Another MCU Success

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2017)

Ragnarok is the third in the Thor franchise. It is the sixth film featuring Hemsworth as the God of Thunder. It is the 17th entry in the behemoth known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the third one just this year. This game-changing series has been plugging along for almost ten years, with very few misses among their many hits. So what can I say new about Ragnarok? It's colorful, funny, epic, appropriately intimate, full of cameos and great performances, and way more entertaining than it is original. In other words, it's a fairly standard but similarly great Marvel movie. In it, Thor has to escape a gladiatorial planet with Hulk and Loki in order to save Asgard from being destroyed by limitlessly powerful new villainess Hela (Blanchett). In scope and plot, it's fairly common. However, there's so much goodness in the smaller stuff that makes the movie standout. Goldblum is wonderfully sleazy and charmingly despicable. The hang-out sessions with Hulk and Thor are great, like two petulant children fighting over who is cooler. The music is great, especially the use of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". And each time the movie underhands superhero posturing with a needed comedic beat, I wanted to cheer but couldn't from laughing. So the movie is obviously a blast, but reviewing it is difficult for me. It's almost like having to review a single episode of a TV show. Luckily, the MCU is a TV show I love, and Ragnarok fits quite nicely within the quality of the larger universe. Even with its messiness and familiarity, Marvel has given us (yet another) undeniably fun foray into their expansive creation.