Jay Inamdar

What a mess. With so much on-screen talent you'd think it would be impossible to make such a poor film and yet here we are. This film takes the best elements of Thor Ragnorak (off-beat humour to bring levity to the rather serious plot line of Ragnarok) and inverts it. What ensues is a poor comedy with no opportunity for a punchline missed (though missed they are with great frequency in delivery), a messy distracted story held together with the odd moment of serious acting that only further exacerbates the pain of what could have been a very good film. The film and dialogue are often so ridiculous that you cannot take the danger of the villain or standard threat to the universe seriously. Moments of heroism hold no value and are swiftly undermined by chasing a cheap gag. As is now fashionable with Marvel's (ahem Disney's) latest string of films we must now also inject woke idealogy with no subtly, be it children demanding Thor call them by their preferred names (with no context or relevance to the story itself), the usual token appeasement lines to the online LGBT brigade that again serve no purpose to enhancing the story or developing the characters in a meaningful way other than to virtue signal. I suspect Marvel were hoping Taika could be to Thor what James Gunn was to Guardians. And to some extent, they've succeeded - a strong initial movie followed by total nonsense. I hope Marvel wakes up and gets this series and the franchise back on track before they lose a lot of long-time viewers and fans of the universe.

Apparently, I'm a review bomber. Apparently, I am also against female leads and movies led by ethnic minorities. But I loved Aliens who had a legendary female lead, doesn't that count? No. But I loved Black Panther, doesn't that count? No. Apparently, if you criticise a show these days based on its (lack of) quality you must be misogynistic or some sort of "phobic" or "ism. The sad and unpalatable truth for the ideologically captured movie studios is that audiences care more for story and less about the woke, boring one-dimensional, predictable characters that like to play victims of the 'oppressive tyrannical patriarchy' and push forward ever increasingly ridiculous 'progressive' agendas. Seriously guys, these stereotypes are tiresome and irritating. Instead of establishing her as a hero who works for or is worthy of her gifts, she is, of course, instantly more capable and adept than the super genius Bruce Banner simply by virtue of being a woman. Forget decades of trials and tribulations, struggles, abuse and danger (oh and real heroism just in case that wasn't enough) - this superhero has had to overcome the worst villainy of mankind - the dreaded cat-call. If that doesn't instantly teach you how to master your inner rage, nothing will. I won’t even bother with the paper-thin excuse for a plotline, if this is what now counts for writing then I’m Shakespeare. I’ve decided to stop watching after four progressively worsening episodes - my only regret being I wasted so much time in hoping things would improve. The self-cannibalism of the Marvel legacy is in full flow folks. Let's hope they wake up before it's too late.

Disney needs to use this dial of destiny to go back in time to when they made decent movies. Another train wreck of a movie with the same repetitive formula - our beloved hero is now a washed-up, bitter frail, and incompetent white man so of course we need to replace her with a flawless supergirl boss who is superior in every way - funnier, stronger, smarter with no flaws. Who needs character development when you're perfect? Kathleen Kennedy has taken the sledgehammer of resentment and envy to the very pillars of Lucas films. It makes you wonder how tone-deaf you need to be to audience feedback, how much money you have to hemorrhage at the box-office, and how utterly incompetent you must be before you go back to doing some radical...like telling a decent story! For the love of god - please go back to entertaining not lecturing, give us characters that represent goodness not simple binaries like gender, and race hustling, represent values not victimhood, and tell us stories that we will want to remember, not want to forget. Save yourself the heartbreak and pretend this never existed - there is no dial of destiny to give you those hours back in reality.