An Abundance of Entertainment: Thor Has Never Been Better

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2018)

Most fans would agree that Thor, thus far, endured the weakest slate of individual films in the MCU, and it's hard to argue that. The original Thor was truly a great origin story for the character, and even though it's sequel, The Dark World, was a decent second act, it certainly lacked that certain pizzazz that makes MCU films so engaging. Welcome to Thor: Ragnarok, a film that completely re-invents the character and the Thor franchise as a whole, creating one of Marvel's best movies to date.
So what makes Ragnarok so different, and in turn, so great? The big change is the complete 360 turn in tone and atmosphere that the first two Thor films set; moving away from Earth, ditching the love interest sub plot, and taking itself way less seriously all open up the creative juices, crafting a colorful, explosive, wildly humorous buddy-cop-style romp in space, changes that evolve Thor into a much more interesting character and create a more entertaining film all around. Some will look at Guardians of the Galaxy as a major influence to Ragnarok's style, and this may be partially true. But director Taikai Waitia was given creative freedom to craft Ragnarok mostly in his vision, and this was the change Thor needed, regardless of the similarities to GotG, which, after all, was a tremendously entertaining flick and one of Marvel's best, and now, Ragnarok is no different.
Ragnarok's main story focuses on Asgard's end of days, the arrival of the villainous Hela, and Thor his MCU-staple brother Loki fighting to stop all the aforementioned. The plot seems like it will stay the course of your traditional Marvel film, but takes a terrific turn by sending Thor and Loki to the planet Sakarr, while Hela is left to impose her will on Asgard. Bringing the Asgardian brothers to Sakarr opens a pathway to wonderful storytelling, including everyone's favorite Incredible Hulk into the mix as a main character and sprinkling elements of the acclaimed 'Planet Hulk' story line that fans have been clamoring to see on screen. The narrative bounces between Thor, Loki and Hulk on Sakarr and Hela on Asgard, all which is balanced and paced very well, a trend continued through most Marvel films. Ragnarok's story never once felt dull, it kept me intrigued and excited to see the plot progression, a story that doesn't slow down for a bit.
The bountiful cast of characters is no doubt another pillar of what makes Ragnarok so enjoyable, and the cast themselves were all outstanding. The stars of the show (Thor, Loki and Hulk) are all massively enjoyable; there's dazzling action, strong chemistry, deep character development and plenty of brilliantly hilarious dialogue between the three to run the show for the entire film. Chris Hemsworth was given plenty of room to exercise his comedic chops for this one, giving a newer but still awesome take on the God of Thunder, while Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is better than ever in Ragnarok, getting a huge character upgrade, making Hulk more exciting and layered.
Along the stars are delightful new characters to welcome into the vast MCU. The likes of Valkyrie, Grandmaster, Korg and last but not least, Hela, all reset the previous mold fitted to the Thor franchise, injecting more life and energy into what was a formerly rather dull cast, and of course, add even more heavy star power to Marvel. Hela is the latest Marvel baddie to be judged on the MCU's "villain problem" a problem I don't see at all here. Hela is an intimidating and fierce villain, cunning and strong, and the amazing acting prowess of Cate Blanchett leads the way to having a legitimate female villain, a win for fans and the film industry. Some more dedicated screen time would have benefited Hela for sure, as well as more time for the likes of Heimdall and Skurge, but overall Hela, in my eyes, continues the trend of increasingly well-produced MCU villains.
The action is classic Marvel. Colorful, bombastic action sequences are everywhere, highlighted by state-of-the-art CGI, beautiful atmospheric tones and a fun soundtrack lead by one of the greatest rock songs of all-time, Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", which just makes the action scenes it's in so much more fun. If you're looking for high-octane action, Ragnarok has got you covered ten times over.
The only dislike that sticks out to me is the sometimes miss-timed and overused comedy. Ragnarok undoubtedly thrives with its change of tone to include more humor and wackiness, but there's no question that there are a few noticeable points where the humor was taken too far, or completely misfired. This flaw causes hiccups in scenes that probably shouldn't have been taken lightly, a flaw that kept me from always taking the film seriously, something I wanted a little more of.
Some will complain that Ragnarok was too crazy or not gritty enough, but it was clear that this franchise was desperate for a shift in tone and Taikai Waitia delivered. Ragnarok not only completely changes the name of the game of what to expect from a Thor film, it does it with a bang. The set of characters and their actors were fantastic, the story was engaging and well paced, the action and humor were a total blast, etc, etc, etc. Thor: Ragnarok is simply down right fun to watch, and I couldn't ask for anything better than that.
9.5/10