Delightful Marvel romp!

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2017)

Ragnarok, according to Norse mythology, is the destruction of the world. Armageddon! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! In this movie, it's kind of like that, only it might also be a beginning. So zen. Whatever it means, Thor's third thrilling ride is a blast, with familiar and new characters zooming into view just long enough for us to pay a tiny bit of heed and move on. It's fast, not thickly plotted, and most importantly a lot of fun. More fun than The Dark World.
Part of the reason is that Thor himself (Chris Hemsworth) smiles almost continuously throughout the movie. In previous Marvel films, Thor's been kind of serious, a more grounded counterweight to Tony Stark but not as angry as The Hulk. Here, he's both smart and giddy. And he has every reason to be giddy, because this is a fun movie, as so many Marvel films are.
Thor returns to Asgard with the horns of some demon who's kind of important to the story, but he discovers that Heimdel (Idris Elba) has been accused of treason and is in exile, that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is using his powers of trickery to run things (including staging plays telling his tales of bravery), and that Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is actually on Midgard (aka Earth). Oh, and that Odin's actual eldest child, Hela (Cate Blanchett) has now escaped her own prison – where Odin placed her when she got particularly rambunctious – and wishes to initiate Ragnarok. Death to everyone! Thor's adventures in trying to save Asgard land him on a remote planet, though, imprisoned to fight as a gladiator at the pleasure of the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), who's equal parts hilarious and brutal. And who's the grand champion in the arena? Why, none other than The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)! Can Thor escape the Grandmaster, get back to Asgard, stop Ragnarok, defeat his older sister, and then drink some mead? Some of those, anyway! So why does this Thor work so well? Because it's HILARIOUS. It's less comic-book movie and more comedy. There's a buttload of comedy, which is a lot no matter how big of a butt we're talking about. Everyone is aces. Even Stan Lee (yes, of course he has a cameo). Director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) essentially subverts the superhero film, taking on tropes, clichés, you name it. It's not that Thor acts like an anti-hero (like Iron Man), it's that he appears to have fun saving the universe. It's a nice switch. And Thor: Ragnarok gleefully (and gracefully) sets up the next movie(s) in the endless franchise, so it's a virtually seamless fit into the vaunted Marvel Universe.