A complete summary and review on why you should watch Thor Ragnarok

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2018)

Jace Kawano
Mr. Lee Creative Nonfiction
10/4/2018
Thor Ragnarok by Taika Waititi Movie Review
In my opinion Thor Ragnarok by Taika Waititi is a masterful film that helps breathe new life into Thor, who up until now really has not had much depth other than being really strong, honorable, and the prince of Asgard. Although many people may think that Thor Ragnarok is another flashy superhero movie that was only made to expand the marvel superhero universe and make a quick buck, it's a extremely well made movie that expertly uses the classic format of a tragic hero to show the lose and rise of Thor. This is the reason why I felt that Thor Ragnarok is an extremely well done film because it isn't so much a superhero movie as much as it is a story of a tragic hero made for a more modern audience.
The background behind Thor Ragnarok is that Thor has left Midgard, Earth, to go back home because he's dreamt of Asgard falling and Ragnarok, the Norse version of the apocalypse, starting. When he gets back to his home however he finds that Odin, his father, has actually been Loki, his younger adopted brother and god of chaos, in disguise and that Odin has been exiled to Earth in a retirement home by Loki. Thor confronts Loki and forces him to take him back to earth where they find that the retirement home has been destroyed and that Loki has no idea where Odin is. Before they can set out to try and find Odin however they get intercepted by Doctor Strange, the mystical protector of Earth against evil cosmic entities like Loki. After a brief discussion he helps them get to Odin on the account of that the have to leave earth as quickly as possible because of the huge threat three gods pose to earth. When they finally arrive to where Odin is, he says that it's almost his time to die and confesses that the two brothers have an older sister who's name is Hela and is the goddess of death. Hela is extremely powerful and draws her power from Asgard. Before the two brothers can hear much more Odin dies and Hela arrives on Earth to confront the two brothers and tries to kill them. Thor tries to fight Hela on Earth because he believes that if she's on Earth then she's at her least powerful because she's far away from Asgard. However even on Earth, she's powerful enough to break her Thor's magical hammer into pieces. Loki sees this, panics, and calls for the Bifröst, which is the bridge between worlds, to teleport them back up to Asgard. In the Bifrost the three get into a fight where Thor falls to Sakaar and is captured by a slave trapper called Scrapper 142 who takes him to Sakaars ruler, the Grandmaster, where Loki has already integrated himself. The only way out of Sakaar is through the Contest of Champions where he fights the Hulk, an Avenger and extremely powerful giant who uses anger as the source of his power, and almost manages to win by unlocking his inner power as the god of lightning and unleashing a powerful lightning blast, but is cheated out of his victory by the Grandmaster. Thor then through a series of events manages to convinces Scrapper 142, who turns out to be a Valkyrie which are an old race of powerful woman warriors who almost all died at the hands of Hela, and the Hulk, who has now turned back into Bruce Banner, to help him escape and save Asgard. Meanwhile on Asgard Hela, who it turns out to be the former executioner for Odin, has risen the ancient and dead army along with her pet wolf. She also appoints Skurge, who was put in charge of protecting the Bifröst, as her executioner. Hela plans to use the Bifröst to expand Asgard's empire, but Heimdall, the original protector of the Bifröst, has stolen the sword that activates and controls the bifrost and is leading a rescue team to protect the Asgardians from Hela. The movie concludes with an intense final battle against Hela and her army of the undead. In this fight Thor loses his eye and is nearly killed by Hela who is much stronger than he is. It isn't until he's pushed to the brink of death when he finally understands his father and unleashes his most powerful lightning blast yet against Hela, claiming and mastering his power as the god of thunder. Skurge, Helas aforementioned executioner, also redeems himself in this fight and sacrifices himself to save his people which I thought was a great way to wrap up his character arc. Throughout the movie Skurge has served as a great foil to Thor as someone who wants to do what's right, but is terrified of Hela and wants to save himself as well. He takes up the mantel as Hela's executioner because of his own instinct for self-preservation and by sacrificing himself at the end of the movie Thor Ragnarok does an excellent job showing that anyone can be a hero. The movie reaches its climax in a brilliant twist ending that strays away from the traditional "Unlocking inner strength and overpowering the villain" trope, which again shows off Thor's development of a simple fighter to a more complex and intuitive leader. In this twist Hela simply proves to be too strong to beat while on Asgard, which again is her main source of power. So in order to defeat her Thor and his crew have to destroy Asgard by starting Ragnarok, the very thing that Thor was trying to prevent. It's an amazing and satisfying ending that completely surpassed all of my expectations.
In conclusion Thor Ragnarok is a great movie because of much it adds a lot of depth to Thor who up to this point hasn't been a very complex character. Throughout the movie we see him grow from the stereotypical strong and brawny fighter without a lot of brains into a unique character who has gone through so much loss and hardship and really fought for his happy ending. On top of that the movie has actual lose in it with Thor losing an eye and Asgard burning to the ground. Most movies nowadays often decide to go with a cop out death or injury and the fact that Thor Ragnarok breaks away from this by showing actual consequences is extremely satisfying and shows just how terrifying Hela is as a villain. The supporting characters are so thought out and interesting with different and unique personalities. It also helps breathes new life into Bruce Banner who hasn't really been fleshed out before and makes him a funny and honestly likable character with some of the best lines in the film. Korg, a soft spoken, but powerful rock monster who is seen in the gladiator holding cells on Sakaar, is easily one of the greatest and funniest characters throughout the film. Skurge is a complicated character that shows the struggle between self-preservation and a sense of duty to what is morally right. He is a great representation of human error and extremely relatable in that he acts how most of us would realistically do in a scenario where an all powerful goddess of death comes down to kill an entire planet. Hela is a powerful and extremely dangerous villain with a compelling background and motivation which a lot of superhero movies lack. It's an excellent superhero movie that breaks apart from the norm and I highly recommend it for fans of the Avengers movie series. It is a bit harder to understand if you haven't watched any of the other movies, but even on its own Thor Ragnarok remains one of the highlight movies of 2017.