My main issue with the other two Thor movies were how cheap both of them looked. That’s not the case with Thor: Ragnarok. Director Taika Waititi delivers a fast paced, quip filled movie that has a rainbow of cotton candy colors and riotous set design work that still left me feeling a bit let down. It’s perfectly innocuous entertainment that’s worth watching once and enjoying. However, you’ll most likely forget about it after you leave the theater.
Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are why this franchise always work, despite everything else going on around them. These two carry this franchise on their back. With that said, it’s time for Loki to go. Thor needs to expand his world more, however based on the events that happen here, it seems like it’s going to get a lot smaller. While I say Loki needs to go, whenever Hiddleston is off camera, I kept thinking, man I can’t wait until he returns.
Ragnarok is the prophesied destruction of Asgaard. Thor fears the prophecy is going to become reality when Hela (Cate Blanchett) his long lost, evil, older sister comes to reclaim the throne. Afters shattering Thor’s hammer banishing him to a strange planet. Thor is captured by a former Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and forced to partake in the Grandmaster’s (Jeff Goldblum) Gladiator style tournaments where he is surprised to see The Hulk.
It was interesting seeing how Thor handles himself without having his trusty hammer and at first fans may be appalled by this act but it actually worked really well here, as it truly forces Thor to truly grow and become the leader and God that he’s supposed to be.
The writing crew of this movie shoehorn the popular Hulk story, World War Hulk into this movie and it doesn’t serve that storyline well at all. If you are a comic book fan, you will be severally disappointed. Their explanation for why The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is on Battleworld is ridiculous and not clearly explained at all. In the comic book, The Illuminati (namely Tony Start and others) are the ones who betrayed The Hulk and sent him into space, here it was just an accident. So, unless they have the Hulk find out the truth in a later film color me disappointed. I’m also officially tired of Stan Lee cameos. Enough already.
Thor: Ragnarok is basically Guardians of the Galaxy set in the Thor Universe. Which is an odd thing to say because all of Marvel’s movies are set in the same Universe. Marvel took their successful Guardians formula, slapped it onto Thor and called it a day. This movie is the very definition of cookie cutter, cynical factory movie making at it’s worse and at its best. At one point it almost, literally becomes Guardians when Thor calls his new team the “Revengers.”
I hate overly serious action movies, but the humor in this goes too far and not all the jokes land. The opening sequence was funny, but painful and set the wrong tone for the entire movie. Like the other two films I kept wishing there was something more to Thor: Ragnarok. I enjoyed the soulless ride for what it was, but I have no desire to see it again.
Final Grade B