Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Taika Waititi, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ray Stevenson, and Zachary Levi, with cameos from Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, and Sam Neill
Grade: Classic

Without a shadow of a doubt, Thor: Ragnarok is the best film in the Thor franchise.

Summary

Two years after Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor (Hemsworth) is imprisoned by fire demon Surtur (Clancy Brown). Surtur brings a chained Thor before him, surprising Thor who thought his father Odin (Hopkins) killed him half a million years ago. Surtur says he can’t die until he fulfills his destiny which is to bring about the prophecy of Ragnarök, the fall of Asgard. When his crown is reunited with the Eternal Flame that Odin keeps locked away on Asgard, he will be restored to his full might and will be a massive and unstoppable monster. Thor balks at the possibility, but Surtur reveals to him Odin isn’t even on Asgard, and Thor’s absence has left the kingdom defenseless. Realizing all he has to do is take the crown from Surtur’s head, Thor escapes his bonds with the power of his enchanted hammer Mjolnir, kills a majority of Surtur’s demon army, and kills Surtur by cutting off his crown. He carries it as a backpack and calls out for Heimdall (Elba) to open the Bifröst Bridge to bring him back to Asgard once more of the demon army looks to attack him. On Asgard, we see there’s a new gatekeeper in town by the name of Skurge (Urban). He’s entertaining two women by bragging about all the stuff he has from using the Bifröst, including two machine guns he snatched from Texas. As Thor is chased by some dragon still on Surtur’s planet, we see the women having to tell Skurge someone is calling for him. Finally, he opens the Bifröst, brings Thor back, and with it comes the head of the dragon.

Following the women running away screaming and Skurge getting mad at Thor for ruining the moment and reminding Thor they’ve fought together on Vanaheim when he had no idea who he was, Thor asks the whereabouts of Heimdall. Skurge (referring to Heimdall as a traitor) tells him that Odin charged him with negligence of duty, but he disappeared before the trial. A skeptical Thor then flies to the palace, with Skurge having to run after him because part of his duty is to announce Thor’s arrival. In front of the palace, Thor is shocked to see a gigantic statue of Loki (Hiddleston). Inside, there is a play recreating the “death” scene of Loki from Thor: The Dark World with a group of actors (Liam Hemsworth, Matt Damon, Sam Neil) really cheesing it up for the crowd watching. Sitting comfortably watching is “Odin”.

As we remember from the end of Thor: The Dark World, Loki used his abilities to pose as Odin in one of his illusionist tricks, allowing Thor to leave Asgard to protect others elsewhere because he didn’t want to be confined to the throne. This genius move allowed for Loki, posing as Odin, to be king for the last two years.

After watching the dogshit play, Thor greets “Odin” and hands off the crown/helmet of Surtur to be locked in the vault. “Odin” assumes Thor is going back to Midgard, but Thor tells him he isn’t because he keeps on having a reoccurring dream of the fall of Asgard. He also is perturbed by the fact that the Nine Realms are once again in chaos, and “Odin” has done nothing. “Odin” tries to change the subject, but Thor sees through the ruse. He throws Mjolnir and stands directly behind “Odin”, reminding him that nothing will stop Mjolnir from rejoining Thor’s hand. As Mjolnir is about to smash directly through “Odin”, he finally relents and reveals himself to be Loki, with the entire public of Asgard seeing this unfold (because the play was well attended for some reason). Thor threatens Loki to find out where the real Odin is, so Loki takes him to the Shady Acres Care Home in New York City, only to find the building being demolished. This confuses even Loki. Thor is angered by Loki faking his death because of how it much it meant to him, but they are interrupted by some fans wanting to take a picture with Thor. Afterwards, one of them offers condolences for him because of how Jane Foster dumped him, but he insists it was mutual. Just then, a circular portal opens up underneath Loki, and he falls in. What’s left is a note to the address of sorcerer Doctor Strange’s (Cumberbatch) New York Sanctum. He has a sit down with Strange after initial awkward pleasantries (a scene we see in the mid-credits of Doctor Strange), and Strange tells him about a watch list he keeps of individuals and beings from other realms that may be a threat to Earth. Loki is on this list, so he wonders why Thor brought him here. Since Thor says they’ll go back to Asgard once they find Odin, Strange agrees to show him where he’s at.

Strange didn’t say anything to Thor before because Odin wished to remain in exile in Norway.

Strange conjures up a portal and brings back Loki (who’s been free falling for thirty minutes) to go with Thor before they depart. Loki tries to attack Strange, but he sends the portal at them before anything could happen. This is where they find Odin standing calmly on a cliff. He isn’t bitter about Loki’s spell that led him here either. He realizes the end to his life is almost here, so he uses it to have one last talk with his sons. He says Ragnarök is coming. Thor tells him they’re safe because he killed Surtur, but it doesn’t matter. It’s still happening, and Odin’s death will unleash Hela (Blanchett), the goddess of death. Hela is actually Odin’s firstborn and Thor and Loki’s sister. Back before Thor and Loki’s time, Odin couldn’t stop Hela’s violent outbursts and thirst for killing, so he imprisoned her. She draws her strength from Asgard, so once she gets there, her powers will be limitless. After telling his sons he loves them both, Odin passes away. Just as Thor starts to blame Loki for what happened, Hela shows up and demands them to kneel before her. They refuse, and Thor throws Mjolnir at her, but she catches it! She then crushes it into several pieces…

Shit.

Panicking, Loki calls for Skurge to open the Bifröst, and they are snatched up. The problem is that Hela jumped into the portal as well, so on the way back to Asgard, she attacks. She sends Loki and Thor flying out into space in the middle of the bridge jump, and she lands on Asgard unscathed. Upon entering Asgard, she immediately kills Volstagg (Stevenson) and Fandral (Levi), two of Thor’s closest friends and warriors. Hela then offers Skurge a job to be her righthand man, and he reluctantly accepts.

Elsewhere in the cosmos, Thor crash lands directly into a landfill on an unknown planet. Scavengers come by and capture him by use of this electric netting that shoots out of the leader’s gun, but they are all shot and killed by slave trader Scrapper 142 (Thompson). She claims Thor for herself with use of guns from her ship commanded by equipment on her forearms. She attaches this device to Thor’s neck that shocks him unconscious, and she takes him on her ship to meet the Grandmaster (Goldblum). Back at Asgard, Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and hundreds of soldiers corner Hela as she goes through her speech to try and convince them to kneel and join her. They’re not having it though, so she kills every last person there, including Hogun (the last of the Warriors Three). Thor wakes up restrained to a chair and forced to go through this small theater presentation of what’s going on. Apparently, he’s on the planet of Sakaar, a place where no one leaves. The Grandmaster is the creator of Sakaar and the very popular Contest of Champions, a gladiator style battle he runs with unwilling participants. It is also noted that Thor is now property of the Grandmaster. Arriving in the room still strapped to his chair, the Grandmaster observes Thor while a party is going on at the same time. The Grandmaster is impressed by Scrapper 142’s most recent find and praises her.

She’s his favorite scrapper because she’s the one that found him his “champion”.

He pays her the ten million units she asks for, to the anger of his bodyguard Topaz (Rachel House). To show Thor where his head is at, he incinerates his own cousin Carlo in front of him without a care in the world. He debriefs Thor on how things are run and says that Thor is going to be a new addition to the Contest of Champions. Thor has no interest. Momentarily, the Grandmaster is then distracted playing the piano for the party before them. During this, Thor glances over and sees Loki mingling with guests. Shocked, he calls Loki over for help. Apparently, the Bifröst sent Loki to Sakaar weeks ago (I don’t know how time works here since they fell off the bridge at almost the same time), and he’s already gained the Grandmaster’s trust. Because of this, he intends on staying out of Thor’s situation. The Grandmaster interrupts to ask how they know each other so Thor says their brothers, with Loki downplaying it and saying he’s adopted. The Grandmaster then lets Thor know he can get his freedom back if Thor beats his champion. Fearless, Thor agrees and is thrown in a holding cell of sorts with a friendly Kronan warrior made entirely of rock named Korg (Waititi) and his insect friend with knives for hands in Miek. Korg was sent here as punishment after a failed revolution he tried to start. After he offers Thor a spot in his next revolution, Thor realizes there’s no way out of this cell. Korg reveals to him the grim reality too: no one has beaten the Grandmaster’s champion.

Back on Asgard, Hela storms the palace and destroys the paintings on the ceiling that tell the story of Odin, Thor, and Loki and how the kingdom came to be. It turns out, it was all a lie. She takes out the ceiling to show the original paintings, showing that Hela was Odin’s weapon in the conquest that built Asgard’s empire. Once the realms became theirs, her ambitions were to go further with it, so Odin imprisoned her. Before that, Asgard’s warriors were honored by being buried below the palace too. She grabs some of the fire from the Eternal Flame and busts open the floor of the palace to reveal the open tombs of dead soldiers, along with a monstrous wolf named Fenris. She uses the Eternal Flame to bring them all back to life to be her army. While Thor waits in the holding cell, Loki uses his vision ghost/illusion self to show up and check on him. He offers for Thor to join him at the Grandmaster’s side, so eventually they could take him out and escape, but Thor is not responsive. He fully intends on defeating the “champion” and going back to Asgard to defeat Hela, though Loki reminds him she destroyed Mjolnir like a piece of glass, and he doesn’t stand a chance. On top of that, Loki says he placed a huge bet on the Grandmaster’s champion against Thor and tells him not to let him down before leaving.

The next day before the battle, Thor and Korg are picking out weapons for their respective fights. Thor sees Scrapper 142 from outside the cell having a drink. Korg notes she’s an Asgardian, so Thor goes over to try and plead his case to her for help. He even sees because of her tattoo that she’s a Valkyrie, an elite force of woman warriors that were sworn to protect the throne. Unfortunately, she has no interest in helping him as he’s pulled away by guards. They forcefully cut Thor’s long hair for the fight and release him into the arena. The Grandmaster’s champion is then revealed. To the shock of Loki and the happiness of Thor, it’s the “Incredible” Hulk (Ruffalo)! The fight will still commence however, but the pathway back to Asgard to fight Hela has just emerged and the Hulk will be the key to helping them, along with the rest of Thor’s makeshift team of “The Revengers”. There will be some major trouble on figuring out how to get there though because Sakaar is very hard to escape. Plus, Hulk isn’t keen on helping at the moment.

My Thoughts:

For better or worse, Thor: Ragnarok reinvented the Thor franchise.

Taika Waititi helms this project and brings his brand of humor to inject new life into the previously darker and more serious Thor movies. You can see the influence from Waititi and what made Guardians of the Galaxy a surprise hit in this film, complete with a throwback soundtrack headlined by the excellent use of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” that will fire you up like it came out yesterday. Every idea, joke, and character introduced in this crazy adventure works. Thor was already a good franchise to begin with, but this film shook things up just when it needed it. It was in danger of losing its momentum many thought it lost with The Dark World. One thing I noted with 2011’s Thor was that even though I didn’t have any major problems with it, it didn’t feel special. It didn’t have the uniqueness other Marvel films like Black Panther or Doctor Strange had. With Ragnarok, we get everything needed to get to this higher tier of comic book films and more, taking the Thor franchise to the next level. Ragnarok is pure popcorn entertainment to the highest degree. The franchise is turned completely on its head, exploring the outskirts of space (which is always exciting) and the interesting alien creatures that inhabit it on par with what Guardians of the Galaxy did. Its visuals are more vibrant than they’ve ever been (the poster should give you a good example of the feel), and the humor is top notch.

Ragnarok is still a comic book movie, but it’s a borderline comedy.

Honestly, you could argue it being the funniest film coming out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s saying something too because Phases One, Two, and Three have given us some funny ass productions.

It starts with Chris Hemsworth’s comic performance as the titular god. He’s still the fearless warrior we know him to be and doesn’t lose what got him here in terms of action hero capabilities, but his personality shines like never before. All that time hanging with Tony Stark and the Avengers in previous movies have given us flashes of how much fun Thor can be. In Ragnarok, we’re given the chance to finally see it fully fleshed out. Hemsworth’s noticeable looseness in the role is what makes his third go around as the God of Thunder his best one yet. He’s hysterical as he fully commits and acknowledges the craziness going on around him, giving us much more human-like reactions to the outrageousness surrounding Sakaar and its inhabitants. Whether it be going back and forth with Loki, the Hulk, or the Grandmaster, Thor becoming one of the funniest superheroes in the MCU is a statement we never would’ve thought we’d say after watching the first film in the series. Even with this, Thor still carries that ferocity with him too, gaining some new abilities like lighting coursing through his veins to make him believably beat up the Hulk. As Odin lets us know, Mjolnir focuses his abilities, but he always has had the power within him. He just needs to figure out how to use it. It’s exciting and though we only get a tase of it here, it becomes very important in future productions.

Along with this, I like how Thor still has stuff to learn. He seemed pretty complete as a leader and ruler in The Dark World, but what he goes through in Ragnarok is another important sequel for the development of who Thor becomes going into Infinity War and Endgame. Though he faces another world-ending threat that may not be able to be stopped (just like Malekith) in Hela, it’s what we see on Sakaar that is big. Here, his powers are restricted because of a device placed on his neck that shocks him anytime he acts out of turn. He’s imprisoned with no escape, despite probably being able to beat anyone on that planet in a fight without trouble. It forces him to think and figure out a way to escape on wit, giving us a whimsical side to Thor that I never thought existed.

The layers we see uncovered in each sequel in this franchise is so interesting, and Hemsworth handles it in a believable and unforced manner. Before, the series started as a Shakespearean drama mixed with romance and superhero action. Now, we get a cosmic explosion of colors, hysterical happenings at every turn, and a feeling that anything can occur. It’s a great change of pace. One cool thing to point out is that his relationship with Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster is completely absent in this film and despite being such a major part of the first two movies and its success, her absence doesn’t feel missed. You’d think it would be based off of how important she was before, but there’s so much going on in Ragnarok that we don’t even think about it. In fact, some may argue a romantic angle could’ve taken away from the main story.

At most, they tease some sexual tension between Thor and Scrapper 142/Valkyrie, but it’s never pursued. Honestly, I’d argue this should’ve progressed a little bit more here and in Thor: Love and Thunder, but she’s chasing women by the time that film comes around and has no interest in Thor. For the record, the character is bisexual, so it’s possible, but with how things turn out, there’s no shot they go backwards and pursue this angle in a future sequel. It’s too bad though. I felt like they could’ve had a fun short-term relationship that wouldn’t work out because of her drinking and Thor’s recklessness. It could’ve made for some very fun and awkward moments when Thor teams up with her and Jane in Love and Thunder. With that being said, it’s not a deal breaker. Tessa Thompson is a young star and a solid choice to play the role of Scrapper 142. She’s got the charisma to make the character memorable and is a welcomed addition to the franchise. Even so, they try way too hard to make her look like the “cool drunk” character. She couldn’t pull this off convincingly at all. I loved her friendship with the Hulk though. He was like her playful dog on Sakaar and watching them interact was fun, as was their confusion when Hulk turned back into Bruce Banner, and they didn’t know if they knew each other.

Speaking of which, Mark Ruffalo is really making his mark in the MCU. He matched up much better than I thought with everyone in the Avengers films, but it was nice to see him get such a big role in this movie (in a Thor film no less). He has such an innocence about him when he’s Bruce, and you really feel for the guy and his predicament. We know he can switch between being Hulk and his normal self, but we realize this time around, he’s been Hulk since the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

TWO YEARS! Two years of his life have been a complete blur!

This is crazy to think about. Banner is totally bewildered and scared about how Hulk had too much power this time around. There’s a serious possibility of Banner never coming back if he makes the switch into Hulk again, and it feels fairly serious. With that being said, his placement in the movie made Thor even funnier. Their interactions once Banner came back were again, pure comedy. Oddly enough, Thor’s interactions with the caveman-speaking Hulk were even funny. I thought it would get a bit tiring after a while, but Hemsworth was pure gold in their conversations, especially when his insecurities seep through when he’s compared to Hulk. Additionally, the entertaining chemistry between Thor and Loki is at its absolute best too. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene in this film because there’s so many, but Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are probably a part of every single one. Loki keeps his momentum going from what I felt he accomplished very well in The Dark World, and he carries it directly into this movie. At the same time, he trades in the sorrow he had to give us a masterclass on his mischievousness. He’s right. He would thrive on Sakaar. Even Thor admits Loki should’ve stayed there. Hell, if Hela never showed up to kill them all, he probably would’ve, and he would’ve fulfilled the goal that has consumed him from childhood: become king.

Has Marvel done a “What If…?” episode on that yet? I’d imagine it would be something like the opening of The Great Gatsby, only with aliens.

They’re still fantastic as the mismatched buddy cop duo, but Loki is still the trickster that can’t be trusted. What’s funny is that we don’t even hate him for his constant double-crossing, betrayals, and shit-talking. In this world we are brought into in Ragnarok, it’s basically welcomed. The atmosphere is “savage, chaotic, lawless”, and there’s always room to mess around. It’s why you could describe this place as Loki’s playground. Another added moment I loved was Thor catching Loki just as he was about to pull a fast one before they got back to Asgard. Loki tries so hard to be unpredictable that he’s starting to be predictable. Of course, his loving brother would be the first one ready for it. He’s dealt with this man too long to not see that coming. Even so, their relationship as brothers never falters and that’s what I love about these two. Loki is going to do his thing, and Thor knows he won’t change but still loves him no matter what. It’s really cool. The elevator scene (“Loki, I thought the world of you“) was all I needed to show us how close these two are despite their differences throughout the years. A scene like this shows us how well this screenplay was thought out. Amidst all the chaos and the world-ending scenario our heroes are about to face, we still get a moment between our two favorite characters of the franchise that reminds us of what the heart of this series will always be about. It’s not too sentimental, but the conversation hits just the right notes that it changes Loki’s entire perspective. It’s a moment where you can tell this cool antihero has a moment of clarity and probably runs through his entire life in a flashback montage in his head, realizing how important his family means to him as well. He may not make the right move immediately after this scene, but it changes the trajectory of his character arc by the end of the film.

I have to give further credit to Tom Hiddleston in his performance here too. He’s been a joy to watch from the beginning, but his expressions (especially in this specific scene) are always so great in those subtle but important moments. He tells us so much about how the character is feeling with just a glance or a look.

I also thought his dynamic with Scrapper 142/Valkyrie was underrated. As soon as they both got the task of capturing Thor and Hulk from the Grandmaster, I was thinking, “Oh, this is different”. She’s never dealt with someone like Loki before and though she can fight him, seeing her get flustered at his mind games after trying to act cool the entire movie was more compelling than they give it credit for.

Ragnarok retains the superhero action we love while further developing our beloved characters for the next phase. At the same time, we are introduced to some new ones and each of them adds something to the final product. Korg, voiced by director Waititi, is unexpectedly hilarious. His soft-spokeness makes every line of his a scene-stealer. Heimdall still managing to be relevant by turning into this Viking warrior hermit was awesome, and though Skurge’s arc was predictable, I liked Karl Urban getting an opportunity to be in an MCU film even if the part was relatively small. The stuff with Doctor Strange was a great inclusion and a very funny sequence (when Thor asked for Strange to email him, but he responded with confusion when Strange asked him if he had a computer actually had me laughing out loud). With how quick and funny it was, it was such a great way to show us the pace in which this movie would be moving at. The Grandmaster is pure Jeff Goldblum in every sense of the word. He’s a joy to watch as the fun-loving madman running the broken-down planet of Sakaar. With his odd charisma, the orgy-loving slave owner (though he prefers to call them “prisoners with jobs”) was consistently amusing despite playing it off like he wasn’t even trying. We’re entering his world and when we go through that strange, 80s sci-fi movie “You are now meeting the Grandmaster” sequence, it feels like we’re entering a totally different movie than what we were excepting. It’s like Waititi is telling us to forget everything we know about the previous Thor movies.

We’re doing something special here!

The only thing that could’ve been improved upon were Hela’s sequences. We got off to a fiery start when she destroyed Mjolnir without any trouble, and Cate Blanchett does her best to not be entirely a Maleficent copy, but there were some issues. I don’t think she should’ve been devoid of humor per say, but I felt like she didn’t have to be messing around like the other characters. One sequence I’m specifically referring to was her take down of the vault, admitting most of the stuff in there is fake. This really lessoned the impact of the previous film to the point where it was slightly agitating. It was enough to make Odin look like a lying, bloodthirsty son of a bitch for teaming up with Hela and killing a bunch of people and acting like it never happened. However, to trash the stuff he did afterwards and essentially say half of their accomplishments under his reign (all the relics he held in such high regard previously) are fake for comedic purposes felt a little bit forced. Even if it was a minor bit, I still felt like this disrespected the lore of the franchise. Even so, I will give the screenplay credit for the reveal of the backstory of Hela/Odin because it did shine a light on the horrors of Odin’s reign when we previously thought the man was untouchable as king. Nevertheless, Odin’s actions never get any further reactions or backlash from our heroes despite them being lied to their whole lives. They really underplayed the seriousness of what Hela brought to light. At the very least, Thor should’ve at least had that moment to himself where he’s flipping out yelling, “It was all lies!”. He never acknowledges the negatives of what Odin did to the extent he should’ve.

The fact that Hela used to be Odin’s executioner and Odin had the audacity to tell Thor he was war-obsessed and violent when he didn’t need to be (in the first film), should be enough for him to flip out.

On this note, I did love the final scene between Odin, Thor, and Loki. Anthony Hopkins, even in a small role, shows us why he’s still the man in his old age. He absolutely owns the scene, showing us the calm and serene moment of a king on his deathbed and knowing it. In this small but pivotal early moment in the film, he admits regret with what he’s done but has come to accept it because it’s the only thing you can do when you’re at this stage in life. Both brothers watching and hanging on to every word shows us how important this last moment is to the both of them (and to us). Your heart breaks when it seems as if his mind starts to wander and he eloquently says, “Your mother is calling to me. Do you hear it?”. A confused Thor tells Loki to break his spell, thinking he’s messing around with him, but a saddened Loki glances at Thor and shakes his head. He’s not doing anything. Their father is dying and now, they both come to grips with it.

The third act was wonderful and once again, we get Thor at his best, doing all he can to save Asgard.

Remember, “Asgard is not a place, it’s a people”. What powerful words spoken.

It changes the outlook of everything Thor, Loki, Heimdall, and everyone else has fought for throughout all of these years. When Thor gets the vision of Odin and comes to the realization of where the plan needs to go, not only do we get a sense of teamwork, but we get a sense of empowerment. It hypes you up and shows how full circle we’ve come with these previously stuck-in-their-ways characters. Now, they’re facing a threat like never before, and they have to work together and think outside the box, despite what it may mean for Asgard, to save everyone. It was an excellent conclusion to a well-thought-out, balls-to-the-wall, extravagant comic book film that changes the game for Thor in the MCU. To this very day, Thor: Ragnarok is still one of the best films to come from Marvel Studios and is easily among the best of the non-Avengers ensembles.

Fun Fact: Other directors considered were Elizabeth Banks, Ruben Fleischer (the Zombieland franchise), Rob Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens, Detective Pikachu), and Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, We’re the Millers).