Thor: Ragnaork

Special treat everyone: I came back from seeing “Thor: Ragnarok,” which was released two days ago, and I will let all of you know what I thought about it.

Marvel has a talent for constantly giving its fans what they don’t expect. Who would have thought that Thor, one of their most stoic characters, would be in one of the franchise’s funniest films? “Thor: Ragnarok” starts with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in danger mode, saying jokes at Surtur (Clancy Brown).

This starts off for a wild and unclear journey that has director’s name, Taika Waititi, all over it. Leonard Martin said in his review, “Eric Pearson, Chris Kyle, and Christopher L. Yost are the credited screenwriters, but the Kiwi filmmaker and performer who made Boy, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and the hilarious vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (in which he also starred) is the dominant force behind this singular entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Waititi has a mocking sense of humor that fills every aspect of this enjoyable film. (He also is the individual voice and personality of a rock-figure named Korg.)

That’s not to misjudge the writers’ work making a multipart story. Thor returns to Asgard and finds his brother Loki (Tom Hiddelston) ruling while watching a play put on by Chris Hemsworth’s brother, Luke Hemsworth, Matt Damon and Sam Neill. Thor seeks the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to help him find his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and when Thor and Loki do; Odin warns them that their sister Hela (Cate Blanchett), the goddess of death, is going to Asgard to take over it. As you might have seen in the trailer, Hela breaks Thor’s mighty hammer and sends to him Sakaar, where he gets his hair cut and has to participate in Gladiator games. How can Thor survive this?

Martin is right when he said, “It’s just like Marvel to give one of its superheroes a potentially crushing challenge like this, forcing him to think his way out of the situation and form new alliances.” Even Loki looks like he is turning a new leaf in this new flick. No one can still trust him, but he and his adopted brother team up to protect the people of Asgard.

There is a wide variety of characters, both returning and new, to add to this enjoyment: Cate Blanchett clearly enjoys her role as Hela. Tessa Thompson is the overconfident warrior Valkyrie, Karl Urban is the tough fighter Kurge and Jeff Goldblum brings his usual interpretation to the role of Grandmaster, who rules over Gladiator games as the Roman emperors did centuries ago. Who is Thor going to fight in this grand arena, with every audience member in the stands? None other than The Hulk. Mark Ruffalo manages to make Hulk before he calms down enough to change back to Bruce Banner. Benedict Cumberbatch makes a brief cameo as Dr. Strange and Idris Elba is the best in his short scenes as Heimdal.

Martin ended his review by saying, “Marvel is too smart to completely undermine the serious matters at stake for its stable of characters, but confident enough to play with them a bit. That’s what sets Thor Ragnarok apart in the constantly evolving MCU: it has a personality all its own, and I suspect Marvel fans will love every minute.” 

Spoiler alert: In the mid-credits scene, Thor's ship come across a large spaceship and in the post-credits scene, the Grandmaster's subjects are still fighting the revolution started by the gladiators.

As everyone must have suspected from my review, this is the best of the Thor movies. I was excited to see this movie when I found out last year that Hulk was going to be in it, but got more excited to hear Doctor Strange was going to be in it, and after when I saw the Comic Con trailer to it, I was stoked. This movie did not disappoint. One of my friends said that the Thor movies had nothing going for it, but this is the absolute best, as the early reviews have made it out to be. It was funny, action-packed, enjoyable, and I loved Thor and Loki for as long as they were in there. Even the Hulk did a bang-up job in this film, seeing how we haven’t seen him in a film outside of “The Avengers.” This makes another one of my favorite comic book movies, and I highly recommend everyone to go see it in the theaters. You will absolutely love it if you liked or didn’t like the past Thor movies. This one deserves the payment of the ticket.

Thank you for joining in on my latest “Marvel Cinematic Universe” movie reviews, stay tuned this Friday for the next in “Vietnam War Movie Month.”