Film Review: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Marvel readers! when you plan to watch a superhero film like Thor Ragnarok, I advice to forget what is written in the comics and just try to watch and imagine if this is not about Ragnarok to hit Asgard but a friend playing to you a parody video on YouTube to hit your brain like when you have to watch Meet The Spartans after 300.

Thor: Ragnarok is a true competitor to Guardians Of The Galaxy in Marvel Cinematic Universe in the race of colorful circus entertainment, supported by the films of Doctor Strange and Ant-Man.

And kindly do not expect any source material from Planet Hulk. It is just the costume in the combat reminding you about the comic event. I do not remember if any other element has been adapted. Perhaps the character of Korg who debuted in the storyline. And Hulk is speaking like a toddler, like Solomon Grundy, or like Eater Island Head asking for gum-gum from a new dum-dum. I really don’t know why but Hulk sounds stupid.

Grandmaster, ruler of Sakaar, one of the Elders of the Universe, the brother of Collector, one of the long-standing villains in Marvel, is ehm funny. Loki, who appeared as a threat to Asgard and almost an unbeatable villain to the assembled Avengers in the first Avengers film, is a proper clown.

Ever seen Sir Anthony Hopkins funny? No? Now you can watch him as Odin for a short scene. The news was that Odin was supposed to be shown a crazy hobo wandering on the streets of New York after what happened in Thor: The Dark World but the director found the continuity of the role very tragic and then he recreated the character to be funny until he is moved to Norway to honor the character’s origin as the king of Asgard.

In my observation, the only two characters who were not the part of this comical roller-coaster were Hela and Heimdall. And these two were actually the most impressive roles with better performances by Cate Blanchett and Idris Elba. I like the continuity of Heimdall’s heroics in this film which is where the director deserves to be praised. By the way, Hela in comics is Loki’s child whereas, in the film, she is Odin’s daughter and Thor’s older sister, oh well.

Two of The Warriors Three are in the film for *thinking* 10 seconds? The other for hardly 5 minutes. Doctor Strange has a brief ‘funny’ cameo in the storyline. Yeah, he is also funny for a funny reason. Everyone is funny in the film, everything is funny in the film. Hulk/Thor fight is funny. The opening sequence of Thor-Surtur is funny. Yeah, Surtur also. Korg is funny (but I like this character). End-credit is funny. The director Taika Waititi is funny. Hiring this guy for the film is funny. Marvel Cinematic Universe is funny. The way I am now writing this review is also funny but this is exactly how the film is presented to you.

I hear that Taika Waititi is ‘offered’ to make a Star Wars film. May the audience have the courage to watch that film then.

RATINGS: 2/10

Film Review: Hindi Medium (2017)

Hindi Medium is the story of a Chandni-Chowk-based couple, Raj & Mita, who are concerned to send their daughter, Pia, to the city’s top school so that the family can reach the levels of the high-society and raise their living standards.

Although the direction of Saket Chaudhary (Side Effects duology) is weak. But the heart of the film is his story which presents and sketches a remarkable exaggeration of the high society, and highly underrated moral principles and emotional values of the low society. It was a stupefying scene wherein the high society, the mothers do not allow their kids to play with a Hindi-speaking Pia just because the school doesn’t allow their kids to speak in Hindi with the other kids. What a jaw-opener!

The screenplay of Zeenat Lakhani is unrealistic but the focus point is the series of survival attempts made by the couples while living in both the societies. The timing and use of humor are excellent, dialogues are very lively, the background score is average. Film editing is sublime. The most impressive factor to make this film worth watching is a terrific character-chemistry of Irrfan Khan–Saba Qamar as the couple. Their performances aid the audience to understand the raised topic. Deepak Dobriyal in a supporting role of Shyamprakash was also outstanding.

There are minuses like for example; the role of the daughter, Pia, for which the couple made sacrifices and efforts throughout the film, was extremely short. She wasn’t that involved and looked like if the stage was set only for the couple. Also, Shyamprakash never returned to the screen after he was about to complain. It looked silly because he was badly needed somewhere after Irrfan’s speech. The ending was predictable.

What I liked the most about the film was how the language plays a significant role in dividing the society into societies. An ugly truth.

RATINGS: 7.8/10