Thor Ragnarok

20. Thor: Ragnarok 

 

The first Thor film was a tough sell for Marvel. But when Iron Man was a hit, also himself a tough sell a few years prior, Marvel became confident in their ability to bring the vast back-catalogue of comic book heroes to the mainstream. It didn’t matter if you weren’t a comic book fan, and you were only really familiar with Batman and Superman before the Marvel movement. I was in that boat. But now, we’re all Marvel experts, because after nearly two dozen films, which you’ve watched more than once (admit it), you can name each character from an image, talk about their history, and describe their style to a newcomer. 

Thor was always the fish out of water character in the Avengers films, as he wasn’t from our world to begin with. He had immense power, which he could contain, but also a short fuse which once lit would reign down thunder and lightning from the sky. His first follow up film “Thor: The Dark World”, delved deeper into the character and his home world of Asgard. He had a small part in Avengers: Age of Ultron, so it was about time he be given the film he deserved. And “Thor: Ragnarök” was that film. 

Completely different in it’s visual style, story, character development and purpose than the first two Thor films, Ragnarök was the shot in the arm the God of Thunder needed for his own franchise, to avoid going stale or just being second fiddle to Iron Man and Captain America, who had stolen the limelight the year before with their little Civil War. The first trailers for Thor’s third outing appeared to be a different film than what we were used to with the character, and had a more retro, funky style about them. Not much about the films plot was revealed in its trailers, but the big reveal was that Hulk would be making an appearance. And that appearance was to finish the long feud between the two behemoths, in an arena battle to end all battles. 

But before we get to that over-the-top and brilliantly entertaining scene, there’s still a Thor movie to get through here. Our Hero with the Hammer returns to Asgard and quickly discovers that Loki has been playing King, stealing the thrown from their father Odin, and running the show. Thor doesn’t let this continue for long and forces his brother to come to Earth so they can track down their pops. But on the way back to Asgard, they bump into an ancient, evil character named Hela (devilishly played by Cate Blanchett). She is strong enough to wield Thor’s hammer and smashes it to smithereens. She pursues our heroes back to Asgard, where she quickly gets them out of the way and proceeds to take over their world. 

Thor, always loathing his brother for being such a backstabber, has no choice but to work with him. But in the middle of it all, the two feuding siblings end up on a planet called Sakaar, where Loki avoids capture, but Thor is taken prisoner. Out of his world, and without his hammer, Thor is thrust into an arena to battle a foe that has killed every opponent he’s faced. When the foe is Hulk, Thor screams a resounding “Yes” in excitement, happy to see his old pal from work. But Hulk is  angry, as usual, and wants a fight. The bash between the two is the centrepoint of the film and the fight we had been waiting for ever since their short scuffle in the first Avengers film. 

After knocking each other about for a while, Thor and Hulk make a truce, and concoct a plan to escape their prison world and return to Asgard so Thor can finally take his rightful place on the Throne. But Hela won’t give it up so willingly, and the stage is a set for a series of showdowns that take this instalment of Thor’s journey to new places; plenty more action, and plenty of laughs.

This was my favourite of the Thor films, because it broke new ground, and showed us  Thor had a comedic side. Chris Hemsworth, reprising this role for the fifth time, does a great job playing funny man, and continues to deliver the goods in the action department. His scenes with Loki are as entertaining as before, as Thor can’t figure out whether he can really trust his brother or not. Loki’s presence here is another treat to the film, as he gets up to his old tricks, keeping Thor, and the audience constantly guessing, can this man be good or not. 

As the battle for Asgard takes place, events take a turn for the worst, and things end up pretty dicey  for Thor and his fellow kind. Of course, it’s all setting up events for the impending arrival of Thanos who might just run into Thor and Loki somewhere deep in the universe.

Post Credit scenes – as Thor and Loki command the ship carrying the last remaining survivors of Asgard, they discuss whether it’s a good idea for Loki to return to Earth. Their talk is interrupted with the shadow of a much larger ship, that creeps in and hovers above them. We can only assume this ship contains Thanos, and the Asgardian ship is in his way. The second scene is a humorous one in which The Grandmaster, who enslaved Thor on his world, is met by the Sakar rebels in a junk pile. They crowd him ready to attack, and in his attempt to escape unharmed, he claims he was responsible for the revolution. It’s basically a fun moment in which Jeff Goldblum plays The Grandmaster, who is really just Jeff Goldblum playing a different kind of Jeff Goldblum. He makes every scene he’s in funny and quirky, simply by being Jeff Goldblum. Did I say Jeff Goldblum was in this scene? Jeff. Goldblum. Goldblum. Jeff. Goldblum-Goldblum-Goldblum…

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