Fun but not quite the way I wanted to see.

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2018)

2017 was quite a year for superheroes. We've had "Logan", "Wonder Woman", "Justice League", and, today's topic, "Thor Ragnarok". When I heard that they were working on this story, I was hyped. For those not mythology savvy, Ragnarok is the Norse doomsday, where many of the classic gods and monsters die in an epic final showdown, including the mighty Thor. Now, I knew Thor himself wouldn't die because, hey, he's a highly marketable character, but the stakes nevertheless are raised and that alone makes for a compelling reason to go into this next step on his journey. Anyway, the film's a combo of "Avengers: Disassembled" and "Planet Hulk", both pretty serious stories and I actually expected it to be so like "Capt. America: Civil War" tone-wise. Then the trailers came and they had the exact opposite feel, all bright and jokey, and the actual film was exactly that.
Plot: Thor is in trouble when Odin's absence leaves Asgard open to attack by the dreaded death goddess Hela, who turns out to have quite a history on Asgard he never imagined. Worse yet, he gets stuck on the planet Sakaar, ruled by the flamboyant yet ruthless Grandmaster. And so, the god of thunder must team up with his brother Loki, the disgraced Valkyrie, and the incredible Hulk to escape and save his people.
As usual in the MCU, acting is spot-on and there are some nice effects, cool worlds, and great action. The highlight was the gladiator battle between Thor and Hulk, which is brutal, well-staged, and had both epic and hilarious moments (Loki's reactions were priceless). Hela stands out more than most of the MCU villains. She was pretty tough, had a nice backstory, and Cate Blanchett looked like she was having a good time with her role (plus, she rocked that outfit). Some of the other new characters were great like Valkyrie, who serves her own unique brand of badass female fighter. There's also a great cameo by another fantasy-themed superhero, who stole the show when he appeared.
That all being said, I can't say I love this one. As previously stated, a story with dark origins has been made bright and comedic. Too much like it. I feared this would happen after seeing the trailers and was proven right. I did laugh a lot, but given that this is Ragnarok we're talking about, the end of Thor's home, the tone didn't sit well for me. In fact, this film tried WAY too hard to be "Guardians of the Galaxy". Thor felt like a different person, snarky and a bit clumsy rather than stoic and competent like he was before, losing the charm he had before. Most of the cast we've come to know and love from Thor 1 and 2 are taken out in the most undignified ways (some don't even get a line), which really irritates me to no end. We also spend so much time on the Planet Hulk part of the story that the titular conflict and its themes aren't as developed as they should have been (you can tell right from the poster), especially Hela's relationship with Thor. Plenty of things are not given proper explanation like how Hulk ended up on Sakaar and a few new characters like Korg that are shadows of their comic counterparts. The effects went into serious CGI overload, to the point where much of it is as convincing as an old video game; the film might as well have been animated.
Overall, while I did get a few kicks out of "Thor: Ragnarok", it went the wrong direction, its potential in compelling storytelling wasted. "Iron Man 3" had its own problems and even that offered more to me than this, which is saying something. In a franchise brimming with epic stories and characters, this chapter is one of the few big duds. At least I have "Infinity War" to look forward to.