THOR RAGNAROK REVIEW ... SO SPOILERS
Thor Ragnarok opens up with Thor captured by Fire Lord Surtur, who plans to destroy Asgard. After escaping his wrath and stealing his destructive helmet, Thor returns to his home Asgard. Back home, Thor discovers that brother Loki has been disguised as father Odin. Thor makes Loki take him to Odin; who is on Earth.
On Earth, Thor encounters Doctor Strange who sends him to Loki in exchange for him and Loki to leave Earth. Doctor Strange sends Thor and Loki through a portal where they end up on a cliff in Norway. In the peaceful green setting, the sons reunite with their father who tells them that their sister, Hela is out for the throne of Asgard. Odin passes away, and then a portal opens. Hela comes out from the portal and challenges the brothers to a fight. Thor throws his mighty hammer, Mjolnir at Hela who crushes the weapon. The brothers attempt to flee however are thrown out of the rainbow bridge and onto Sakaar, a junk planet.
Loki is saved by the Grandmaster; the leader of Sakaar, while Thor is captured by the Valkyrie, a worker of the Grandmaster. In wanting to escape, Thor is made a competitor in the Grand Masters game, the Contest of Champions, however, is warned by another competitor, Korg about the greatest fighter, who has not gone undefeated. Thor gets ready to face his competition who he finds out his fellow Avenger, the Hulk. Excited to see his long lost friend, Thor cheers but immediately gets pounded by the Hulk, not without using the power of lightning for a second. When the fight ends, Thor tries to level with the Hulk to get off the planet, however, wants to stay. Thor manages to get the Hulk to transform into Bruce Banner. The two then attempt to escape Sarkar, but not without the help of Valkyrie who has a change of heart after learning about Hela, after Loki gave her a flashback to her friends in the Valkyrie army being killed.
The three manage to escape Sarkar and head to Asgard. On Asgard, Hela has successfully invaded. She recruits new gatekeeper, Skurge as her executioner, while old gatekeeper, Heimdall is keeping the people safe in a vault on Asgard. Hela goes into a grave vault of Asgardian soldiers and brings them back to life as her zombies, including her pet, Fenris Wolf. Meanwhile, a revolution is going on at Sakaar, Korg and some arena fighters flee the planet with Loki and head to Asgard. On Asgard, Thor goes to face Hela, who tells Thor the dark past of Odin. Meanwhile Hulk and Valkyrie fight Hela’s new army of undead Asgardian soldiers. Loki, Korg and other fighter arrive on Asgard and help Hulk and Valkyrie fight off Hela’s forces. Fenris Wolf comes out to play and Hulk faces off against him. Heimdall gets the people of Asgard on the ship Loki and Korg brought to Asgard.
Thor continues to fight Hela, however, she takes out his right eye. With a vision from Odin, Thor gets his strength and summons pure lightning and throws it at Hela, who takes no damage. Thor meets up Valkyrie, Loki, Korg and the Hulk on the rainbow bridge, he realizes that the only way to defeat Hela is Fire Lord Surtur, which they can bring back to life by throwing his helmet in the eternal flame which is in the treasure vault. Loki tells Thor that he will do it. Thor and Valkyrie face off against Hela, while Hulk gets pounded by Fenris Wolf. Loki arrives at the treasure vault and sees the Tesseract. He gets Surtur’s helmet and throws it into the eternal flame. Loki quickly escapes onto the ship with the rest of the Asgardians. Thor and Valkyrie remain on the ground as they continue to fight Hela. Then Fire Lord Surtur rises from the ground of Asgard, bigger than ever. The Hulk sees Surtur as a threat and punches him. Thor calls the Hulk out and the three flee onto the ship with the rest of the Asgardians, as Hela remains on Asgard which gets engulfed in the flames of Surtur.
On the ship, Thor is granted King of Asgard with an eye patch to cover his new wound. Thor sits on a chair on the ship surrounded by Loki, the Hulk, Valkyrie, Korg, and Heimdall. Thor decides to go to Earth where they will rebuild a new Asgard, as he remembers a quote from Odin, Asgard is not the planet, but where the people are.
The post credit scenes of the film are:
- Thor and the others are in their ship heading to Earth until they are blocked by a larger ship
- The Grandmaster comes out from hiding in a ship and tries to level with the people's uprising against him.
Overall, the film was awesome. I couldn't have imagined a more epic superhero space film. The direction that the film took in terms of story was great, I loved the way the action scenes were handled, along with the flow of the film. At times I was surprised by the amount of time that scenes played out, such as the Thor versus Hulk gladiator fight; which was amazing by the way. It was great seeing story elements threaded into the fight and how entertaining it was to watch.
The look of the film was insane. I was blown away by the Aesthetic of the film giving off an almost 80’s comic book vibe in terms of the set pieces. The film as a whole looked like it was ripped straight out of a comic and put onto the silver screen. It all looked magnificent.
The CG effects in the film were mostly good. There were the odd one or two times where the CG effects didn't look on point. But the thing that CG does not fail is the characters who require it such as Korg and the Hulk. The Hulk looked so much more real in this film compared to when we have seen him before. It was great that the look of the character was maintained considering we saw him for a large portion of the film in Hulk form.
The settings in the film were great. Asgard we return to in Ragnarok, but we get a deeper look into what the planet looks like, on the ground level. In Asgard we return to some familiar locations such as the throne room and the vault; the vault we haven't seen since the first Thor I believe. In the film we travel to Earth to visit Doctor Strange, although a whole lot of time was not spent in New York or Norway, it was great to see Thor and Loki back at the home of the Avengers. Muspelheim was a new realm we have not entered, the aesthetic of the setting was great, it was a menacing vibe it brought along, which was a great contrast to the humor of Thor at the beginning of the film.
Sakaar is the planet Hulk planet if the film. The junkyard of the galaxy. The look of the area was really well done, it was great to see a setting to have a large portion of the film on. The designs used in and on the buildings of the planet were heavily inspired off Jack Kirby comics. It was awesome to see all these crazy designs in each shot while on the planet. It felt like every frame on the planet was a piece of art.
The music of the film was great, a lot of the background tracks gave off an eighties type vibe, which was really neat. The Immigrant Song (by Led Zeppelin), was used a couple times in the film, it was used in the trailer, and it was great to hear in this film because it fitted the tone really well. Correct me if I am wrong, but the way the song was cut in the trailer, was the exact same way it was cut into the first scene of the film.
Evaluating the film the theme of the film was believing in yourself, Thor had to believe that he was the god of thunder to use the thunder. The Hulk believed that he was the Hulk which is why he didn't turn into the Hulk. Valkyrie believed in herself to get revenge against Hela, which she helped pull off. It was a theme which fit neatly into the plot and makes you think of the end a little more, Thor needs to believe in himself as the king of Asgard.
The cast of the film was a delight, there was Chris Hemsworth who played Thor Odinson in his best performance of the character yet. From the humor to the to drama, there was a range of skills which Hemsworth pulled off in the film which really worked. Thor in this film was a more evolved character in this film than the other films.We have seen him as the fish out of water in the past four films, but this time he is on his home turf.
We, of course, had Tom Hiddleston back as Loki, who was spectacular to see as the master of mischief. We didn't see as much of an emotional side to the character as we have previously, however a more comedic side.
Mark Ruffalo was amazing as the Hulk. It was interesting to see the Hulk as a separate entity in the film, having his own control, Hulk had the keys to the car. As I said the CG on the Hulk was great, which it needed to be considering how long he was in Hulk form in the film. Seeing Bruce Banner on screen was great. I enjoyed the reactions he had to the whole situation of being in space.
New cast member, Tessa Thompson was amazing as Valkyrie in the film. I enjoyed her character arc in the film, with her backstory and relation to Hela. I really want to see more of her in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The main villain of the film, Cate Blanchett as Hela. I just fell in love with Hela the minute she came on screen, she was an awesome villain to have in the film played by an amazing actress. Cate Blanchett killed it in this film playing the character. I liked the mannerisms of the character and the aesthetic she bought on screen. It was amazing.
I loved the rest of the cast in the film as well, we had the glorious Jeff Goldblum as the grandmaster, who stole to show every time he was on screen. We had Idris Elba as Heimdall, a different side to him was seen in the film which was great. There was Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, great to see him in the film. Karl Urban as Skurge had a great role in the film. The director, Taika Waititi played Korg, who was absolutely a fan favorite, from his mannerisms to the jokes he had. And we, of course, has Sir Anthony Hopkins himself as Odin in the film. It was great seeing the character return, I wish he didn’t pass on so early in the film, however it did fit the plot.
We can talk about the characters more in depth and their future later on; that as well as the post-credit scenes of the film and how Ragnarok will flow into Avengers Infinity War and beyond.
Overall, I want to say Thor Ragnarok was a spectacular film which reinvented not only the character but the world of Thor in a brand new, fresh, exciting, colorful and entertaining way filled with humor, action, and drama. I will give Thor Ragnarok an 8.5 out of 10.
I would like to hear your thoughts on the film down in the comments below, like what was your favorite scene or character in the film. As always thanks for reading, take care.
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