Thor: Ragnarok (2017) review

Thor Odinson AKA the Asgardian God of Thunder has been a vital member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its core superhero team, the Avengers. Despite this, however, many have viewed the character’s solo outings as being some of the weakest installments of the MCU. Now, to be fair, this wasn’t always the case; namely, back when the first Thor film came out in 2011. If anything, that film was arguably Marvel Studios’ first big ‘risky’ project, as it was the first MCU film to focus on a character who didn’t primarily reside on Earth. As such, there was a considerable possibility that this tale of god-like beings could’ve ended up being incredibly cheesy. However, thanks to the Shakespearean influence from director Kenneth Branagh, the film did manage to make its arguably ludicrous setting feel believable. But while the film did do solidly with both critics and audiences, I think it’s safe to say that, nowadays, you don’t see it brought up too often when people discuss their favorite MCU films. The same can be said for the 2013 sequel, Thor: The Dark World. While not technically a critical/commercial failure, many consider it to be one of the weakest installments of the entire MCU if not the absolute ‘worst’. And while I don’t think that it’s as bad as some people have put it out to be, it’s undeniably one of the prime examples of an MCU film that was heavily influenced by the studio’s infamous (and now thankfully disbanded) creative committee. After all, if it wasn’t for some highly publicized creative differences, the film could’ve been directed by Patty Jenkins who, thankfully, would go on to direct a far more successful superhero film four years later with DC’s Wonder Woman.

So with all this in mind, it’s safe to say that there’s been a lot of pressure on Thor’s third solo outing to, shall we say, ‘redeem’ the franchise. And thus, here we are now with Thor: Ragnarok. Fans of the comics, as well as those familiar with Norse mythology, will no doubt recognize the subtitle for this film as the plot is based around the fabled apocalyptic event known as Ragnarok. In both Norse mythology and the comics, this was a major event in which the kingdom of Asgard was destroyed and several of its most notable inhabitants were killed. But while the film does focus on the prophesized destruction of its main protagonist’s home-world, do not expect a huge and serious fantasy epic going in. Instead, Thor: Ragnarok can arguably be described as an 80’s-inspired ‘road trip comedy’ starring not only Thor but also the Incredible Hulk, whose plotline takes influence from the character’s popular Planet Hulk storyline from the comics. In the director’s chair is Taika Waititi, who is arguably the biggest ‘out of left field’ director that Marvel Studios has ever hired… which, for them, is saying a lot. Over the past few years, the New Zealand native has become well-known for his work on several critically acclaimed films. This includes 2014’s mockumentary horror comedy What We Do in the Shadows, 2016’s adventure dramedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and a few episodes of the hit HBO comedy series Flight of the Concords. And as for Thor: Ragnarok, his first big-budget feature, he proceeds to give us a highly entertaining film that not only stands as the best Thor film yet but also one of the best MCU films to date as well.

At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor Odinson AKA the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) left Earth to embark on a quest to try and find the mystical objects known as Infinity Stones that he had seen in the visions that he had during the film. As this film begins, it has been two years since then and Thor has not had much success with this current endeavor. To make matters worse, when he returns to Asgard he learns that his treacherous adopted brother Loki AKA the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston), who had been presumed dead during the events of Thor: The Dark World, has been impersonating their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), ruler of Asgard. And then if that wasn’t enough, Thor and Loki soon find themselves dealing with a new threat in the form of Odin’s firstborn, Hela the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett). After being imprisoned for several eons due to her ever-growing ambition, Hela has now returned and is hell-bent on conquering the Nine Realms. When Thor tries to stop her, she ends up destroying his hammer, Mjolnir, and he ends up getting stranded on the planet of Sakaar. There, he becomes a prisoner of the planet’s eccentric ruler, the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), and is forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena where his opponent is his old Avenger ally (and ‘friend from work’) Dr. Bruce Banner AKA the monstrous creature known as the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).  And thus, Thor now finds himself in a race against time to return home to Asgard and stop Hela before the kingdom’s prophesized destruction, AKA Ragnarok, can occur.

So yes, as it’s been well-documented by several critics, Thor: Ragnarok is easily one of the most comedic outings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe… which, to be fair, is something that the MCU has always been known for anyway. Right from the get-go, this film is jam-packed with humorous bits of dialogue and funny sight gags. This, however, has proven to be a rather controversial development for some fans due to the fact that, in the comics, the Ragnarok storyline of which this film takes its name from was more serious in tone. Ultimately, though, this doesn’t prove to be as big of a problem as those fans may have feared, because while Thor: Ragnarok is undeniably one of the funniest MCU films to date, that doesn’t mean that this is all that it has going for it. When the story delves into the whole Ragnarok prophecy and Hela’s takeover of Asgard, the film does take these events seriously. Plus, for a film that is part of the allegedly so-called ‘kiddie’ franchise that has been the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it isn’t afraid to pull a few punches here and there to once again prove that long-standing argument wrong. Simply put, while the film is an absolute riot when it comes to its humor, director Taika Waititi establishes a solid tone that does, in fact, manage to keep it from just being a straight-forward comedy. And don’t even get me started on all of the great minor touches that he adds to the film to make it all the more memorable, from the implementation of the scores from the previous two Thor films to a scene that, no joke, pays homage to the infamous tunnel scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

As noted earlier, Thor: Ragnarok mainly revolves around the duo of Thor and Hulk, a crossover that excited many due in no small part to some of the great interactions between the two of them in the Avengers films (e.g. the scene in the first Avengers where Hulk abruptly punches Thor off-screen after an intense battle… need I say more?). It’s also quite good that these two were paired together for this film seeing how, as far as the MCU films are concerned, we haven’t seen either of these two in more than two years. Not counting Thor’s cameo during the mid-credits scene of Doctor Strange (a sequence that is expanded upon here with Benedict Cumberbatch returning, of course, as the titular Sorcerer in a brief cameo), these two haven’t had a major role in an MCU film since Age of Ultron. But even after all this time, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo both do excellent jobs once again in their respective roles as the film allows the two of them to utilize their comedic timing to its full potential. This, in turn, results in some of their best performances as Thor and Hulk (definitely Hemsworth’s best and arguably Ruffalo’s best). Another major returning player to the MCU is Loki, and heck, he hasn’t been seen for longer than Thor and Hulk combined. His last appearance was in Thor: The Dark World… all the way back in 2013. He almost appeared in Age of Ultron but his scenes ended up getting cut. Still, just like Hemsworth and Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston is still great as always as the cunning but deeply-layered God of Mischief who continues to maintain a strenuous relationship with his brother.

Moving on to the new characters that are introduced in this film, first there’s Tessa Thompson as one of the Grandmaster’s assistants who, as we learn, is an Asgardian who was once a member of the kingdom’s elite Valkyrie squadron. However, we also learn that she is the only survivor of the group following a devastating battle with Hela long ago, which gives the character a solid backstory and character arc as a hard-drinking warrior turned scrapper who’s trying to escape her past. Plus, Thompson works excellently alongside Hemsworth, Ruffalo, and Hiddleston and proves to be a great new badass addition to the MCU’s lineup of female leads. As for Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster… well, he’s the Jeff Goldblum that we all know and love, simple as that. Finally, we come to the main villain of the film, Hela AKA the first lead villainess of the MCU films. And while I admittedly wouldn’t call her one of the ‘best’ MCU villains to date, Cate Blanchett certainly kills it in the role. Sure, the final conflict between her and Thor’s team sort of concludes rather quickly but, as noted before, the film does treat her as a serious threat throughout. She also gets a great henchman in the form of Skurge (Karl Urban), an Asgardian warrior who allies with her when it gives him an opportunity for the attention that he has long yearned for. And he ends up getting a surprisingly layered character arc as a result, effectively making him one of the MCU’s greatest henchman characters.

For many years, Marvel Studios tended to get a lot of flak from critics who argued that they often limited the creative visions of the directors that they’ve hired, resulting in a few ‘copy and paste’ installments. And while I don’t fully agree with that argument, I think it’s safe to say that this hasn’t been as much of an issue since the studio’s controversial creative committee was disbanded. Case in point, Thor: Ragnarok gives us one of the most creatively visionary installments in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the previous two Thor films stumbled a bit when it came to their overall tone, this film decided to just fully embrace the silliness of its cosmic-based premise. Because of this, Thor: Ragnarok is yet another highly entertaining installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks in large part to it being one of the funniest entries of the franchise. With that said, though, the film’s primarily comedic tone may throw some people off given the generally serious nature of the Ragnarok story arc from the comics. However… that’s the whole point! Director Taika Waititi did state that his overall intention with this film was to make a ‘fun’ superhero adventure, and that is exactly what he did. Sure, maybe it doesn’t have the best overall plot of these MCU films, but seriously… what’s so wrong about a ‘fun’ superhero flick?

Rating: 5/5! (And yes, I’m well-aware that I’ve given this rating to every major superhero film that has been released this year. Now it’s time to see if Justice League will also earn that rating and officially confirm 2017’s status as one of the genre’s greatest years ever… though, to be perfectly frank, this will still be the case even if Justice League doesn’t turn out that good (though, of course, hopefully, it IS good!))