MOVIE REVIEWS- It (2017), Thor: Ragnarok, and Happy Death Day

Alright, so I went and saw a few different movies over these past months, but I never got around to reviewing them, so I’m just going to smush them all into one post here. Back in September I saw It, last Saturday I saw Thor: Ragnarok, and on Monday I saw Happy Death Day. 

To start off... It (2017)

PLOT: After a young boy disappears, seven outcast kids band together to discover the cause: a shape-shifting monster that lives in the sewers feeding off people's fears and preying on children.

People can get all judge-y as much as they want that I went and saw an uncensored rated R film, but I’m not going to defend myself against the haters. I have a deep fascination with film art and that’s what I went to go see this film for, not to get my jollies on being rebellious and watching “evil” things.

Anyways, to be honest, I’m pretty sure the movie was rated R for language and not for violence/gore/scary imagery. Those characters were major potty mouths, but TBH, I’ve heard worse things just on YouTube videos. The violence/gore/scary imagery was more of a PG-13 level, so if it had cut down on the language, I think it would’ve been PG-13. So, if language offends you, I wouldn’t recommend this movie to you. If not, I’d say it’s worth a watch.

I’m not typically into scary movies, mostly because the majority of them are “slashers” where the point of the film is to be graphic and gory and the main focus isn’t on the story and characters; the point is to be gross and scary. Sometimes even the lame horror films aren’t even scary, they rely on jump scares and are just gross. There’s actually a lot that goes into being truly scary. 

This film was pretty legit though, I was impressed. The characters were interesting and well written, and I was very involved with the plot. The child actors were all extremely talented (it has one of the kids from Stranger Things, if that tells you anything). It had an interesting monster and legitimately scary scenes that didn’t just rely on jump scares (though there were a couple). The script was actually very funny and clever and kept me entertained the whole way through. The effects and music only added to the experience. If you’re into 80’s nostalgia, this movie is full of it. Like a lot of movies, there were a couple of awkward moments, but not so much so to weaken the movie. 

In the end, I think I’d give this movie an 8/10.

Next... Thor: Ragnarok

PLOT: Thor finds himself imprisoned on the opposite side of the galaxy from his home of Asgard while his sister, Hela, the goddess of Death wrecks havoc. He must battle in a deadly gladiator-like contest against the Hulk in order to gain his freedom and return to Asgard before it is too late.

I’ve been looking forward to this film for ages. It did not disappoint. I was pretty surprised by how comedic it was. My brother and I were talking about how it was less of an action/fantasy/adventure and more of a comedy/fantasy/adventure. 

If I had to rank everything in the movie from the highest to the lowest it would be special effects, comedy, costumes/makeup, acting, and then action sequences. 

The visual effects were off the charts. It was a stunning film! Even just still scenes, the “filter” effects gave the screen such a nice glow. The costumes and the sets only added to the tone. I’ve decided while Thor’s long hair is iconic and I do like it, I can get along just fine with his short hair. (And I have to say that Stan Lee’s cameo in this movie is now one of my favorite cameos; definitely up there with the one in The Amazing Spiderman.)

I mentioned before that there was a lot of comedy. I can’t think of very many moments where I wasn’t at least chuckling. I think Marvel is taking advantage of how funny Chris Hemsworth is, that he’s more than just a piece of man-cake. Of course, there was a down-side, there weren’t as many (excuse my French) badass moments as I would’ve liked to see. There were one or two, but where there should’ve been more, they opted out for a joke instead. And while those jokes did make me laugh, I would have liked to see those characters be a total boss too because those moments just get you so pumped! I was getting a really strong Guardians of the Galaxy vibe throughout the film.

As for the action scenes... I wasn’t all that impressed. There was just a lot of smashing and punching and destruction, but not even in an interesting way. I mean, I was pretty bored during Thor’s fight with the Hulk in the arena. It had a lot of potential to be totally cool and fun, but instead it was just kind of meh. And I get it, with Hulk there is a lot of mindless smashing and punching, but it can still be interesting. Like in Avengers: Age of Ultron when Iron Man faces off with the Hulk in his Hulk-buster armor, that was an awesome scene! But alas, this movie had very little to offer in the action department which is why I’ve dubbed it a comedy/fantasy/adventure movie.

As is typical of Thor movies, there is a lot of fantasy, mystical mumbo-jumbo, but it’s not difficult to follow and it’s not that ridiculous. The main focus is on Thor and the Hulk really. 

To be honest, this is one of the weaker Marvel movies, but by no means bad. I’ll give it a 7/10.

Lastly... Happy Death Day

PLOT: A self-centered sorority girl, Tree, wakes up on her birthday in the dorm room of a fellow student, Carter. As she goes about her day, she is suddenly and brutally murdered by a mysterious killer in a mask. She wakes up in Carter's room again unharmed. Now, Tree must relive the same day over and over until she figures out who murdered her.

I am always intrigued by a good mystery story and this looked like this could be one. And... meh, it sort of was. I mean, I sort of figured out who her killer was, but then it threw me off. I felt like it was trying too hard to be original and then in the end it wasn’t all that special. It was like Groundhog Day with a murder mystery thrown in. 

There were a few problems I had with it: 1) When she first figured out who her killer was, I was actually impressed at how original it was because of how random it was and so few horror/mystery stories go that route, but then it was just a red herring and it went the traditional route. So... I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. 2) Like in Groundhog Day, she decides to better her life in the process of her repeating day, but then (maybe spoilers), on the one good day, it repeats again and everything is forgotten. I was just really bummed out about that. But then it never let us know if she did everything again and fixed it once the time loop was eventually broken. WHAT HAPPENED!? 3) Pretty much all the scares were jump scares and I was ready for them.

It wasn’t completely awful though. The acting was pretty good. The killer was pretty terrifying. I liked that she died every day no matter what she did, no matter where she went, the killer always found her, it made it pretty scary. It was pretty good at building tension even if a lot of it was paid off with jump scares. There were two scenes in particular that stood out to me that I can’t really discuss without spoiling the movie, but one took place in the hospital towards the end and another took place in a parking garage. 

In the end, I think I’d give this movie a 6/10.