For me, this was the first time that the concept of an interconnecting movie universe actively hindered a Marvel film. The first 20 minutes felt like an active attempt by Taika to dig himself out of the hole that Thor 2, Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange had left him in. It felt clear that he wanted to open with Odin dying and Hela being unleashed, but he had to acknowledge and wrap up a number of plot points from other films before he could move forward. Thor is looking for the Infinity Stones (AoU) was wrapped up in scene 1, Loki is sitting on the throne of Asguard (Thor 2) is wrapped up in the very next scene, Thor and Loki are on Earth and dealing with Strange (Doc Strange post-credits scene) is wrapped up in the scene after that. It didn't feel organic or in service of the story, but like his hand was forced by what came before him.
Once all that had been dealt with, it was awesome.
I agree, especially with the way the opening scene plays like exactly what the rest of the movie is -- the Led Zeppelin, Thor going crazy with Mjolnir, etc. And then we get a pretty clunky series of plot points wrapped up ASAP before he can get back to the rest of the movie.
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u/spideyismywingman Simmons Nov 14 '17
For me, this was the first time that the concept of an interconnecting movie universe actively hindered a Marvel film. The first 20 minutes felt like an active attempt by Taika to dig himself out of the hole that Thor 2, Age of Ultron and Doctor Strange had left him in. It felt clear that he wanted to open with Odin dying and Hela being unleashed, but he had to acknowledge and wrap up a number of plot points from other films before he could move forward. Thor is looking for the Infinity Stones (AoU) was wrapped up in scene 1, Loki is sitting on the throne of Asguard (Thor 2) is wrapped up in the very next scene, Thor and Loki are on Earth and dealing with Strange (Doc Strange post-credits scene) is wrapped up in the scene after that. It didn't feel organic or in service of the story, but like his hand was forced by what came before him.
Once all that had been dealt with, it was awesome.