Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Movie Info

Hela’s coming for you!

The end is coming!  Surtur (Clancy Brown) proclaims that Ragnarok is coming and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) can do nothing about it!  When Thor and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) find their father passing, the next ruler of Asgard must be chosen and the arrival of a third party in Hela (Cate Blanchett) throws the situation into turmoil.  Thor finds himself exiled on Sakaar where the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) rules with Thor’s former ally Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in his control.  Thor’s only hope could be a wayward Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Loki if he hopes to save Asgard from mythic doom.

Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor:  Ragnarok is a MCU action-adventure superhero fantasy.  The third entry in the Thor series following Thor:  The Dark World in 2013, it is the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series following Spider-Man: Homecoming also released in 2017.  The film was released to positive reviews and a strong box office.

Hey…I’m a villain…and I’m going to do villain-y stuff in a Jeff Goldblum way

Thor has always been really tricky.  As a comic book character, he’s too powerful and that makes him hard to write.  As a film character, he struggles to carry humor and the two previous films were the weakest of the Marvel Universe.  Here, Thor finds his mark, but it also feels derivative of other Marvel films.

If Thor:  Ragnarok had been the first “funny” Marvel film to come out, it would have been a revelation, but Thor follows both Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man which struck similar tones.  Here, Thor is played more for laughs, and it works much better than the other entries.  I also like it takes more of a classic Norse mythology story and combines it with Planet Hulk…for once Thor works on the big screen.

It’s the Super Thor Bros.!

Chris Hemsworth takes his portrayal in a completely different direction.  It feels a lot like a cross between Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord (but more “dashing”).  It is good to see more screentime for Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk (though he made Bruce Banner too goofy).  Tom Hiddleston continues to be a standout as Loki and Idris Elba’s Heimdall gets a more expanded role.  Cate Blanchette is a scene-stealer as Hela, and Jeff Goldblum is Jeff Goldbloom as the Grandmaster.  Tessa Thompson isn’t the Brunnhilde Valkyrie I like, but she works and Karl Urban does give depth to the generally one-dimensional Executioner (though I wish we had the Enchantress somehow).  Anthony Hopkins, Ray Stevenson, and Zachary Levi get banished quickly (but at least Tadanobu Asano puts up more of a fight).  Benedict Cumberbatch has a small role as Doctor Strange, and Planet Hulk characters Korg and Meik appear.  Matt Damon, Sam Neill, and Luke Hemsworth portray the actors versions of Loki, Odin, and Thor, but one of the oddest inclusions is Rachel House as Topaz who was part of the Ultraverse (a defunct Malibu comic line in the ’90s).

I want my solo movie!!!

The movie also looks pretty good because it combines two very different looking movies.  The movie returns to Asgard and its classic style, but it also goes to Skaar which seems to revel in looking like a ’70s sci-fi movie (but with modern looks) and a pumping 1980s vibe music.  The whole Grandmaster’s sequence (complete with “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory looked like it could have fallen out of Buck Rogers or Battlestar Galactica).

Thor:  Ragnarok is almost a case of “too late”.  Thor has finally found its footing in this movie, but with all the events of this film leading into Avengers:  Infinity War, the cast and style which has finally found a look and direction suffers a “big event” shake-up like in actual comic books…the flow and style is altered by exterior stories.  As a stand-alone it is entertaining, but as part of the Marvel Universe whole, it feels a bit more of the same (but done better than some of its contemporaries).  Thor:  Ragnarok is followed by Black Panther in 2018 and an official sequel in Thor:  Love and Thunder in 2022.

Related Links:

Thor (2011)

Thor:  The Dark World (2013)

Thor:  Love and Thunder (2022)

Planet Hulk (2010)