Review – Thor: Ragnarok

Does anyone know how many films we’re at now? We’re coming up on ten years of the MCU and it’s been a hurricane of films, TV shows, shorts, games, tie-ins in the actual comics, and desperate, laughable attempts from other companies to try and recreate the Marvel/Disney success that it’s no longer funny when they try. Does it still need discussing?

Well yes. Because as hard as direct rival DC/Warner tries to fight back with their dark and gritty universe built on the back of Nolan’s success with the Batman trilogy, Marvel seems to be reactionarily becoming more comical with their titles. Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, and now Thor have added three of the funniest films to be released this year, and under the “Super-Hero” genre rather than typical comedy. Perhaps it’s just the appeal to the geekier sense of humour that drags me in, or maybe it’s that we’ve become so comfortable laughing alongside some of these characters after years spent in their company.

Thor: Ragnarok is inextricable from the rest of the MCU films, it cannot stand alone but it does not need to do so. Let’s take a look at why…

Vampires, Film Stars and Monsters

Of all the many monsters of myth and legend, none make for better films than vampires.Enigmatic and deadly stalkers of the night, sourced from a thousand legends from a thousand cultures throughout history, with many conflicting accounts of their strengths, their weaknesses, and their origins. There are a few things that the majority of vampires have in common:

• Bloodlust – Mostly a direct need to feed on blood, but many vampire myths talk of full-flesh cannibalism, blood-rites, or simple anaemia or a blood-borne disease that carries vampirism.
• Aversion to Sunlight – No vampire likes the sun, not one. Even dhampyrs (half-vamps) like Rayne or Blade prefer the dark to the day. It varies between an irritation to a lethal reaction to the hard light of day, but it’s always there.
• The Bat Motif – Vampire bats are the most famous haematophages, with the possible exception of mosquitoes, but they’re not quite so scary. Vampires and bats all share the fangs and the night life, so they tend to get along just fine.

So many times the lords of darkness have been put to the silver screen, and in so many different forms that they can barely be called a single creature, and more a category. Werewolves are always werewolves, and Frankenstein’s monster will always be called Frankenstein by those with limited mental capacity, but vampires are a lore unto themselves.