Movie Review: Thor: Ragnarok

The 3rd and final installment (We think) to the Thor Franchise. The previous films marginally impressed the audiences so I wonder was the 180 million dollar budget and new director Taika Waititi enough? By the way, Taika directed the Green Lantern. But had a success in Moana! No pressure.

“Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against the Hulk, his former ally and fellow Avenger. Thor's quest for survival leads him in a race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela from destroying his home world and the Asgardian civilization.”

The film borrows the GOTG type narrative to try a different direction from the previous installments. It spent more time being funny then trying to live true to a Comic Book narrative. And I am perfectly ok with that. However it won’t win everyone over (Looks at Chuck Beardson and his remark about the film being written by a 14 year old) but it was a direction this franchise needed to be successful. Making it more humorous beyond the dull dry humor that happened previously in the other Thor films, they spend more time bringing all the characters, including new ones, into this comedic type role to get the crowd constantly laughing and their interest kept.

The film is the first film since 2008 that showcased The Hulk in a large capacity role. And that film had Ed Norton and a ton of confusion. It seems that Marvel finally found their Hulk/Banner in Mark Ruffalo. He plays the perfect Bruce Banner and makes the experience even more believable. However in Thor Ragnarok, Hulk as a 70/30 screen time over Banner than in the previous Avengers installments. Also, Hulk carries conversations and showcases he understands people. Which also plays into a lot of the humor throughout the film.

Cate Blanchette joins the cast as the daughter to Odin named Hela. She was imprisoned and hidden away from Thor and Loki. However she was inadvertently released. Valkyrie was played Tessa Thompson, who was an Asguardian who lived with the disgrace of not defeating Hela and lived on the planet Sakaar. She was a Merc who found people to compete in the Grandmaster’s arena. Regardless if they had a choice or not. During one of her typical days is where she captured Thor and incapacitated him. The Grandmaster is played by no other than Jeff Goldblum. Jeff adds his own flair and awkwardness to the character. I could honestly say I would never think I would see Jeff using scratch tables. But this adds to the humor of the film.

However with all of these awesome additions, the film relied way too much on comedy. Maybe because the last few films relied so much on comic lore and action they didn’t meet the expectations of their audience. Seeing on how well received GOTG and even the Deadpool film was received when they transitioned more comedy in the formula, they decided to take a chance. I felt it moved away from being a Marvel film to more of an Action/Comedy film.

Overall fans will enjoy this film, but the highly critical fanboys will not.

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