Movie Review: ‘Thor Ragnorak’

10/24/2017 by gfunk101

Director: Taika Waititi

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins, Taika Waititi, Benedict Cumberbatch, Clancy Brown

Plot: Thor Odinson, God of Thunder, and his brother Loki, God of Mischief, must recruit other warriors to face against the Goddess of Death, Hela, who seeks to conquer Asgard.

Review: This is what I imagine…a young boy in the 1980s with a box of disparate action figures. He’s got some Marvel superheroes, some He-Man characters, maybe a couple of Visionaries (Knights of the Magical Light, naturally) and he’s coming up with epic battles punctuated with whacky hijinks. He’d build some sets out of mismatched Lego sets so Hulk can smash through them. And then, many years later, someone comes along and tells that little boy that he can bring that game to life on the big screen with Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum in it and that boy is Taika Waititi.

Thor Ragnorak is as amazing and bananas as that sounds. Thank you, Taika Waititi. Also for What We Do In the Shadows.

From the very beginning it is clear that this is the funniest movie in the MCU. It is hysterically funny. Chris Hemsworth as Thor is more endearing and human than ever before. It’s strange that we’re seeing Thor at his goofiest and his most powerful in this film. Between him and Loki (Hiddleston) you’d have plenty of material to generate a few laughs, but we also get Karl Urban as Skurge, a scummy Asgardian blowhard, and Waititi as Korg, a brilliantly funny alien made out of rock. The scene where Thor explains to Korg how his hammer makes him fly is absolutely side-splitting. On top of all that is Grandmaster, played by a Jeff Goldblum who was told to be a ‘glam as fuck space DJ’ and embraced it with every ounce of his being.

In addition to these characters we have Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, a fallen warrior who backs up Thor in combat and proves that Odinson isn’t the only Asgardian who can single-handedly take on an undead army. She is awesome and we cannot wait to see more of her in the future. Rounding out the cast is new villain Hela, played by Cate Blanchett, and she is having a complete blast chewing the scenery and summoning an endless stream of flying swords. Her inclusion in the story adds more than just a new, tough villain to fight with but someone who reveals a dark aspect of Asgard and Odin that we haven’t seen before.

Everything about this movie is a complete blast. The visuals are bold and colourful with incredible sets and costumes filling out the screen. Grandmaster’s world of primary colours and synth music is especially joyful in a demented Willy Wonka style. Whilst being mindful of spoilers we will say that Thor Ragnorak gives us more imagination and madness than they first two Thor movies combined.

With so many amazing new characters are only criticism is that we want to see more of the characters. Hela, Skurge and Valkyrie aren’t lacking for screen time but we would love to learn more about them.