'Thor: Ragnarok' Is Thunderously Terrific

Thor: Ragnarok is the third solo Thor movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Here’s a somewhat SPOILER-y synopsis: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been constantly dreaming of “Ragnarok”, the prophesied doom of Asgard, since Avengers: Age of Ultron, and has sought to prevent the event.  Believing he has done this, he returns home to Asgard, in which he exposes his adopted brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who has been posing as Odin (see 2013’s Thor: The Dark World).  But after finding the real Odin (Anthony Hopkins) with the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), they discover a shocking truth suggesting that the Ragnarok may still be happening after all, at the hands of Hela (Cate Blanchett), the extremely powerful goddess of death that has been written out of Asgardian history.  Thor and Loki are effortlessly defeated by Hela, and are exiled to the other side of the universe, leaving Asgard free for her to conquer.  Soon, Thor finds himself in the planet Sakaar, where he’s captured by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and sold to the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), who intends to put him in a gladiatorial match against his invincible, unbeaten champion.  This champion turns out being the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who mysteriously got to Skaar after the events of Age of Ultron.  Now, Thor must appease or defeat a rampaging Hulk, recruit a couple of unlikely allies, and figure out a way to get back to Asgard in order to stop Hela and save his people.

First of all, let me address the trailer for this movie.  Well, I thought it was great.  It hyped up the movie really well.  I immediately felt it’s going to be awesome, just from the smart, perfect choice of using Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” as soundtrack.  But having watched the movie, I also realized a downside to it: it gave out too many details.  It showed several key moments that made the general direction of the narrative predictable.

Nonetheless, the movie itself is terrific!  This year, Marvel has saved its best film for last.  Moreover, Ragnarok continues what Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War had established: the third film of an MCU series is its greatest. (This streak will probably continue with next year’s Avengers: Infinity War.)

Director Taika Waititi deserves a thunderous applause.  Right from the start, I was anticipating that he would breathe fresh vision in this franchise.  And he did.  He knocked it out of the park.  First of all, having made his name by making brilliant comedy films like What We Do in the Shadows, everyone knew that he’s going to inject his quirky brand of comedy into this film.  As a result, though humor has always been part of the MCU movies, Ragnarok has a distinctive comedic edge.  I can’t say for sure if this is indeed the funniest of all MCU movies, but it’s at least within the top three.  I laughed a lot.  It has a lot of cleverly set up comedic moments brought about by witty dialogue and amusing slapstick.  The “Yes!” scene still got me guffawing despite having seen it several times in trailers and other promotional videos.

However, Waititi didn’t necessarily proceed to insert as many jokes as possible into the movie.  He also had ample restraint and genuine focus on accomplishing good storytelling.  With all the additional characters – Hulk, Valkyrie, Hela, Grandmaster, Doctor Strange – on top of the usual Thor cast, as well as all the plot details that need to be covered – unmasking Loki, the search for Odin, Planet Hulk, Ragnarok – I was expecting it to be a bit messy.  However, Waititi pulls of an impressively well-paced, cohesive, and generally smooth-sailing narrative.

The story is pretty strong.  Though not entirely flawless, it has certain depths that I didn’t expect, developments that hold up, a solid emotional core, and extremely gratifying payoffs.  Character arcs are done superbly, not only on prominent characters, like Thor and Loki – who both reflected much growth as characters after several MCU movies – but on side characters, like Skurge (Karl Urban), as well.

In addition, it’s easily one of the most delightful eye candies from the MCU.  Colorful visual palettes, well-realized set designs, magnificent CGI, and action-packed set pieces make the film thoroughly spectacular.  Not only does it have unforgettable scenes, it even has striking, memorable frames.

Thor: Ragnarok works on so many levels – as part of the larger MCU scheme of things, as a third Thor installment, as an 80’s buddy cop-style comedy, as a grand space adventure, as a reimagined Norse mythology epic, as a superhero mega-event, etc.  And as a whole, it’s utterly fun, riotous, kickass, and pleasing.  It’s now my favorite movie of the year so far.

Miscellaneous musings (with SPOILERS):

• Let me reiterate how glorious Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” is for the soundtrack.
• Matt Damon made a cameo.  Meh.
• Sam Neill also had a cameo.  This one I liked.  With Jeff Goldblum in the movie, it’s a Jurassic Park reunion of sorts for them (though they didn’t actually have a scene together).
• The Black Widow cameo could be seen coming a mile away.
• Korg was a likable side character.  Interesting trivia: he’s voiced by director Taika Waititi himself.
• It was easy to figure out how the third act would turn out.  When it was revealed early in the movie what the catalyst for Ragnarok is as well as the source of Hela’s immense power, I immediately filled in the blanks: the good guys don’t need to stop Ragnarok; they have to cause it.

• Cate Blanchett was pretty hot, in a gothic kind of way, as Hela.  After playing Galadriel in LOTR, it seemed she took for herself the character’s agelessness and divine beauty.
• I enjoyed the moment Hela knocked over the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin’s weapons vault – first shown as an Easter egg in the first Thor movie – dismissing it as fake.  We already know that it must be an imitation since the real one is with Thanos.  But it was an amusing way of solidifying this notion.
• If Valkyrie was already around to fight Hela the first time around, does this mean she’s as ancient as her, making her way, way, waaaay older than Thor?
• Having Skurge a.k.a. Executioner wield those M-16 rifles was a nice allusion to his comicbook counterpart.
• Also, those M-16s must be magic.  Seriously, they seemed to have spewed hundreds of bullets before their clips ran out.

• Lady Sif isn’t in this movie.  Actress Jaimie Alexander was apparently too busy in her TV show Blindspot.  Still, there was no mention of her in the movie.  I wish the script offered some excuse for the character’s absence, especially considering the fact that she’s sort of a major Thor character.
• Thor’s comrades – Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg a.k.a. the Warriors Three – were all killed.  Yet, nowhere did the movie give an opportunity for Thor to acknowledge or react to this.  A brief mourning scene or mention would have sufficed.
• Maybe the thing with Sif and Thor reacting to his comrade’s deaths are shown in the cut Waititi first intended.  It’s 2 hours and 40 minutes long.  I hope a “director’s cut” gets released.  I doubt it’ll happen though.
• I appreciate much how the movie gave an opportunity again for the “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” dynamic between Bruce Banner and the Hulk to be explored and developed.
• For a brief moment, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston shared screen time in a Marvel movie.  How awesome is that?

• The Tesseract, i.e. the Cosmic Cube, is definitely in Loki’s hands again.
• Will Thor wield a new Mjolnir?  Or will he have Jjarbjorn as a new weapon in his next MCU outings?
• Though I love how Ragnarok turned out to be and how it changed the status quo, I’m still kind of sad that the Thor franchise didn’t go to the direction I would have preferred: Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster becoming Thor.
• One of my favorite funny scenes: Hulk beating Thor like he’s a rag doll, in the same manner he smashed Loki in the first Avengers movie, punctuated by Loki crying out in elation, “Yes! That’s how it feels!”
• Another notably hilarious scene: Banner falling flat on his face as he jumps in front of the giant wolf Fenris, expecting to immediately transform into the Hulk.  Perfect comedic timing.  I rolled in laughter.
• So, in the mid-credits scene, Thanos’ gigantic ship showed up in front of Thor’s ship.  This will probably result to Thor being beaten by Thanos and left at space, which is how the Guardians of the Galaxy finds him, based on the Avengers: Infinity War trailer that was exclusively shown during the 2017 San Diego Comic Con.
• Speaking of Avengers: Infinity War trailer… seriously, when will Marvel finally release it?!