddies up with Rocket Racoon. So it’s too bad the Thor films never got it right , but at least this one was fun getting it wrong.  

The New Wave of Marvel Now

With a new wave of Marvel Now titles coming out lets take a look at what the future holds. Aside from a new Daredevil and Miracle Man look for the titles below.

All-New Ghost Rider	March 2014	Writer Felipe Smith Artist Tradd Moore	There is a new Ghost Rider- who is not Blaze , and he  might even be hispanic, since his name is Robbie Reyes. Expect this to be in the same vein as what they have done with Nova, since he is a high school kid becoming a super-hero, in Marvels attempt to bring in a younger audience.
All-New Invaders	January 2014	Writer James Robinson Artist Steve Pugh	the original Invaders (Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Namor, and the original Human Torch)   battle against the Kree in modern times, how many titles does Cap need?
All-New X-Factor	January 2014	Writer Peter David Artist Carmine Di Giandomenico	A SH.I.E.L.D approved mutant team, with Polaris, Quicksilver and Gambit.  If Peter David is still behind the wheel then , if you like X-books this will be worth reading.
Avengers Undercover	March 2014	Writer Dennis Hopeless Artist Kev Walker	The Avengers arena kids try to pull a Thunderbolts on the Masters of Evil.  This really depends on who comes over. X-23 hopefully makes the cut.
Avengers World	January 2014	Writer Nick Spencer Jonathan Hickman Artist Stefano Caselli	It's being called the global Avengers but which is what is being established in Infinity, how many Avengers books do we need and are the Avengers not already protecting the world in Earth's Mightiest Heroes?
Black Widow	January 2014	Writer Nathan Edmondson Artist Phil Noto	So it's take Hawkeye and add more James Bond elements,  I don't see this book lasting very long.
Captain Marvel	March 2014	Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick Artist David Lopez	This is going to take her off Earth and meet up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, the mistakes being made here could be taking away the more human elements of the character.
Elektra	March 2014	Writer Zeb Wells Artist Mike Del Mundo	Elektra becomes a hunter of assassins has a list of targets to hunt that are even deadlier than her. Hopefully this means she is taken off Thunderbolts.
Fantastic Four	February 2014	Writer James Robinson Artist Leonard Kirk	Johnny Storm is going to take center stage and see the team dealing with a more dramatic scope of problems.
Inhuman	January 2014	Writer Matt Fraction Artist Joe Maduiera	The Inhuman's are forced out of the closet as they begin springing up on earth in the wake of Infinity. I thought the point of Inhumans is its like Game of Thrones on the moon, so whats the point of this.
Iron Patriot	March 2014	Writer Ales Kot Artist Garry Brown	In taking from the movieverse James Rhodes is the Iron Patriot, not Norman Osborne, which makes for a much less interesting character, because wasn't he a cyborg now at this point.
Loki: Agent of Asgard	February 2014	Writer Al Ewing Artist Lee Garbett	Loki, grows up into a version shockingly or not much more like the popular screen depiction of the character. How much of a villain will be he ?
Ms. Marvel	February 2014	Writer G. Willow Wilson Artist Adrian Alphona	We know about the shape shifting  Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old American Muslim girl. Expect this to fizzle out after the novelty and hyper wears off.
New Warriors	February 2014	Writer Christopher Yost Artist Marcus To	The new team  has the old favorites Speedball, Justice, and  Nova plus a host new characters    a human, an Inhuman, a Demigod an Atlantean And a Clone by the name of Scarlet Spider. Seems likea they are trying to hard to push the Inhumans thing.
The Punisher	February 2014	Writer Nathan Edmonson Artist Mitch Gerads	Frank Castle,  moves to Hollywood, so expect it to be more like Ray Donovon.
Secret Avengers	March 2014	Writer Ales Kot Artist Michael Walsh	Spider-Woman is now on the team, this book really need to regain some focus.
She-Hulk	February 2014	Writer Charles Soule Artist Javier Pulido	For course I am looking for to this book hopefully it doesn't go too Sex in the City.
Silver Surfer	March 2014	Writer Dan Slott Artist Mike Allred	Once again Norrin Rad  has severed  his ties to Galactus , I'd say the Spider-man writer has the best shot at doing something interesting here, this will be a book to watch.
X-Force	February 2014	Writer Simon Spurrier Artist Rock-he Kim	Cable leads this team don't really see it doing much differently than the books current state,