REVIEW
Thor Ragnarok

This one is based off a cover of Thor, which I deemed appropriate as the movie was released here today (unlike in the rest of those lucky countries which got it last week). Interesting how spoilers are minimal despite being released all over Europe. I guess spoiler trolls live mostly over here...

In short, the movie is a lot of fun, though not a full comedy as a lot of people have mentioned. It is not laughing from beginning to end. There's a lot of action, which is well made, clear and interesting and the movie does go into a lot of dark places, but somehow it doesn't feel that way until you really think about it. It would be expected that with the goddess of death around, there would be a lot of dying.

The movie being directed by Taika Waititi, who made What we do in the shadows and The hunt for the wilderpeople (both movies which I can't recommend enough), is different from the rest of the MCU and at the same time it does follow the witty banther and jokey setting. So, even if it is a good movie on its own, if you don't like the MCU, it's unlikely you'll like this one. But if you like them, this is one of the good ones. Very akin to both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, mostly the second one maybe, given the really fast pacing the movie has.

Characters are good, everyone is charming enough and are given arcs which come full circle and I don't think there were wasted scenes (besides one short heavy exposition scene with Hela) and the villains are better than a lot of the forgettable Marvel villains, but I don't think any reaches the level of Loki, Kingpin or Kilgrave. Jeff Goldblum is very Jeff Goldblum and his scenes are funny.

The only weak part of the movie would be the opening scene, which is not really weak, but very expected from a Marvel movie and the action is just there taking time, but for someone who hasn't watched a lot of Marvel movies, it might feel a bit better.

From my personal experience, the movie felt as if watching some old friends reach a new world, as Thor and Hulk missed Ant-Man, Civil War, Spiderman, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, so it has been a while since we saw these 2 and the MCU has changed a lot since then and you can tell both are coping with all of this (Loki is always Loki and we love him for that). And I could relate to Thor in how he has been on a long quest with no results and losing things close to him, though retaining his self, as I have had a couple of rough years, but nothing that has harmed me directly.

In closing, the movie is a lot of fun not just for the comedy, but it's inventiveness, thrills and new characters. Visually it is pretty amazing, as they based a lot of it in Jack Kirby's art, so it is maybe the most colorful MCU movie to date (even more than Guardians, yes). Very recommended, unless you don't like MCU at all.

Anyhow, the original cover was made by Jack Kirby, which has been extensively discussed here already. About that fight with Alessi, I think that was the point where I realized Dio would hire anyone to do his bidding, no matter how much of a lowlife they were. Though it made for one of the most amusing adventures they had (alongside Mariah's). I remember reading somewhere that these episodes were actually created because editors asked Araki to extend his manga.