REVIEW -- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a dark fantasy action-adventure game developed and published by the British video game development studio Ninja Theory. Self-described as an "independent AAA game", it was created by a team of approximately twenty developers led by writer and director Tameem Antoniades. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 in August 2017, with an Xbox One version in April 2018. The game features support for virtual reality, which was added in an update in 2018. A Nintendo Switch version was released on 11th April, 2019.

Inspired by Norse mythology and Celtic culture, Hellblade follows Senua, a Pict warrior who must make her way to Helheim by defeating otherworldly entities and facing their challenges, in order to rescue the soul of her dead lover from the goddess Hela. In parallel, the game acts as a metaphor for the character's struggle with psychosis, as Senua, who suffers from the condition but believes it to be a curse, is haunted by an entity known as the "Darkness", voices in her head known as "Furies", and memories from her past. To properly represent psychosis, developers worked closely with neuroscientists, mental health specialists, and people suffering from the condition.

The game blends several genres, including hack and slash, puzzle solving, and psychological horror. Voice acting is an integral part of the game, while its cutscenes combine motion capture by Melina Juergens, and live action performances by other actors. Hellblade was a commercial success and was well received by critics, who praised it as a work of art and applauded its uncommon choice of revolving around psychosis, the quality and uniqueness of its approach of the condition, and its story and main character.

Plot: (SPOILERS!!)

Crazy how some of the best games over the last few years have been influenced by Norse mythology as of late. First, this game, then God of War (PS4) and I'm sure there's a few more that touch on that subject manner as well. 

Set in the late 8th century, the game starts with Senua (Melina Juergens), a Pict warrior from Orkney arriving at the border of Helheim in a quest to save the soul of her dead lover, Dillion (Oliver Walker), from the goddess Hela. Senua believes she suffers from a curse, and hears "Furies", voices in her head commenting her every actions, notably one, the Narrator (Chipo Chung), who is aware of the player's presence and talks to them. She is also followed by the Darkness (Steven Hartley), a dark entity at the core of the curse. She carries Dillion's severed head to use it as a vessel to his soul, and is also guided by her memories of the stories of Druth (Nicholas Boulton), a former slave of the Norsemen well versed in their legends, now deceased, who became her friend and mentor during a year-long self-imposed exile. To enter Helheim, Senua defeats both the fire giant Surt and the spirit of illusions Valravn, but as she crosses the bridge to Helheim, is attacked by Hela, who defeats her with a single blow, shattering her sword. Barely surviving the encounter, she follows visions of Druth and a man-shaped light she believes to be Dillion to a great tree where she faces four challenges linked to her past, and is rewarded with the legendary sword Gramr, strong enough to kill gods.

Meanwhile, Senua's backstory is unveiled through her hallucinations, revealing that her mother Galena (Ellie Piercy) suffered the same curse she did, but did not believe it to be dreadful. However, Senua's devoutly religious father Zynbel (also performed by Hartley) did, and burned Galena alive. Senua witnessed the event at age five, which caused her psychosis to worsen significantly and led her to convince herself her mother died willingly. Her father, convincing her that her condition was a curse, abused Senua emotionally and physically and isolated her from the rest of the world until she met Dillion when he visited her village. The two fell in love, and Senua left her father to be with him, as he saw her as different and misunderstood instead of cursed. However, after a plague killed many in Dillion's village, Senua, believing the fault to be hers, left in exile. When she returned a year later having hopefully left the Darkness behind, she found everyone killed by Norsemen who had invaded, sacrificing Dillion in a blood eagle to their gods. Remembering the stories of Druth, Senua departed on her journey to save Dillion's soul from the gods of the Norsemen.

Ultimately, Senua fights against the influence of the Darkness and defeats the beast Garm. She then realizes the Darkness is a representation of her father's abuse and beliefs, and frees herself from the Furies. Soon after, she faces a legion of Hela's warriors in a hopeless fight, and is killed. In her final moments, she recalls Dillion telling her of the importance of the acceptance of loss. As the imagery of Helheim fades away, Hela drops Dillion's head into the abyss, but as the camera returns to her, Senua is standing in her place, with a dead Hela in place of Senua's body. Having accepted that it was never possible to bring her lover back, and that she is not responsible for his death or anyone else's, Senua frees herself from the Darkness' influence, and accepts the Furies not as a curse, but a part of who she is. She invites the player to follow her, while the Narrator says her goodbyes to the player.

The Verdict: (Some Spoilers Discussed Here)

The fiercest battles always start in the strongest of warriors' minds well before they step onto the battlefield. 

When this game was first announced, I was thinking that it was going to be sequel/spin-off to Ninja Theory's launch title for the PlayStation 3, Heavenly Sword. As much as I enjoyed that game, I'm so happy that this game wasn't that. Hellblade is it's own creature entirely - physically and mentally speaking.

Right off the bat, I feel that this game is best experienced with a headset on. The voices that Senua hears throughout the game are echoed in surround sound if you play with a headset on. There were several instances where I found myself stopping to look around in my room as if I wasn't going nuts. These voices will encourage you when you are doing well and discourage you when you make mistakes and stumble along the way. It is best described as Senua's self-doubts and conscience given a voice that echoes throughout everything that she does in the game as a result of the player's actions. That being said, the main novelty of this game is portraying how one deals with psychosis/mental illnesses.

Truth be told, I live with a case of anxiety that runs in my family. I used to take medicine for it while I was in college, but I have gotten to the point in my adolescent years where I can manage it for the most part without relying on medication to keep it under control. Playing a game like this where the main protagonist, Senua, is physically and mentally battling her own demons concerning her own mental illness, really hit a home to me at the core. This isn't a very long game - maybe 6 to 8 hours tops if you're really taking your time exploring all of the environments and looking for the lore markers, but there were points of this game that really cranked my anxiety to eleven and I literally had to take a break and calm myself down. No video game that I have ever played has ever done that to me. It literally triggered my anxiety. My hands were shaking and heart rate was elevated - not in a bad way, but in terms of I could physically and mentally relate to what Senua was feeling. I think everyone who has some sort of mental illness will be triggered during the several "trials" that Senua must overcome without any weapons or abilities/skills of any sort about halfway throughout the course of the game's narrative, especially that damn "blindness" trial that got me on edge. Between that blindness trial and the trial by fire, there's a flood of topics on Reddit from players who talk about how those sequences affected them mentally or hit them pretty hard in terms of a roadblock as gamers. Not in a bad way either, but just as genuinely great sequences in gaming.

Mental illnesses used to be a sort of a taboo or subject manner that was a tad bit off-limits in gaming at one point. With this game, I can confidently say that this subject manner is handled in a tasteful and respectable manner. I would like to credit that to psychological analysts that Ninja Theory had on hand to offer their insight and feedback on portraying psychosis/mental illnesses in this medium. I cannot stress enough to my fellow gamers that they check out the Making Of featurette on the main menu after finishing the game. It details the process that Ninja Theory went through during development of this game and thorough research and feedback from psychology professors who were shown the game. The behind the scenes featurette highlights the method that the voice actors recorded the "voices" in Senua's head along with talking with the actors behind the voices of the several characters that Senua met her journey.

Melina Juergens' extensive work on this game as not only Senua's voice actress and motion capture model, but Ninja Theory's video editor assigned to this game was a happy accident. She was asked to fill in until they were going to hire someone else, but they were so happy with her performance as the character that she landed the job. I can see why, really. Just look at her.

I can look at this gif a hundred times and still appreciate Melina Juergens' subtle nuisances to play up Senua's mental state, not just here but in the game as well. 

It goes without saying that Ninja Theory are among the top (if not the top for me personally) in the gaming industry at motion capture and visuals. Melina Juergens' performance is top notch here and she deserves every ounce of praise that she got for her contributions in-front of and behind the cameras to the benefit of this game.

If I played through this game again, it would be mainly for experiencing it's combat again. I was disappointed that Ninja Theory didn't have more of it in the game.

Combat-wise, I thought the gameplay in Hellblade was simple and bare bones, but pretty straight-forward. It's easy to pick up and master over the course of the game, but there's not enough of it to say that how good it is for this title. All of your actions are slow and methodical as you tackle your foes one by one and strategically move around the battlefield for you won't be cornered, surrounded, or blindsided by attacks from other enemies. Senua has light and heavy attacks with her sword, a kick to break the defenses of shielded enemies, a running option that she can combine with any of the previously mentioned attacks, and most importantly a guarding option that can parry incoming attacks if hit at the precise moment of impact. I thought that parries were a little overpowered if you mastered them early on. Senua gets an upgraded sword, Gramr, at one point of the game's narrative that allows you to charge up her heavy slashes to dispel the shadows around particular enemies that they use for protection. Alternatively, you can dispel that same barrier of shadows around these enemies by parrying their attacks without even having to charge up Senua's blade. I could count on one hand how many times I actually used that ability before relying on parries one hundred percent to dispel the shadows instead, especially towards the end of the game where you have at least 3-10 enemies engaging you at once. Your Focus ability (indicated by the rune that decorates Senua's hip that glows when it is available for use) slows down time/freezes some enemies in place, allowing you to get more hits in to dispatch them quicker or for strategic means. This ability recharges insanely fast off successful parries; thus giving players another reason to master that skill. I know it's used to "reveal" or "weaken" particular bosses as well, since the voices in Senua's head will constantly shout for you to use it.

My personal favorite boss out of the entire game, Valravn - Master of Illusions. As you can see, a perfectly timed parry/counter knocks him to the floor for additional damage.

Speaking of bosses, this game only features about three "major" boss encounters while everything else that Senua combats against are normal demonic soldiers (single blade, sword/club & shield serve as "common" foes while dual axe wielders and foes with huge clubs serve as mini-bosses). Those three bosses are tons of fun to fight against and to test your understanding of Senua's skills against. The game recycles them again once you confront Hela during the game's climax, but at that point, you have Gramr, which already increases Senua's offensive power, and Senua's willpower (due to the narrative at that point) increases her power even more that most foes that she faces during the game's final battle go down with at least a single blow in most cases. The bosses put up a fight here, but they are don't hold a candle to their former glory when you encountered them in the story for the first time.

Puzzles in this game primarily involve searching out patterns/motifs such as this in the environment and lining them up properly with your Focus ability. 

The other half of gameplay consisted of puzzles. I thought a lot of them were hit or miss since they either mostly involved searching for objects in the environment to fit a designated pattern or motif or lining up specific "shattered/broken" objects to be repaired from a precise camera angle in combination of Senua's "Focus" ability. Most of these are a little too easy to spot as the game clues you in very early on that the voices will aid you in locating these patterns with subtle hints while at the same time, Senua's senses will be ripe with the pattern in the air (as show by the image above) if you are close to the object in question. Other puzzles won't be as simple as there's a few where Senua will be forced to juggle between the light and dark worlds to manipulate objects in the environment to progress further. Another will have her distinguish between reality and illusions in Valravn's forest or find a means to traverse around or through the flames without being burnt alive in Surt's region. These puzzles aren't really groundbreaking material or anything but they each tend to fit the theme of the environment that they are attached to, such as the illusion puzzles in Valravn's realm, the fire puzzles in Surt's domain, Senua's struggles with "blindness" in the dark within the confines of the blindness trial and Garm's dungeon that follows shortly after that point in the narrative.

If this game had one major flaw or rather a very minor gripe that I had with it is that there's far too much "slowly" striding around environments for my taste. Even when I had running ticked on to be toggled on and off, I still felt the general movement in this game for general traversal from point A to point B was at a snail's pace. To be fair, it wasn't at the game's detriment though as the slow movement(s) left Senua to her thoughts and more importantly, the voices in her head as the game went on. The funny thing is that the slow, methodical movement worked to an outstanding degree in the combat portions of gameplay, but within the general movement, it felt more like a crutch to extend the gameplay time an extra hour or two otherwise. I will admit that the slow movement to traverse from point A to point B added to the powerful portrayal of the seemingly never-ending battle that Senua engaged in with the voices in her head.

I have to repeat that this isn't a very long game either as I'm sure if one was to sit down and play this in its entirety over the course of one afternoon if they were pretty quick to get a grasp of the combat (namely parrying) early on and solve majority of the puzzles with minimal effort, the game can be completed within six to eight hours. I think my total game time was roughly around seven to eight, but that was mainly because I was fumbling around with solving the various puzzles.

The game offers you this warning with a truth within a lie.

Before I end this review, I want to mention one thing that's regarded as a massive spoiler in terms of the narrative but tied to gameplay. Senua is "infected" early into the story by a rot that grows little by little with each failure all the way up to Senua's head if you continuously die/fail objectives in the game. The game scares you with this warning even further by saying that your save file will even be deleted from excessive deaths. I'm here to say that concept is complete bullshit. If you watch the infection throughout the course of the story, it grows on it's own throughout the game. I only died early onto the game in the opening realms, but by the time I got to Garm's dungeon and the final confrontation against Hela, the rot was all the way to Senua's shoulders out of nowhere. The "rot" is merely a plot device and is an artificial device to add more stress and better yet, anxiety, to both the player and Senua on this journey. I'll admit that it worked up to the point where I realized that it was complete bullshit. As part of the narrative, the rot consumes Senua completely to the point where she is on the point of death, but she powers through her inner darkness and summons the courage to keep on fighting.

This game deserves the wealth of praise that it's gotten. 

The biggest question on everyone's minds if you haven't played this game is that does this game deserve all of the praise and awards across the board that it's received since it's initial release? I can confidently say, "YES!" To say that this game was made by a team of a mere twenty individuals on hand is a feat on it's own, but to see what this game manages to do firsthand is something that I cannot recommend enough for my fellow gamers. Simply words cannot do this game justice in a sense.

Play It or Don't Bother?

With it's re-release on the Nintendo Switch and the physical edition landing on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, now is a better time than ever to check this game out. It's definitely high on my list of games every gamer must experience that's for sure. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to experience it myself, despite having it for free on my PlayStation 4's hard drive for at least a year or two now.

REVIEW -- Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World, and is the seventeenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Taika Waititi from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing team of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Hopkins. In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor must escape the alien planet Sakaar in time to save Asgard from Hela and the impending Ragnarök.

A third Thor film was confirmed in January 2014, with Kyle and Yost beginning work on the screenplay. The involvement of Hemsworth and Hiddleston was announced that October. Waititi joined the film as director a year later, after The Dark World director Alan Taylor chose not to return. Ruffalo joined the cast reprising the role of Hulk from previous MCU films, which allowed elements of the 2006 comic storyline "Planet Hulk" to be adapted for Ragnarok. The rest of the cast, including Blanchett as Hela, was confirmed in May 2016, with Pearson's involvement revealed at the start of filming in July 2016. Principal photography took place in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, with the film also having exclusive use of Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, concluding in October 2016.

Thor: Ragnarok premiered in Los Angeles on October 10, 2017, and was released in the United States on November 3, 2017, in 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D.

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth as Thor
Tom Hiddleston as Loki
Cate Blanchett as Hela
Idris Elba as Heimdall
Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster
Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
Karl Urban as Skurge
Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Anthony Hopkins as Odin

Additionally, Tadanobu Asano, Ray Stevenson, and Zachary Levi reprise their roles as Hogun, Volstagg, and Fandral, respectively, members of the Warriors Three. They are all killed early in the film, which Feige called "noble ends" that served to establish the threat of Hela and the danger she poses to the main characters. Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as Stephen Strange from the film Doctor Strange. Rachel House, who has appeared in several of Waititi's films, plays Topaz, the Grandmaster's bodyguard,while Waititi portrays Korg, a gladiator who befriends Thor. Waititi provided a motion-capture performance for the character, who is made of rocks, and wanted to do something different by having the character be soft-spoken, ultimately basing Korg's voice on that of Polynesian bouncers. Waititi also provided the motion-capture performance for the fire demon Surtur, based on the mythological being Surtr, with Clancy Brown providing the voice for that character. Thor co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a man on Sakaar who cuts Thor's hair. There are also several cameos in a sequence where Asgardian actors perform a play based on the events of The Dark World: Sam Neill, who Waititi previously worked with on Hunt for the Wilderpeople, plays the Odin actor; Luke Hemsworth, brother of Chris, plays the Thor actor; and Matt Damon plays the Loki actor.

Plot: 

Two years after the Battle of Sokovia, Thor has been unsuccessfully searching for the Infinity Stones, and is now imprisoned by the fire demon Surtur. Surtur reveals that Thor's father Odin is no longer on Asgard, and that the realm will soon be destroyed in the prophesied Ragnarök, once Surtur unites his crown with the Eternal Flame that burns beneath the city. Thor defeats Surtur and claims his crown, believing he has prevented Ragnarök.

Thor returns to Asgard to find his adopted brother Loki posing as Odin. Thor forces Loki to help him find their father, and with directions from Stephen Strange on Earth, they locate Odin in Norway. Odin explains that he is dying, and that his passing will allow his firstborn daughter Hela to escape from a prison she was sealed in long ago. Hela had been the leader of Asgard's armies, and had conquered the Nine Realms with Odin, but had been imprisoned and written out of history after her ambitions became too great. Odin dies, and Hela appears. She destroys Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and when Thor and Loki attempt to flee through the Bifröst Bridge, she pursues them and forces them out into space to die. Hela arrives in Asgard, destroying its army and the Warriors Three; resurrects the ancient dead who once fought with her, including her wolf Fenris; and appoints the downtrodden Asgardian Skurge as her executioner. She plans to use the Bifröst to expand Asgard's empire, but Heimdall steals the sword that controls the Bridge, and hides away with the rest of Asgard's citizens.

Thor crash-lands on the planet Sakaar, a garbage planet surrounded by wormholes. He is captured by a bounty hunter named Scrapper 142, and taken to serve as a gladiator for the planet's ruler, the Grandmaster, whom Loki has already become ingratiated with. Thor recognizes 142 as one of the Valkyrior, a legendary force of female fighters who were killed defending Asgard from Hela long ago. Thor is forced to compete in the Grandmaster's Contest of Champions, facing his old friend the Hulk. Thor almost defeats the Hulk, before the Grandmaster fixes the fight to ensure the Hulk's victory. Still enslaved, Thor attempts to convince Hulk and 142 to help him save Asgard, but neither is willing. He soon manages to escape the palace and finds the Quinjet that brought Hulk to Sakaar. Hulk follows Thor to the Quinjet, where a recording of Natasha Romanoff makes the Hulk transform back into Bruce Banner for the first time since Sokovia.

The Grandmaster orders 142 and Loki to find Thor and Hulk, but the pair come to blows and Loki forces her to relive the deaths of her fellow Valkyrie at the hands of Hela; she decides to help Thor, taking Loki captive to prove her goodwill. Unwilling to be left behind, Loki provides the group with the means to steal one of the Grandmaster's ships. They then liberate the other gladiators who, led by Korg and Miek, stage a rebellion. Loki attempts to betray his brother to gain a reward from the Grandmaster, but Thor anticipates this and leaves him behind. Loki is soon found by Korg and the gladiators. Thor, Banner, and 142 escape through a wormhole to Asgard, where Hela's forces are attacking Heimdall and Asgard's citizens. Banner becomes the Hulk again, fighting Fenris, Skurge, and the resurrected warriors with 142 while Thor faces Hela. Loki and the gladiators arrive to help, and the citizens board their large ship; a repentant Skurge sacrifices himself to allow their escape. Thor loses an eye and then has a vision of Odin that helps him realize that only Ragnarök can stop Hela. While she is distracted, Loki locates Surtur's crown and places it in the Eternal Flame. Surtur is reborn and destroys Asgard, seemingly killing Hela.

Hulk's going to SMASH no matter how big his opponent is...

Thor and the others escape with Asgard's remaining citizens aboard the Grandmaster's vessel. Thor, crowned king, decides to take his people to Earth. In a mid-credits scene, the vessel comes across a large spacecraft. In a post-credits scene, the Grandmaster encounters a group of his former subjects, who are still rebelling.

The Verdict: 

Casting

For someone with PTSD and allegedly in mourning, the girl sure knows how to make an entrance.

While I wasn't too crazy about Tessa Thompson being cast as a Valkyrie instead of the Valkyrie, I was fine with her performance here. It wasn't nothing groundbreaking, but she served her purpose well here. I just feel like she might want to hold her horses on that talk about an all-female Avengers film in the near-future. I'm inclined to lean towards no thanks on that offer as it really doesn't fit well with the state of their continuity thus far and Marvel Studios aren't ones to do shit just to do it like our friends at DC/Warner Bros. Outside of Scarlet Witch, Gamora, Black Widow, Valkyrie, along with Wasp and Captain Marvel in the near-future, there's not many "strong" female characters in the MCU to justify this at the moment. I get that people are applauding and praising DC/WB for their success with a female-led superhero film with 2017's Wonder Woman, but it's a much more risky gamble with Marvel's femme fatales. Wonder Woman has been a household name for decades prior to this boom of popularity and acceptance of superheroes into mainstream media. Marvel doesn't have that advantage with any of their ladies that have been established to this point. I know, I know... that bit there isn't relative to this review, but just my two cents that I wanted to put out there.

Seriously, where does Hela get all of those knives from? It looks fucking cool though.

I adored Cate Blanchett as Hela here. The costume, the attitude, her swagger/arrogance, just everything about her performance in this role. I hope this isn't the only time that we see this character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This continuity has far too many disposable villains. It's about time that they establish a main stay major player and I humbly nominate Hela for the task. Surtur (voiced by good ol' Clancy Brown, aka Lex Luthor from Superman: The Animated Series and currently Ra-Zar/Chris Bradford from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) animated series) was wasted here for the most part. He's only in the film long enough to be the butt of several jokes at the tail end of both points of this film - briefly at the beginning and once more during the film's climax.

The director of this film Taiki Wahiti plays Korg, who is vastly altered from his comic book counterpart. Wahiti plays him off as mostly comic relief to add more humor to a film that already has enough jokes as is. To his credit, the character didn't overstay his welcome and I wouldn't have a problem if he popped up in future MCU films just for a joke here and there.

I wonder if the raging fangirls were a little disappointed with Tom Hiddleston's performance as Loki as I was here. It's not that he lost his charm, it's like that there wasn't enough of it here. This wasn't as serious of a Thor film as it's predecessors, so I would like to think that was to blame. I did enjoy that Loki's character went through what seems like a little bit of growth as he warmed up to the aspirations of being a hero - even though it was to his own benefit in front of the people of Asgard. Hiddleston does better when there's not so much comedy to be had in these Thor-centric films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I enjoy him more as a cold, calculating villain rather than the butt end of majority of the jokes here.

The Grandmaster in all of his holographic 3D glory...

Jeff Goldblum's performance as the Grandmaster was as out there I expected after audiences were treated to the Collector in the original Guardians of the Galaxy. FYI Grandmaster is the brother of Benicio del Toro's Collector from Guardians of the Galaxy, and producer Kevin Feige expressed interest in seeing the two together in a future film. Much like the Collector back in the original Guardians of the Galaxy, there wasn't enough of this character for my taste.

Karl Urban was completely wasted here as Skurge the Executioner as I honestly felt that his role wasn't even really necessary for this film. Hela was a powerful enough threat on her own right without any need for a C/D tier villain sharing the spotlight with her, only for him to play the anti-hero card by the time it was all said and done. I'll say it again, this role was a complete waste of Urban's talents. For his sake, I hope this isn't Skurge only appearance in the MCU.

Last but not least, let's talk about Thor's character evolution here - at least in relation to Chris Hemsworth's performance in this film. This film decides to take Thor in a different direction across the board. No more that he is the same boring Shakespearean hero that we have come accustomed with from the last five films. Hemsworth and this new director decided to bring Hemsworth's charm and comedic performance from the recent Ghostbusters reboot here. I felt it was a little hit or miss but worked for the most part. I just found it was hard to take anything serious when the titular hero didn't do so in the least outside of the final act while confronting Hela and opening few minutes of the film during his fight with Surtur and his forces. I think Hemsworth will have time to polish this act off before the inevitable Infinity War as it's a welcome change to a character that is known for being so stale and boring over the course of his comic book history. Marvel Studios had to do something as this iteration of Thor doesn't have an alter ego to fall back on to provide depth of character. 

Narrative

My biggest issue with this film is that it never seems to take itself seriously. From start to the final act, it feels like this film is more focused on being a big joke instead of being the traditional superhero flavored epic that we have come accustomed to these Thor movies of being. I would have to blame that on the new director that was brought in.

Pulling influences and themes from several popular Thor and Hulk stories had a hit or miss result on this narrative to boot. I was fine with Hela being established as Odin's first-born daughter in this continuity as this revelation spares the MCU the headache that the comics continuity got when Angela was established in theirs as Odin's first-born and Thor and Loki's long-lost sister. At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel does introduce that character down the road at some point.

Did I miss something or did they actually explain why Thor was carrying swords around charged with electricity the rest of the film?

Here's the things that bothered me with the plot though. If Surtur was going to be Asgard's end after having his crown placed on the Eternal Flame, then why in the world would anyone put his skull anywhere NEAR that thing in Odin's armory? The same could be said about the Tesseract in that vault as well, but I honestly cracked up when Hela pointed out that roughly every other thing in there was "fake" - so we know who has the "real" Infinity Gauntlet when Avengers: Infinity War starts up in 2018. Secondly, if Hulk has been on Sakaar for about two years now since the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, then why haven't the Avengers even bothered looking for the guy? He really would have tipped the scales during Captain America: Civil War, that's for sure. It's like how General Ross said during that movie, how careless can you be when Thor and Hulk - arguably the most powerful Avengers outside of Wanda/Scarlet Witch's untapped potential and The Vision, are unaccounted for without any concern nor urgency where in the nine realms they could have been? Third, after seeing Natasha caused Hulk to revert back to being Bruce Banner, why does the film make it an ongoing joke about Banner's serious condition and struggle he has with dealing with the Hulk? He pleaded to Thor like a friend for help, but this douchebag just used Banner to use the Hulk for his own personal benefit to aid him against Hela. So yeah... that whole deal about if he changed into the Hulk again, he might not come back was completely swept underneath the rug in the sake of comedy. That was really in bad taste when we should have had some real dilemma come from that turn of events. I guess one could say that Banner willingly gave himself up to be the Hulk again to aid in the fight to save Asgard from Hela and protect the Asgardians during their escape but I still didn't like how Banner's character development was swept underneath the rug. I get this wasn't his film, but this is the first film we've seen in him since Age of Ultron so they had to give us something. Fourth, the Executioner's character was completely wasted in this film. I was hoping that we could have seen Enchantress introduced in this film - we got Surtur, Hela, Valkyrie, Grandmaster, Korg, Miek, and Executioner in one film, so one new character more wouldn't have hurt in my honest opinion, even if it was down to a minor cameo in the mid-credits/post-credits teasers. My personal fan-casting for that role would have been Hemsworth's lovely wife, Elsa Pataky, since she already looks the part anyway. Seeing Executioner killed off after his one minor role in this film made me shake my head here as Marvel Studios continues their trend of disposable villains, not that Executioner had a great role in this film to begin with. Last but not least, I couldn't fathom why they had to destroy Thor's hammer and make him lose his eye all in one film. I know I couldn't be the only one waiting for someone to make a He-Man/Masters of the Universe joke at some point from how Thor was throwing around lightning from the heavens and it striking his hands like it came straight out of Castle Greyskull. That being said, I don't get how Odin said that Thor was more powerful than him, but even he when tapped into his full potential it still wasn't enough to beat Hela. Hell, he still couldn't beat Hulk before they zapped him with the obedience disks. FYI those disks are powerful enough to even bring the Silver Surfer to his knees as stated back in the Planet Hulk comics. That was one small detail that wasn't really mentioned on how the Grandmaster was able to force Hulk to fight in his games.

In terms of details, they were pretty damn vague on a lot of stuff here - did Hulk and Valkyrie have a fling? Is Valkyrie bisexual? (Kinda got that vibe from the flashback of the rest of her kind being slaughtered by Hela) So... Thor had no time to mourn the Warriors Three to say they were his life-long friends? How was Hulk able to land the Quinjet without wrecking it on Sakaar? If Korg and Miek were Hulk's friends like in the Planet Hulk comics, then why didn't they inform Thor of who the Grandmaster's 'champion' was when he arrived? (There was no need to keep that information a secret when that information was spoiled in the promotional trailers and commercials for this film) Why wasn't Loki locked up and made to fight in the Grandmaster's games? Valkyrie is one of the last of her kind, yet she wasn't forced to fight in the games either? I swear this movie muddled up a lot of details that I'm sure a lot of people just ignored for sake of the comedy.

Final Thoughts

I have seen this film twice now and I honestly don't see what film people are talking about when I read the overall reactions online that regard this as Marvel's best film to date. This film is fine and all but I felt that it was a far cry from being the best film that was produced by Marvel Studios. Like previously mentioned, my biggest issue with this film is that it has a lot of unnecessary baggage with the narrative and the fact that it never seems to take itself serious enough to make the viewers believe that there was any true sense of danger or a real crisis.

I thought the best moments of this film was the opening act where we saw Thor at the pinnacle of his abilities with his hammer for the last time while reminding viewers that this is a shared universe with the short cameo from Dr. Strange to locate Odin. Hela's introduction was simply marvelous (no pun intended) - I haven't been that impressed with a villain's arrival in this continuity since the Winter Soldier back in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That's what this continuity needs more of - villains who are just bad for the sake of being evil and enjoy every second of causing misery and inflicting pain to all of those who stand in their way. I have my fingers crossed that we haven't seen the end of her with Infinity War right around the corner and I hope that we have Hela playing the part of "Death" that Thanos is known to want to court with his actions on is pursuit of conquest after obtaining all of the Infinity Stones. Remember, don't forget that Loki is in debt to Thanos after failing to conquer Earth after being allowed to use the Tesseract and command over his forces in the original Avengers film. It was confirmed in interview with Kevin Feige that the ship that Thor's group encounters in the mid-credits teaser is none other than Thanos' ship, so I would like to believe that he has come to collect payment on that debt. Those who were at Comic Con who have seen the Infinity War footage that was shown to the public have already confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy are the first ones to encounter Thor in space among some wreckage, so I will like to think that the Asgardians fight a losing battle against the Mad Titan after that exchange.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Thor getting his Highlander on as there only can be one...

This is the first film since Avengers: Age of Ultron where viewers are treated with what happened to Thor and the Hulk since the events of that film that cost them to miss out on last year's Captain America: Civil War event that left the Avengers' house divided. So naturally, audiences are going to want to see this as it's one of the last stops (along with Black Panther in February) before Avengers: Infinity War. If you enjoyed the last two Thor films, then you're going to enjoy this film as it's a bit more of the same with these characters, but in a lighthearted tone. The lack of seriousness to the subject manner may be a turn off for some, but I think most Marvel fans will find something to like about this, despite the lack of accuracy to a lot of the comic book events that this narrative draws from. At this point, fans should be used to the Marvel Cinematic Universe take their own spin on these events, so that shouldn't come to a surprise. 

PREVIEW -- Thor: Ragnarok - Official Trailer 2

One of the many teases Marvel Studios shown off to the public during San Diego Comic Con was the latest Thor: Ragnarok trailer.

My thoughts?

I'm digging the 80's style presentation direction. Totally loving what they've done with Hela here. I think she's going to be Marvel's best major villain(ess) to date, or wait, is she the first now that Nebula has swapped sides?

I'm still on the fence about how they are going to condense Planet Hulk somehow into this story.

Speaking of the Hulk...

😲😲😲 Hulk can talk now???!!! Well, more than one liners?

I'm STILL not feeling that girl who they got to play Valkyrie. Costume looks awesome though.

PREVIEW -- Thor: Ragnarok - Teaser Trailer

I finally had a chance to check this trailer out and I'm not really surprised as everyone else who were raving about it. I'm glad that Hela/Death's costume looks as close to her comic book counterpart as possible as I'm positive that she is going to be a major player with the Infinity War right around the corner. She was a character that the cancelled Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon merely scratched the surface of and I want to see how she is going to fit in the MCU more than anything else going for this film.

It seems like they are going to do a shorthand version of Planet Hulk here as Thor confronts the Hulk brandishing his Worldbreaker armor from that storyline. I'm honestly scratching my head at Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster and even more so at Valkyrie's casting (not why she's black but why does she look like she belongs in a live action adaptation of Horizon Zero Dawn) and costume design. Did they give any reason why Thor has a new haircut?

Why was everyone freaking out at Hela shattering Mjolnir? No one ever said the damn hammer was indestructible, so calm your tits. It's not like no one can't forge another hammer for Thor to wield anyway.