Hippy Hippy Thor

Rating: 6/10 (2 November 2017)

Thor was always a tricky comic book character to bring to big screen. Kenneth Branagh managed to do it by making the first film as a mock Shakespearean action film fuelled by dysfunctional family dynamics. He was instrumental in casting Tom Hiddleston as Loki.
Unfortunately Thor:The Dark World was rather dreary. Marvel has taken a left turn for Thor: Ragnarok by getting inspiration from The Guardians of the Galaxy film by underpinning the film with comedy.
King Odin has been sent to a nursing home on Earth by Loki who has pretended to be Odin at Asgard. Thankfully Doctor Strange felt Odin would be more at home in Norway.
When Thor returns to Asgard he sees through Loki's disguise. When they go to meet a dying Odin, he tells both of an evil older sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett) who will return and cause chaos.
Thor:Ragnarok is a rather trippy neon lit 1980s infused adventure film. In some ways it nods a hat to movies like Big Trouble in Little China.
Thor is both aided and thwarted by evil brother Loki who sees Thor getting a painful bashing that he endured in the hands of the Hulk who is the main star in a planet where beings take part in a gladiatorial contest.
It is Asgard and some of the regulars from there who get short shrift, characters such as Heimdall. Karl Urban who plays Hela's henchman called Skurge is rather wasted of his talents as we know he is capable of giving much more. Even Blanchett is rather bland as the villainess, Hela. In some ways the film is rather dark and brutal but it is always undercut by the comedy.