In the past year Marvel released two films Thor : Ragnarok and Black Panther, films that are more alike than people think. Two princes struggling to hold their worlds together , after a disfranchised relatives return to claim what is rightfully theirs.
The big issue I have with Thor Ragnarok is that most of the dramatic moments don't really have an impact. And that's a problem considering some serious events go down. Thor loses his eye, Asgard is destroyed, Odin dies, and Bruce Banner may potentially remain as Hulk forever.
But none of these moments actually connect or resonate, either because the film glosses over them or plays it off as a joke. Thor's best friends and supporting characters from the first two films (especially the first) are killed like nameless grunts which is ridiculous. The real kicker is that we don't even get any reaction or realization from Thor.
An unpopular opinion, but I still think the first Thor film is superior to Ragnarok...
An unpopular opinion, but I still think the first Thor film is superior to Ragnarok because Kenneth Branagh was able to balance the humor with genuine heart and emotional heft, people were enjoying the fun and jokes so much in thor 3 , they didn't realize the movie bordered on sociopathy the way it handled critical moments. Nothing feels of consequence in Ragnarok, even scenes that are supposed to register as more emotional and significant in their impact on the bigger marvel universe. Don't get me wrong, comedic bits are good and at times even great, but they rarely feel like they're based on character or the situation, and Thor is turned into an almost complete buffoon for the sake of the humor.
Nothing was taken seriously, which I find bizarre as this movie was about the destruction of Valhalla. Another recap
A) In the film we learn (along with Thor and Loki) that Odin wasn't always this peaceful king, but a conquering ruler. And yet, despite this MASSIVE revelation, not once do we get a scene where Loki gets pissed at or has to re-contextualize his thoughts about his "father" considering the fact that Odin is the one telling him his goals are wrong when Odin was at one point what Loki wants to be.
B) The film tries to portray Valkyrie as some hero but totally glosses over the fact that she's a damn slaver. She sold people into the slavery of the Grand Master to die in his fighting arena. This however is never addressed in the movie and no one seems to care. Not even the slaves that eventually escape capture.
Thor Ragnarok definitely the biggest offender of possibly the entire MCU franchise at undercutting any emotional resonance with gags. Felt like nothing mattered in the film even tho so much changed for him, unlike the king of wakanda ( I will get into this soon ).
And yes comedy and drama go hand in hand we are well aware of that, but not in these flicks. They seem too nervous to let the audience sit with any remotely genuine scene for more than like a minute before some jokes are thrown in to change gears nowadays. Black Panther handled it much better than the last few years of marvel flicks in my observation.
Now Black Panther however addressed all the emotional beats and dramatic moments with appropriate seriousness , T'challa discovers his father killed his brother and abandoned his cousin , unlike Thor and Loki who brushes it off when they see Odin again, after discovering his conquering ways , or Loki not taking up an issue with it. Remember how personal it felt when T'challa and Killmonger confronted themselves , there was a tension and , but Thor and hela , siblings on opposite sides of their father's affection , nothing was just an empty battle. Black Panther jokes did not cut into the drama at all , they allowed the somber moments and the audience to absorb it. When Asgard is destroyed , Thor's home erased, it is immediately diffused with a joke in contrast Killmonger's last powerful words are allowed to sit and resonate with the audience, the characters in Black Panther learn , t'challa opens up wakanda and tries ( not in ways I love , but it at least addresses the issue ) to help black people all over the world. Black Panther is funny , filled with heart but it also treats it's audience with respect, something I believe Thor : Ragnarok fails to do.
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