7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Imprisoned, the mighty Thor finds himself in a lethal gladiatorial contest against the Hulk, his former ally. Thor must fight for survival and race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home and the Asgardian civilization.
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff GoldblumAdventure | 100% |
Action | 99% |
Comic book | 88% |
Sci-Fi | 84% |
Fantasy | 76% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Thor: Ragnarok just released to theaters several month ago, but it's no longer the latest installment in the ever-expanding, increasingly complex, and endlessly fun Marvel Cinematic Universe. The latest film is Black Panther, and Thor: Ragnarok reminds viewers at credits end that the hero will be returning in Avengers: Infinity War, which will be hitting theaters around the time Black Panther should be making its home video debut. That's a lot of movies, a maelstrom of Marvel, but "while the iron is hot" and all of that. Thor: Ragnarok is the third film to feature the blonde-haired Nordic warrior from Asgard as the lead, following on 2011's Thor and 2013's Thor: The Dark World. Ragnarok, which is not a reference to a place or character but rather an idea -- the prophecy foretelling the destruction of Thor's home world of Asgard -- is a humor-heavy, abundantly colorful, and ridiculously fun movie. It's maybe a little skimpy in terms of dramatic resonance, getting caught up in its laughs, locations, and lightning-paced action, but as a core MCU experience that brings together a few familiar faces in large parts and small supporting roles alike while also introducing a few new and dynamic characters, it's a winner.
Thor: Ragnarok shines on Blu-ray. The digitally captured image is crisp and intricately detailed, abundantly colorful, and extraordinarily stable. Image clarity is beyond superb, particularly in many of the film's brightly lit scenes and locales that allow textural complexities and colors to dazzle. Fine point elemental detailing is a continuous high point. Armor, leathery surfaces, complex fabrics, and the like are showcases for stable, revealing, in-depth textural wonders with tangible, tactile qualities. Skin textures, including pores and hairs and various applied makeup, are likewise supremely defined; the image's clean, inherent clarity certainly aids, and this is, overall, one of the most texturally stout releases on the market. Colors are just as impressive. Devilish reds in Surtur's realm, comical cyans on Sakaar, the entire palette -- which is richly diverse throughout the film -- reveals every shade with pristine clarity, vitality, and nuanced saturation. Skin tones are healthy and accurate and black levels are firm and satisfying with only very slight pushes to pale in a few shots. Disney's encode is highly efficient, revealing no artifacts of significance, and the source is likewise clean and free of intrusive noise. This is the 1080p format at its peak.
Thor: Ragnarok's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a dense and detailed and effortlessly fluid listening experience. Sound details swoop and sweep with dynamic, traversing detail while taking advantage of every speaker around the listener. Thor's hammer soars with a metallic weight. An arena battle encircles the listener with crowd noise while the chaotic battle sends debris flying, turning the home theater into a raucous circular battlefield. Musical width and depth are superb, whether more traditionally oriented score or pulsating techno beats on Sakaar that rise and lower in intensity as they pop up around the listening area. Environmental effects, such as thunder and wind heard within the 22-minute mark, are organically positioned and saturate the stage with seamless detail. Dialogue is rich and detailed with firm front-center placement and prioritization. All that said, the track plays timidly at reference volume. It's rich in clarity but poor in low end engagement and heft, similar to another recent Disney release in Coco.
Thor: Ragnarok contains a number of extras, headlined by an audio commentary track. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital
copy code are included with
purchase.
Thor: Ragnarok is just flat-out fun. It's light on story, even with a tough new villainess and a deadly serious prophecy as its namesake. For so many dark cues, Director Taika Waititi keeps the movie continuously light on its feet by painting a balance between quips and quality of story and action. The film accomplishes enough universe expansion to leave an indelible mark on the MCU, as well as redefine tonal expectations for the Superhero film, bringing the heretofore almost exclusively Guardians of the Galaxy brand of humor into the rest of the universe's very lifeblood. Disney's Blu-ray is great, featuring plenty of extras and a top-notch video presentation. Audio is good but lacking that dominant heft the action would seem to want (need) to deliver. Highly recommended.
Cinematic Universe Edition
2017
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2017
2017
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2018
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2019
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2016
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2019
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2018
plus Theatrical Cut on standard Blu-ray
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