Thor: Ragnarok

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2017)

The first Thor film was good, Avengers Assemble was brilliant, The Dark World was great, this is the third solo movie for one of the key heroes in the Marvel Universe, and I was very excited to see it. Basically it is two years after the Battle of Sokovia, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been imprisoned by the fire demon Surtur (Clancy Brown), during his unsuccessful search for the Infinity Stones. Surtur reveals Thor's father Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is no longer on Asgard, and the prophesied Ragnarök will destroy his realm, once Surtur unites his crown with the Eternal Flame that burns in Odin's vault. Thor breaks his chains and defeats Surtur, claiming his crown, believing his has prevented Ragnarök, returning to Asgard he finds that Odin is actually his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is disguise, Thor forces Loki to help him find their father. With the help of Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on Earth, Thor and Loki find Odin in Norway, he explains that he is dying, he reveals that he has a firstborn child, Hela (Cate Blanchett), who was sealed in a prison long ago, Odin's passing will allow her to escape. Hela is known as the "goddess of death", she was leader of Asgard's armies, and had conquered the Nine Realms with Odin, but she imprisoned and written out of history after Odin feared she had become too ambitious. Odin dies, and Hela released from imprisonment appears, she destroys Thor's hammer Mjolnir, Thor and Loki try to flee through the Bifröst Bridge, but she pursues them and forces them out into space. Hela travels to Asgard, destroying its army and the Warriors Three, she resurrects the ancient dead who once fought with her, including the giant wolf Fenris, and appoints Asgardian Skurge (Karl Urban) as her executioner. Hela plans to use the Bifröst to expand Asgard's empire, but all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian sentry Heimdall (Idris Elba) has stolen the sword that controls the Bridge, he has gathered the rest of Asgard's citizens to hide away. Thor crash-lands on Sakaar, a garbage planet surrounded by wormholes, he is captured by bounty hunter Scrapper 142, aka Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and taken to the planet's ruler, the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). There Loki has already become ingratiated, but Thor will serve as a gladiator, Thor recognises 142 as a Valkyrior, a legendary force of female warriors who were killed defending Asgard from Hela long ago. After his hair cut shorter, Thor is forced to compete in the Grandmaster's Contest of Champions, the undefeated champion turns out to be Thor's old friend the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), they fight, with Thor eventually summoning lightning to almost defeat the Hulm, before the Grandmaster sabotages the fight to ensure the Hulk's victory. Still enslaved, Thor attempts to convince Hulk and 142 to help him save Asgard, but neither are willing to help, Thor manages to escape the palace and finds the Quinjet that brought Hulk to Sakaar, Hulk follows him, he is only transformed back into Bruce Banner seeing a recording of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) for the first time since Sokovia. The Grandmaster orders 142 and Loki to find Thor and Hulk, 142 decides to help, after reliving the deaths of her fellow Valkyrie at the hands of Hela, Loki helps the group to steal one of the Grandmaster's ships they then liberate the other gladiators, including Korg (Taika Waititi, also directing), to stage a rebellion. Loki attempts to betray his brother to gain a reward from the Grandmaster, but Thor anticipated this and leaves him behind, he is soon found by the gladiators, while Thor, Banner and 142 escape through a wormhole to Asgard, where Hela's forces are attacking Heimdall and Asgard's citizens. Banner becomes Hulk again, fighting Fenris, while Thor and 142 battle Skurge and the resurrected warriors, Loki and the gladiators soon arrive to help, the citizens are evacuated boarding the large ship, a repentant Skurge sacrifices himself to allow their escape. Thor and Hela battle, Thor loses his eye during the fight, he has a vision of Odin that helps him realise only Ragnarök can stop Hela, so while Hela is distracted, Loki finds Surtur's crown and places it in the Eternal Flame, Surtur is reborn and destroys Asgard, seemingly killing Hela. Thor and the others escape with the remaining citizens aboard the Grandmaster's vessel, forced to watch the prophesied destruction of their home, Thor is crowned king, he decides to take his people to Earth, the mid- credits sequence sees them pursued by a large spaceship, and the post- credits sequence sees the Grandmaster encountering a group of his former subjects, who are still rebelling. Also starring Rachel House as Topaz, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, Zachary Levi as Fandral, Luke Hemsworth (Chris's brother) as Actor Thor, Sam Neill as Actor Odin, Matt Damon as Loki Actor, Charlotte Nicdao as Actor Sif and Stan Lee as the Barber. Hemsworth remains great as the strong willed and heroic warrior, Hiddleston makes a welcome return being nasty and making snide quips, Blanchett looks like she's having a blast as the over-the-top but gorgeously wicked villain, and there is great support from Ruffalo, Goldblum, Hopkins and Cumberbatch. Whereas previous entries have been a little technological and filled with complicated bits, this takes things back to basics, just creating a simple story of a prophesied apocalypse and the hero needing to save the world, but what makes this entry much more interesting is not just the brilliant special effects and fight sequences, but there is much more comedy as well, very witty dialogue and deliberately silly stuff, overall it is a fresh, highly entertaining and exciting fantasy action adventure film. Very good!