Tuesday, September 15, 2020

My Review of Thor: Ragnorak (2017)

 


Written by Eric Pearson & Craig Kyle &Christopher L. Yost
Directed by Taika Waititi

Valkyrie: "This team of yours, it got a name?"
Thor: "Yeah, it's called the... uh... Revengers!"

Okay, I'm not gonna lie here. When it comes to the MCU, much as I do like Chris Hemsworth as Thor, I gotta admit that his movies don't really do a lot for me and it seems that they're generally the weakest, that is until we get to this one.

With the first two movies taking more of a serious tone, things changed big time with Thor: Ragnorak as it feels like the comedy was upped several notches, our title hero lost his father, eye, some of his hair and a bit of his mojo. He did however gain something of a team (even if the name needs working on) and of course, there was the matter of family as well.

Odin (Anthony Hopkins) might have passed on but Loki (Tom Hiddleston) of could was still very present in this third installment, serving as both a thorn in Thor's side and a grudging ally when things got really bad. The really bad of course being the arrival of Hela (Cate Blanchett) who had her own plans for Asgard.

Hela without a doubt has been one of the better villains in the MCU and she wasted no time in making her presence known when Thor had to witness his half sister destroy Mjölnir while she then took over their home world and while she did that, Thor himself wound up being taken by a slave trader named Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and forced by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) to take part in some gladiator tournament for good measure.

It's through this plot we're reunited with the Hulk (Bruce Banner) who feels more disconnected to his former humanity while Thor himself cooks up an escape and even wins Valkyrie around into helping him defeat Hela while also building some bridges with Loki as well.

There are times in the movie where the humour definitely feels like it's overplayed and while Hela is more camp villain than full on scary (in spite of the headgear she dons when things are meant to be serious), there's plenty of drama as well. Drama centring on family and humanity and it's handled pretty well, especially when you consider that the last scene did lead into something very dramatic for Thor and Loki.

- Director Taika Waititi had a supporting role in the film as Korg, a character he'll likely reprise for the next film, Thor: Love And Thunder.
- Nice cameo appearances from both Doctor Strange and Black Widow as well as the amusing retelling of the events of Thor: The Dark World.
- This movie was originally going to refer to Valkyrie as a bisexual character but was cut. The next movie however will confirm it.
- Standout music: great use of Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song.

Thor: Ragnorak is definitely one of the MCU's most colourful of movies. It's also a massive step up in terms of movies focusing on Thor and it's easy to see why Taika Waititi could end up being something of a mainstay in the MCU. In some respects, this would've been a satisfying end to Thor's solo outings but it's great that he'll get another outing after the results of this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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