By: Giovanni Mendez
Head Editor
The Thor franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe could be said to be the weakest. Both Thor and Thor: The Dark World were met with some rather split reactions and don’t hold up with the rest of the other installments in this mega movie universe. Though i find the first Thor to be actually one of Marvel Studio’s best, i can agree with the sentiment above but the latest addition, Thor: Ragnarok, brings new life to Thor and it’s fantastic.
Even though Marvel Studios has inject a lot of comedic elements into all of their films, Thor: Ragnarok is the most comedic of all them. The film plays as a comedy with Thor having meta commentary on himself and the situations he finds himself in and the supporting characters provide more laugh out loud moments. This more comedic tone comes all from the directing of Taika Waititi. He infuses his own sensibilities within this universe and models Thor after his more relatable, fun characters. What plague this franchise was that it was set in this very serious tone with weak comedic relief and though i didn’t mind it in the first film, the sequel was hurt by it and it made it a bit forgettable and bland but Waititi’s vision of Thor works very well and even though the movie is very funny, it does have some serious undertones and consequences.
In the film, we find Thor isolated on a scavenger planet while the sinister Goddess of Death, Hela, takes over Asgard and Thor must find a way to stop her reign but also the looming threat of Ragnarok, which is the end of Asgard. So the movie does have serious consequences that not only change Thor but alters the state of the universe.
Chris Hemsworth plays his best performance in this role as we can actually connect with Thor and enjoy seeing him go through this journey. Returning cast such as Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba as provide quality performances that add to the fun of the movie but two characters stand out in this film which is Hulk and Valkyrie. We see a new side of the Hulk character in this film as we find a more developed Hulk which according to Kevin Feige, is a part of a 3 part character arc that will continue in the next Avengers films. But Hulk stands out as a very funny character and sensible personality that opposes his more rage filled monster. We can expect to see Hulk be more comedic rather than serious and bruting in his next experience. Now let’s talk about the other character, Valkyrie. She is outstanding. She is a wonderful complement to Thor and the rest of the cast but also she is a great new character that we would love to continue inside in this universe. Valkyrie is also a formidable character so we can definitely see her being along the side of Avengers in their big battle against Thanos. So if overall, the movie works a lot do these performance.
I can’t find many flaws to the film but it does have some. This might be controversial but after viewing this film twice, i find Hela to be a disappointing villain. I think Cate Blanchett’s performance as the character is one of the best for a villain in this cinematic universe but her character arc within this film is quite disappointing. She is set up from her reveal as a powerful menace to Thor but after that, there’s no development to her character and she is just there to be a imposing challenger to Thor’s plans to save Asgard. Another disappointment in the film is from another character is Karl Urban’s Sukurge. I find both Hela and Skurge to fall in the same flaws. Urban provides a funny and suitable performances as Skurge but you feeling nothing from his arc in the film. He just plays as a supporting character made to be there for the big finale and move the plot along but we don’t connect much to him and that’s disappointing as we see in the film, we should connect to him but we never do.
Thor: Ragnarok is a fun, enjoyable film that any blockbuster film goers will love and it provides a unique new comedic twist to the MCU. Not to forget, the additions of Doctor Strange and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster help make the film better and you look forward for the future of the these characters. I highly recommend this film and make sure to stay til the end as this film is the last film before Avengers: Infinity War.
The 407 