Director: Taika Waititi
Writer: Eric Pearson (Screenplay) Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Eric Pearson (Story)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Karl Urban, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Jaimie Alexander, Jeff Goldblum, Ray Stevenson
Plot: 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.
Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Thunderous Blast
Story: Thor Ragnarok starts as Thor (Hemsworth) is on a mission to stop a threat to Asgard but returning him he learns of a new threat in the disguise of his Brother Loki (Hiddleston) pretending to be Odin (Hopkins), but this has bigger problems as the brothers must locate their father to return him to his throne before Hela (Blanchett) Goddess of Death comes to claim Asgard for herself.
The adventure takes the two across the universe meeting Hulk (Ruffalo) fighting as a champion for powerful ruler The Grandmaster (Goldblum) but this only gives Thor the fuel he needs to build his team to head back to Asgard before it is too late.
Thoughts on Thor Ragnarok
Characters – Thor we know now, the God of Thunder but after Hela arrives on the scene he must learn to control his true powers to once again save his people from their impending doom, showing the leader skills, his father was admired for. Loki is back exposed but Thor but joining him to save the people that raised him, he does try to use his tricks to say ahead in this mission but finds he isn’t up to the standard he once thought. Hela is the Goddess of Death, hell bent on destroying Asgard and everyone who will not follow her orders, this is a villain that isn’t afraid to fight as we see her killing anyone that gets in her way including whole armies alone, she is easily one of the better Marvel villains and shows this franchise produces the best villains, but don’t get me wrong this character only works in Thor.
For the secondary characters we have, Hulk who has found himself being a champion fighter after going missing from Earth and as Bruce he gets to explore the galaxy unlike he could imagine. Valkyrie who is a drinker but lethal bounty hunter collecting contenders for the fights but does have a connection to the Asgard history. Heimdall returns as the once all seeing guardian of the Bifrost the teleportation they use to get from different worlds, he is in hiding after what happened in the previous film but he will always fight for his people. We get a string of other character with Grandmaster being the powerful ruler of a planet people are forced to follow his entertainment of death matches from across the galaxy.
Performances – Chris Hemsworth as completely embraced this character as his own now, this is now one of the best performances from any actor in a superhero role. Tom Hiddleston continues to entertain as Loki, he does look like everything is ticking in his mind in every scene too. Cate Blanchett gives a great performance in a role you can see she is having a lot of fun playing. Idris Elba finally gets a kick ass character to play and is great too. Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster is fantastic to watch, part charismatic leader part psychopath. Tessa Thompson gives us a performance that could rival any female supporting character in any Marvel film, plus she is gorgeous in this role. Mark Ruffalo gets great moments, embraces the characters he is playing too. The whole cast is great even the small roles throughout the film.
Story – The story bottles down to Thor needing to learn his powers to once again save Asgard, this has been the route for all the film in his side of the franchise but you know what, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it baby. This does increase the stakes to the threat but it isn’t only bringing Thor’s character around we also learn more about Loki, Hulk and even Heimdall while introducing us to new potential heroes in Valkyrie and Korg. This shows brilliant world building in preparation for Infinity Wars because you will feel by the end of it Thor will know his place in any battle that could come his way. We do also have a lot of distance between the heroes and villains which helps because we only get the one showdown fight which is kind of all we need too.
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi – The action is great, we have hard hitting comic violence, hero versus hero and a villain that isn’t going to get beaten easily. The adventure takes Thor across the universe to work with new friends, old friends and family to defeat the enemy. Take Thor’s full story into space helps too, because we have only ever seen the Guardians in space, but this shows we can have a space hero without it being the star side of it all, instead new worlds, with new monsters.
Settings – The settings all look fantastic, we do have a new world, that could be anywhere but have plenty of new species of aliens on it which Thor must navigate, Asgard of course and a moment or two on Earth but only 5 minutes or so.
Special Effects – All the effects seem to hit the mark for me, from the opening battle Thor goes through to the final showdown between the characters.
Scene of the Movie – Thor versus Hulk
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Trailers give too much away.
Final Thoughts – I love the Thor movies, I won’t deny this, I find enjoyment in them over most of the other Marvel films because I like the idea of ancient Gods. This does take things into a complete mix of Gods and Sci-Fi which works, the soundtrack beats out Guardians for fitting the scenes, the style is delicious to watch and for me this is the perfect last building block before Infinity War.
Overall: Fun, frantic, enjoyable superhero movie that will make you laugh more than you could imagine.
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