Cate Blanchett is the Mysterious & Powerful Villainess HELA!

[Finarfiniel]

What have the critics been saying about her so far? Does she make for a good villain, or is she more of a cartoon similar to the Red Skull?

I've read a lot of reviews and the general consensus is that Cate is fantastic in the role, she's vampy, badass, powerful, OTT and awesome but she definitely needs quite a bit more screen time and development and is maybe a little more underwhelming than expected because of that fact. Like Mjolnir points out though, some like Schmoes Know have been saying she's the best MCU villain ever. I know that Scott Mendelson loved her too from his social media reaction, his review hasn't dropped yet though.

Some of my favourite praises so far:

And she would be the stand-out performance were it not for Cate Blanchett’s Hela. Although given scant screen time to work with (Thor: Ragnarok spends perhaps too much time on Sakaar and therefore away from Hela), she oozes charisma like no other. Her design is incredible – a sure fire cosplay hit in the coming years – and her dialogue delivery and conviction is unmatched. With just a bit more character work, she could have found herself as one of the all-time great villains in the MCU (though that is a short list)

https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/10/movie-review-thor-ragnarok-2017/

Still, even those moments are grounded in the performances of the film’s three leads — most notably, Cate Blanchett as Hela. The Oscar-winner brings a tremendous amount of gravitas to any role she takes on, but here she adds a delicious sense of scene-chewing malevolence to the mix. Hela is an incredibly powerful villain, capable of separating Thor from his hammer — but she also takes obvious, compelling delight in being as evil as she can at any given moment. In a different film, her attitude might come off as cheesy posturing. But given Ragnarok’s overall tone, it plays as a celebration, as if Hela is intentionally trying to one-up every villain in the universe.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/19...e-review-marvel-chris-hemsworth-taika-waititi

And although Thor is absolutely more interesting than he's ever been, it's stiff competition whether he's the most interesting player in the mix. Blanchett is endlessly watchable as the film's main villain, as deranged as she is sexy. With a sneering smirk and akimbo stance, hip perpetually cocked out, Hela seems simply bored by it all as she decimates entire armies, but Blanchett is having a blast doing it. Her Hela strut is everything.

http://www.etonline.com/thor-ragnar...orths-new-and-much-improved-god-thunder-89501

It's clear the actors are having a blast here, none more so than Cate Blanchett - who plays the film's big bad, Hela - with the two-time Oscar-winner rattling off exposition-filled monologues with set-chewing delight and proving a nice rebuff to Marvel's long-standing villain issue.

https://www.buzz.ie/movies-tv/thor-ragnarok-review-how-the-god-of-thunder-got-his-groove-back-258295

And if the old “Batman” gave us campy turns by Milton Berle as Louie the Lilac or Ethel Merman as Lola Lasagna, both Blanchett and Goldblum take full advantage of their Special Guest Villain status to go gloriously over the top. Goldblum’s trademark brand of stammering deadpan fits perfectly into this scenario, while Blanchett walks away with the movie; verbally, she plays like Dame Diana Rigg channeling both Joan Crawford and Eve Arden, and her physical slink (in one of Marvel Comics’ most wonderfully baroque costumes) calls to mind the sexy evil robot from “Metropolis.”

https://www.thewrap.com/thor-ragnarok-review-cate-blanchett-chris-hemsworth-mcu/

Hela, played wonderfully by Cate Blanchett, is a welcome addition to the film’s world. She turns in an amazing, sultry performance as the Goddess of Death who has her sites on Asgard and ultimately wants to rule beyond the nine realms. Her goals may be a bit simplistic, but she’s a complex character with a personal connection to Thor that heightens the movie’s dramatic appeal. Even though she seeks out destruction and rampage like many other Marvel villains, Hela feels like the most compelling MCU bad guy to hit the big screen yet.

https://heroichollywood.com/marvel-thor-ragnarok-review/

 

[Loki882]

So it sounds like Cate is great (no surprise there), but perhaps doesn't get enough screentime or stuff to do (which also wouldn't be that surprising given Marvel's track record).

Again hopefully she's not a one and done villain.

 

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