Thor: Ragnarok is a 2017 production from Marvel Studios. This is the first Marvel movie directed by Taika Waititi with the writer’s team existing of Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher L. Yost. Ragnarok is the third Thor movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring the important actors from earlier films, like Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins. There are some new stars alongside familiar MCU faces with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban and Benedict Cumberbatch. The movie scores a 7.9/10 on IMDb and received a 74 Metascore.
A Summary
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) starts in chains, facing Surtur who tells him how he is going to destroy Asgard and bring about Ragnarok. He tells Thor that Odin (Anthony Hopkins) isn’t present in Asgard, which is new information for Thor. Upon learning this, he quickly finishes off Surtur and leaves for Asgard.
At the Bifrost, Thor meets Skurge (Karl Urban) instead of his friend Heimdall (Idris Elba) who was banished by Odin for his treachery. In the city, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is being honoured for his heroic sacrifice while fighting the Dark Elves. Thor is quick to expose that the Odin present is a disguised Loki. Loki had their father sent to a retirement home in New York, which has been demolished since.
Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) traps Loki and sends Thor is his address to ask them for their intentions on Earth. Strange tells Thor the location of his father if they leave Earth as soon as possible. Agreeing to these terms, Loki and Thor head to Norway where they meet their father. He tells them that he is dying and Ragnarok is coming, even though Thor killed Surtur. At that moment Odin tells the brothers about their trapped, older sister Hela (Cate Blanchett), the goddess of death.
Odin’s presence was the only thing keeping Hela from coming out of imprisonment. So when he disappears, she appears. Thor throws Mjolnir but she catches and destroys it without problems. Loki calls for the Bifrost to return them to Asgard before Hela could attack. But she was able to enter the Bifrost as well and she pushes both Loki and Thor out, shooting them to a different place in the universe. Hela does get to Asgard and is quick to take control of the place.
Thor lands on Sakaar, where he is found by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), who sells him to the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) for his fights. Thor sees that Loki is also present on Sakaar. While imprisoned Korg tells Thor about the champion of the Grandmaster and how he has never been defeated. When Thor’s fight with the champion starts, he sees the champion of the Grandmaster is actually Hulk, also known as Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo).
He tries to talk with his old friend but Hulk won’t listen. At a moment of despair, Thor channels pure lightning into his body and is able to beat Hulk, until he gets shocked by the Grandmaster. Thor wakes up later and finds out that Hulk hasn’t returned to Banner for multiple years. He also notices that Valkyrie is the sole surviving member of an elite all-woman Asgardian force. She is unwilling to help Thor though, telling him that she doesn’t want to return to Asgard.
Later, she runs into Loki and they have a fight where Loki learns the same as Thor did. He makes her remember the fight where all her comrades died, the fight with the goddess of death Hela. After this, she has a change of heart and decides to help Thor. Together with Hulk they steal a ship from the Grandmaster and escape the planet.
Back on Asgard, Hela is trying to wipe out the population of Asgard because they don’t comply with her rule. Thor engages her again but loses an eye. After that, he has a vision from Odin, who tells him that Asgard is the people and not the place, which gives him an idea. He sends Loki, who arrived together with Korg and other gladiators in a large ship, to resurrect Surtur.
Meantime, Thor, Valkyrie, Hulk, Skurge and the returned Heimdall defend the people of Asgard in a final battle on the Bifrost Bridge, waiting for the Asgardians to get aboard the spaceship. In the vaults, Loki seems to take the Tesseract before he resurrects Surtur, who immediately starts destroying Asgard and Hela with it. The Asgardians are all able to leave as Asgard gets completely decimated. Thor then finally becomes king, after being unwilling to become king earlier.
The Story
After the poor first two standalone Thor films, we have finally gotten a good Thor movie. Both Thor and Thor: The Dark World lacked convincing antagonists and a good storyline. Thor: Ragnarok has delivered on that part. Hela is an enemy not easily defeated and the Grandmaster proves to be a funny side-antagonist.
Where the first two Thor movies heavily used Loki as a character important to the storyline, the writers decided to push him off to the side a little and gives characters like Heimdall and Valkyrie some more room to shine. I have always thought that Idris Elba’s Heimdall should receive a more important role in the movie since he was nothing more than an emotionless doorman. He gets a little more to do, although it still could’ve been better executed.
Meantime Valkyrie proves to be an instant hit. She has a backstory important to the plot, reasons to leave and reasons to return to Asgard. She also provides a bit of a challenge for Thor, as she isn’t willing to go with him at first. One of her best friends, Hulk, also gets to shown majorly in a Marvel movie. The Incredible Hulk is hardly seen as a true MCU movie anymore, with the recasting of the role and the major let down of that movie. In Ragnarok, Hulk and therefore Bruce Banner get some more time to shine and that turned out great!
I do think it’s a bit weird that Odin redecorated his ceiling to cover up his past, but the storyline doesn’t seem too far-fetched and therefore proves sufficient for a good movie. I don’t know if Surtur killing Hela while completely decimating Asgard is my preferred ending but I guess we will have to live with that.
The Characters
I feel like Thor: Ragnarok provides us with some of the best side characters a Marvel movie has ever seen. We get Doctor Strange at the start, one of my favourites, as well as fun characters like Korg and Grandmaster and more serious characters like Valkyrie and Skurge.
Thor
Thor seeing his Mjolnir getting crushed with ease by Hela turned a switch in his mind. He believed his powers came from that hammer and that he would be unable to achieve anything without it. As the story progresses he learns that his powers come from somewhere else and that he isn’t dependent on his hammer, just like Asgardians aren’t dependent on Asgard. It provides a nice arc for the character.
Hela
Although I do feel that it’s weird that Odin never mentioned her to Thor or Loki until moments before his death, and therefore her release. I would’ve been more logical for him to tell them way earlier and prepare them for her inevitable arrival. A spectacular arrival indeed and immediately sets the stakes for the rest of the movie. That being said, Odin dying so suddenly did cause some confusion for me.
The Production
It seems to writers decided to follow up on the success of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Those movies made great use of comedy in an action setpiece and Thor: Ragnarok tried the same formula. And it does work great for most of the movie, especially scenes with Korg are hilarious. Although I’m not sure if Thor undermining Surtur at the start of the movie sets the flaming guy up for the destruction of Asgard and killing one of the most powerful women in the universe.
Besides the jokes, the movie also used some epic music with memorable moments like lightning-induced Thor jumping on a group of the undead soldier on the bridge. The movie also heavily relies on special effects and those are alright, just as expected from a Marvel movie.