Thor: Ragnarok

So the Lord…ahem…God of Thunder is freaking hilarious! Who knew???

As one of the final members of the original Avengers team that has yet to conclude their very own film trilogy, Thor: Ragnarok takes place two years after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and sees our titular hero on a quest to stop Ragnarok from happening, or in other words, stop the total and utter destruction of Asgard, aka the realm Thor and his family call home. But when it’s found out that Odin (Anthony Hopkins) has been usurped by none other than Thor’s adopted brother and God of Mischief, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), a chain of events begins to unfold that gives rise to Hela, the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett), and to an unexpected trip to a far away world called Sakaar where the general populace delights themselves in watching alien champions spar to the death in the name of the Grandmaster’s (Jeff Goldblum) obsession with entertainment. Now it’s up to Thor to find his way back home before Hela can impose her rule on the nine realms, or worse, before the threat of Ragnarok arrives at the foot of Asgard to destroy anything and everything that he holds dear.

Oh yeah, and we have a Hulk too.

Obvious things first: this film is almost entirely a comedy; so if that isn’t something you think you can get behind, don’t go see this movie. For everyone else, as long as you can look past how wacky and absurd everything you’re about to see is, then you’re in for quite a ride.

Director Taika Waititi, known for his comedic efforts and improv heavy direction, puts Thor on a path most would not have even dreamed about let alone followed through with, a path that ultimately ends up giving us something truly special and different from any Marvel movie that’s come before. Coming off the heels of two relatively light-hearted films from earlier in the year in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok takes a cue from both by upping the action and comedy to a point where this entire film almost seems like a soft reboot for the character and the franchise itself. Secondary characters are killed off, earlier storylines are thrown by the wayside, the tone is completely revamped, and the character himself seems completely different than his past iterations almost as if this was the first film of a new trilogy rather than the final act, something that does this film wonders by making everything feel fresh and new at almost every turn.

Surprisingly (unless you’ve seen the new Ghostbusters reboot), Chris Hemsworth absolutely kills it as a more comedic Thor. His timing is impeccable and hilarious, and while it seems rather obvious what lines were improvisation and which were scripted, the delivery of said lines coupled with some great actors and actresses to play off of truly makes a lot of this movie shine rather than become annoying and eye-roll worthy (even though there are a few spots of that). With fresh faces and returning ones alike such as Idris Elba’s Heimdall (can we just get a spin-off movie about this guy’s storyline from the film, please?), Tessa Thompson’s fiery badass Valkyrie, Tom Hiddleston’s continued pitch perfect portrayal of Loki and of course, Mark Ruffalo returning as Bruce Banner/Hulk, you have a large ensemble that pulls their weight in any given scene while still allowing the comedy and action to co-exist in the most peculiar way. Hulk, in human form and out, is a stand-out element of the film, especially the back and forth he has with Thor in each of their scenes, giving us something to laugh about while at the same time bringing back some heartfelt moments from previous films that tie in nicely with the Banner/Hulk plotline as a whole.

As I said before, if you can’t get behind the comedic elements of this film, everything I’ve said up until now might seem like blasphemy or worse, like a fanboy who’s finally lost his marbles, but if you give this film a chance and accept the new direction it takes, you’ll find yourself enjoying it a whole hell of a lot more than you might have originally thought. Now I’m not saying that everything here works within the context of this new comedic angle – it took me about fifteen minutes until I got what Waititi was going for – but with more of a focus on what makes this weird and wacky story work rather than what makes it another run-of-the-mill superhero flick, the filmmakers have succeeded in making this trilogy capper a sparkling gem within the greater Marvel universe. There’s no doubt that Ragnarok will divide the fan-base and general audiences alike with this new take on a beloved character, but for me, I couldn’t get enough of it and it personally stands as one of my favorite MCU films to date, if not one of the most fun. Admittedly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that the actual story about Ragnarok seems more like an afterthought to the Hulk storyline, and I can 100% see the criticism of leaning too heavily on the comedy and Planet Hulk stuff, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed the shit out of this movie, which is more than what I can say about some of the more recent Marvel films, Spider-Man: Homecoming notwithstanding.

Say what you will about the near total comedic tone of the film or the fact that the actual main storyline is more of a means to an end rather than anything of substance, but Thor: Ragnarok succeeds mostly because it gives us something fresh and bold and new to watch rather than something we’ve come to expect at this point in the genre’s lifespan. The comedy is (mostly) handled well with action scenes that dazzle and excite topped off with a sense of fun that falls in line with the original Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming. I don’t know where Thor will end up in the coming years as the next phase of the MCU moves forward, but it’d be a shame if this ends up being the first and last Thor film of its kind.