Fun, colourful, full of laughs. Thor: Ragnarok is one of the best MCU movies to date.
So take everything you know about Thor in the MCU so far and throw it out the window. In the newest MCU movie, Thor: Ragnarok. everything we have really come to learn and understand about our beloved King of Asgard, is different. Thor’s hammer gone, his hair, also gone. His meat headedness is made an essential joke of the movie and overall we see Thor go through a transformation. The Thor franchise can finally rest easy, because the latest addition is a home run. The previous two installments in the franchise have been met with some critiques and most people believe them to be, two of the weakest MCU films. There’s a lot to love about this movie, and the tone of it, is something that is truly different from any MCU movie before it. I don’t want to say it’s a parody of a comic-book movie, but it certainly wants to be. Director Taika Waititi almost puts comedy before anything else in this movie, and I’m not saying that as a critique. Because with that being said, this has a ton of action, and some of the best shot action in the MCU in quite some time. This movie did for Thor what Captain America: The Winter Solider did for Captain America. It just made us fans realize how awesome and incredible this character can be. This is the Thor I’ve been waiting to see, the true God of Thunder showed up this time, and I didn’t even mind he didn’t bring his trusty hammer along for the ride.
So Thor gets his hammer broken, imprisoned, has to fight Hulk to the death essentially and then finds out he has a sister, Hela – who turns out to be the Goddess of Death, wants to kill him and hates his guts. All of this happens in a mere few days, so it’s pretty fresh for Thor still. This is the shortest MCU movie, but it certainly packs in a lot of stuff, the movie, I thought was paced beautifully. Everyone is playing the best versions of their characters and having a ton of fun doing so. That’s the best thing I can say about Ragnarok, it doesn’t take itself to seriously and it’s just a lot of fun. You are constantly laughing at jokes, and mesmerized by the action sequences. The movie opens up with a great scene and kind of leaves us with the last great “Old Thor” moment, because after that he evolves into the Thor we will be seeing for the rest of his time in the MCU.
The cast is spectacular and diverse and everyone is doing a bang up job. Chris Hemsworth like everyone already knows, rocks it as Thor, and this is his best work in the MCU to date. He’s fantastic and his comedic timing is off the charts. Considering the movie was apparently 80 percent improvised, which if that is the case, well done to the cast, because after watching it, it seems so unlikely because of how well timed, and how perfect the comedy and delivery is with each cast member. Cate Blanchett who plays Hela, Thor’s sister, is one of my favourite MCU villains. I know she was almost a generic “death and destruction” bad guy, but at the same time I thought she has a lot of backstory – that could still be uncovered, and I liked how she was related to Thor and Loki. She was funny, and menacing all at the same time, and was a handful for our heroes in the movie. We will see her again, which is nice, when she teams up with Thanos, and boy will that be a tag-team to remember. I know people have concerns about the villains in the MCU, and I even got into an argument on Twitter about this, I thought she was really fun, and a worthy villain and certainly one of the best in the MCU. People think otherwise because her character had bad dialogue and was poorly written and I didn’t think that was the case at all. Am I crazy for thinking she is a better villain than the Vulture? Please tell me I am not. Speaking of Loki, once again Tom Hiddleston rules as the Master of Mischief. I’ll say this, I’ve been a big fan of the character since the original Thor, and he’s always been good in this role. But in this movie, we get the best version of Loki. I think he needs to become a good guy from here on out, because I think he works best for him. He was the best part of this movie. I guess he serves as an anti-hero, because I don’t think he can truly become good, but he’s best used along side Thor, because their chemistry together is through the roof. I’m really interested to see where they take his character and his ark going forward. Tessa Thompson as Drunky it’s actually Valkyrie but she is a drunken mess the entire movie, so lets go with Drunky. Loved her in Creed, and she’s really fun in this role. She’s also a badass, the best drunken fighter since that dude in Game of Thrones. Her relationship with Thor was well executed and I think we have a new power couple on our hands. Obviously Jeff Goldblum and Karl Urban knock it out of the park, that should surprised no one here, anything they are in, usually turns out to be pretty good. Given a few exceptions, but that doesn’t take away from their acting abilities. Goldblum was right at home in this role, and was at times just playing himself really, or what we all think he is. I can’t write this review without bringing up The Hulk. Honestly, the best part of The Hulk, is that each time we see him, it’s a better version. CGI and motion capture keeps getting better, so does movie making technology, so it only makes sense that Hulk keeps getting better. He looks so sleek, and like slimed down. We also get to see a new side, Hulk talking and being like Hulk the human. Which was really fun to watch, especially his scenes with Thor, just being two meatheads and picking on one another. The witty banter back and forth between those two was really impressive and so hilarious. Hats off to Mark Ruffalo because he was on top of his game in this and seemed to be really enjoying himself.
Overall the movie is fun, its super colourful, it’s full of laughs and one of my favourite MCU movies to date. This is a must see for any comic book movie fan, and they take Thor in a complete and new direction, one in which I really like. A lot happens to his character ark that I won’t get into because of spoilers, but I really loved his transformation throughout this 2 hour journey. My only little problem with the movie as a whole was at times, maybe there was too much humour. Where you needed a break because you just kept on laughing, and it takes you out of the movie a little bit, especially in moments of actual seriousness. We get to see the best versions of Thor, Loki and Hulk, so credit again to director Taika Waititi because that is a tremendous feat. This is the 17th MCU movie now, and you would think at this point, there was little room for surprises or making you feel and see something different, well this movie is all of that plus more. It’s getting great reviews for a reason, it’s just a ton of fun and a great popcorn flick. The MCU is in a really good place right now, and it will all come together soon enough when the band gets back together this May in Avengers: Infinity War, I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
Check ya later.
Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Thor:Ragnarok = 90/100