Review: Thor – Ragnarok

It’s been a busy few weeks, so it took me a little longer than I preferred to get this written down, but I loved Thor: Ragnarok when I saw it two weekends ago.

First, let me back up a sec: I generally haven’t been a fan of the Thor movies.  The first one was boring, had way too much CG going on, and I really didn’t care for any of the characters.  The second one, Thor: The Dark World, was less boring, but still didn’t seem all that necessary in the grand scheme of things (Note: Technically, they did bring in one of the Infinity Stones, but they didn’t make a big deal about it until after the credits, so did it really matter all that much?  I guess not?  Who knows).

Anyway, the very first trailer for Ragnarok set a different tone from the outset: this movie would be funny and irreverent, and likely a departure from the earlier Thor movies.  It made it look more like a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy than Thor.  Heck, it used Immigrant Song in a trailer to great effect.

And it didn’t disappoint.

The film kicks off with Thor in a precarious situation that involves more comedic lines than the entirety of the first two movies, so the viewer gets a good idea of what to expect.  Chris Hemsworth‘s comedic chops have been used to great effect in other movies like Ghostbusters, so it’s good to let him “breathe” a bit in his own Marvel movie.  He’s certainly been funny in the Avengers franchise, but never to this level.  After returning home to Asgard, he finds things are not as he left it because his brother, Loki, has surreptitiously been leading in their father’s place.

Cutting a bit forward, due to some pretty important plot bits, their sister, Hela, breaks out of her prison and seeks to take out Asgard.  In the process, Thor is banished to Sakaar, where a series of intergalactic gladiatorial games take place.  Conveniently, Thor finds Hulk there, where he’s been for the past few years since Avengers: Age of Ultron.  The rest of the plot, predictably, involves their return (with the help of a new character, Valkyrie) to Asgard to fight Hela and her minions.

“Predictably” kinda sums up the movie, really.  It’s pretty obvious where things go, especially if you’ve seen any of the trailers, but it’s just so darned fun, you don’t really care.  They finally get into a rhythm in this movie where you have fun while you watch, rather than dealing with Thor’s brooding personality that was established in previous films.  It’s almost as if he’s a completely new character, when in reality, it’s Hemsworth finally getting to just be himself.

Ultimately, though the plot was predictable, I still had a great time with it.  Already pre-ordered it to add to the collection.