For the past 9 months or so, the box-office collections are a mixed bag at best as there hasn’t been any movie which proved to be a smashing blockbuster. The first Thor movie opened to good box-office numbers, generated some interest in the character but then in 2013 Thor: The Dark World was quite disappointing. Most of the Marvel fans had written off Thor as a weak link of the MCU. But Ragnarok is bent on turning the tide and changing the perception of the fans.
It is inspired by Jack Kirby’s Ragnarok comic wherein Asgard is burned to the ground and rebuilt from the ashes. The plot revolves around Thor’s struggle to stop goddess of death from destroying his home planet. The critics have heaped massive praise on Taika Waititi direction style and the fun elements introduced in the movie. The first reactions from the audiences are very positive and everything from visual effects to storytelling is just impeccable. The movie is sitting on 98% on Rotten Tomatoes at present.
Apart from the usual cast including Chris Hemsworth (Thor, God of Thunder), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Anthony Hopkins (Odin) and Idris Elba (Heimdall), the movie also features two-time Oscar award winner Cate Blanchett (Queen Elizabeth, Blue Jasmine, Carol etc) as the powerful new villain Hela (leader of Doomeo i.e Asgardian Hell); Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day, Jurassic Park) as the eccentric grandmaster who is an elder of the universe, he is sometimes called as “Inter-galactic Cosmic Pleasure-seeker”, he possessed the mind-gem until Thanos took it away from him; Tessa Thomson (Creed, Selma) as the classic hero Valkyrie who may play Thor’s love interest; Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Star Trek trilogy) as Skurge who is a powerful warrior and Mark Ruffalo (Avengers, Foxcatcher, Spotlight) as Bruce Banner/ Hulk.
For the moment, let’s talk about the latest bombshell dropped by Chris Hemsworth in the latest interview. Can you imagine Thor being played by someone other than Hemsworth? It’s not too far-fetched at all as he nearly passed the role when he was first offered. He told Sydney Morning Herald that he had reservations about the time commitment required for Marvel multi-picture deal. He said:
“I was crossing the road in Vancouver … and I remember the exact moment getting a call from my lawyer and my manager saying ‘you got the offer’. And then kind of going ‘Oh, wow, cool. So what is it?’ ‘It’s a superhero thing and it’s a six-picture deal.’ And we were like, ‘That’s a lot of films to sign up for. We should pass on this.’”
He said that it almost sounded too good to be true at that point of time. He added:
“When we shot the first film, I was aware of what it was but had no idea if anyone was going to turn up and see it, let alone then do The Avengers or then do a second Thor or a third Thor or a third, fourth, and fifth Avengers.”
Here’s the official synopsis of the movie:
“Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against the Hulk, his former ally, and fellow Avenger. Thor’s quest for survival leads him in a race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home world and the Asgardian civilization”.
The movie will be more action-packed and it will also be the shortest ever Marvel movie. In continuing with the traditions of Thor movies, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor was 114 minutes, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World was 112 minutes long but Thor: Ragnarok will just have 100 minutes runtime. Taika Waititi said to Collider:
“The cut right now, I reckon it’s about 100 minutes. It’s not gonna be a very, very long film. I think that stories are better when you leave them wanting more, and this film moves at a clip, it’s got stuff happening all the time. I think people are still gonna feel exhausted by the end; they’ve been on this big journey and stuff, so I don’t think we need the film to be three hours”.
The movie will hit theatres on November 3, 2017.
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