"Hela" fun, despite some inconsistencies.

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2017)

I always felt that Thor himself is a character who for the most part was handled decently, but his movies were a mess and not exactly the MCU's best outings. Branagh and Taylor brought their own spin on it, but out of them, I felt that Joss Whedon got him the best. He's not supposed to be taken too seriously as he is an Asgardian God of Thunder after all. I felt Whedon balanced that along with some gravitas more coherently.
With being said Captain America and Iron Man have had their limelight, and Thor for the most part has not. His movies are mediocre compared to Cap's trilogy or the first Iron Man film. I think Kevin Feige and Taika Waititi were aware of this problem.
What Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the first Iron Man did to those characters, Thor Ragnarok does the exact same to Thor. Feige, Waititi, and Hemsworth reinvents the character and it feels very refreshing.
It is definitely the best entry to Thor's trilogy. As a movie going experience, it's entertaining as hell. It's fun, funny, and hip, but as a comic-book fan, the film does take liberties with source materials from great Marvel stories and crams it in all together. While I do think that any movie that is based off of source materials should take liberties in order to fit better for the big screen, I happened to not agree with some of the things they changed in the film. It wasn't exactly what wanted, but for the most part it's handled with care.
The cast is great and they look like they're having a blast. Hemsworth and Hiddleston can play these roles in their sleep at this point. They both own the roles and embody them better than ever. The brotherly relationship is still effective. Thor even points out that Loki is still being himself, and will probably never change. Ruffalo also could play his role in his sleep. Hulk can talk now and he's developed his own personality. He has the vocabulary of a three year old and certainly acts like one. The Hulk vs Thor fight recaptured the novelty of when I first saw those two fight each other in the first Avengers film. It's definitely of one the highlight action set pieces of the movie. It's staged well in a gladiator like arena and this time they don't hold back. Their banter is also fun to watch.
Jeff Goldblum is a delight as the Grandmaster. He's kinda acting like his real life self and hopefully we'll see him and his brother in a scene one day. The female characters were always lacking the Thor films aside from Lady Sif. Tessa Thompson is a welcome addition. What I also admired is that Waititi and his team, despite her being a badass, don't let her become some redundant romantic interest. They just have a mutual respect for each other. Some of the side characters are also fun, including Waititi himself who portrays Korg, a rock like being with very humorous quips.
Speaking of female characters, Cate Blanchett commands the screen as Hela. She does make one heck of an entrance (even though it was shown in the trailers). She brings Asgard to it's demise and she puts up a really good fight against Thor. Unfortunately it still does not solve Marvel's villain problem. Her story seemed like it was at the end of the spectrum. Her role seemed a little lost compared to the other moving parts of the film.
Piggy backing off that, while this movie is relentlessly entertaining, I felt that it was missing some weight. Even though the action is amplified and the stakes are there, I never felt a sense of danger or tension. Some of the comedy also was a bit of a miss, although Goldblum's Grandmaster and Waititi's Korg never missed the mark. It doesn't exactly go to the level of the annoying humor Guardians Vol. 2 had, but it was pretty close. Blanchett helped eased some of the jokiness but a little more weight would have been more engaging for me.
Despite all that, third time really is the charm for Thor. Despite some changes I don't particularly like and the crammed in story lines from other amazing comics, it's still a fun ride. But what really got my jitters going was the mid credit scene. Avengers: Infinity War cannot get here sooner. It's going to be a long wait.
8/10