Thor: Ragnarok Review
Marvel’s latest big blockbuster, Thor: Ragnarok, sees Thor doing battle with his sister, Hela, the Goddess of Death, to save the people of Asgard and along the way he picked up some allies with Loki, Valkyrie, Hulk and Korg.
While this might be the third movie in the Thor series, it feels very different, with more of a Guardians Of The Galaxy vibe, due to the majority of the movie taking place on other planets, a old fashioned soundtrack and plenty of humour. With all the scenes taking place on the Planet Sakaar, really standing out, the 80’s vibe and visual appearance just made everything jump off the screen.
The interactions that Thor has with Doctor Strange, Bruce Banner, Loki and the Hulk, all just work so well, adding in some little banter and humour, really make Thor much more likeable as a character, something that wasn’t as easy in movies like Dark World. Thor becomes much less a two dimensional muscle bound superhero and really lets Chris Hemsworth show off his natural self, plus his team are very dysfunctional, something we have seen with the Guardians.
One of the breakout characters is Korg, an alien made out of rock, who is voiced by the director Taika Waititi, adds even more comedy to the movie. The addition of some other famous New Zealander’s also helped, especially seeing Rachel House, who played a similar character in Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople, worked well as a added security for the Grandmaster.
And the scene featuring Loki disguised as Odin is another great comedy moment, especially with a few celebrity cameos that I won’t spoil. . I also thought the scene with Thor and Doctor Strange was also great addition and helps bring Doctor Strange into the bigger universe.
While I’ve mentioned the humour of the movie, it is also worth mentioning the straight up action scenes that also work extremely well, especially letting the villains get their chance to shine and Hela was a stand out, since she was able to dominate and come across as a legit threat, but I’d have loved for her to be fleshed out a little more, as per usual, Marvel villains often given enough time to develop and can be a little one dimensional.
However the Grandmaster also is able to portray a very different type of villain that works against how Hela is portrayed, and obviously the big arena fight battle also stands out as an impressive and even includes a typical WWE style victory, which I liked. And I also liked how the movie end and I don’t want to spoil anything, but is came as a surprise as while it might have been planted from the start, it wasn’t your typical final fight and it will impact the greater Marvel universe from now on.
Marvel continue to allow their movies to spread out and offer different styles, which gives us fans more variety, meaning everything isn’t just a straight up origin or beat a villain anymore. And it really helps Thor: Ragnarok stand out as something unique.
OVERALL: Thor Ragnarok offers a unique Marvel movie, it brings together some great action scenes, amazing locations and some real laugh out loud moments. It is just a lot of fun and that’s what I want from a blockbuster, this is easily one of the best Marvel movies I’ve seen and it’s an easy recommendation.
REVIEW SCORE – 9 EXCELLENT