When Hela, the Goddess Of Death returns, Thor finds himself a prisoner on a gladiator planet whoere he is forced to do battle with the Hulk...
Marvel Studios have been loosening the reigns a bit recently. While the overall story arc is still building to the upcoming film, Avengers: Infinity War, they have let the writers and directors have a little fun to a degree. Not in the main story it has to be said, Captain America: Civil War fractured the relationships between most of the heroes, but rather in their 'off world' stories, with both Guardians Of The Galaxy films and now with the surprising Thor: Ragnarok.
Why is it surprising? I mean the actual story, from writers Eric Perason, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, isn't bad but not truly original. No, what makes it surprising is the humour running all the way through the film, which nearly turns Thor: Ragnarok into the funniest film to come from Marvel so far.
Essentially it is a buddy comedy, with Thor teaming with Hulk/Banner to try and escape the world they are on. Toss in Loki helping, somewhat, a Valkyrie trying to escape her past, a little help from Doctor Strange and you have the makings for a somewhat offbeat road movie.
Meanwhile on Asgard, Hela, along with Skurge, a soldier who just wants to get recognition for what he does, is reigning death on the soldiers and people, with only Heimdall trying to protect them. If the scenes on Sakaar are more humorous in nature, the scenes in Asgard are more serious and darker. But it is a contrast that works.
The impressive cast is first rate. Chris Hemsworth gives possibly his best performance as Thor, mainly due to being allowed to be funny and that he is. Tom Hiddleston too gives a good performance as Loki. Mark Ruffalo is great again as Hulk/Banner, this time spending more time as Hulk but it works well, as does the decision to let Hulk speak which adds to the humour. Tessa Thompson plays Valkyrie and is terrific. Karl Urban, Jeff Goldblum, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Clancy Brown (as a CGI creature called Surtur)and Benedict Cumberbatch get varying degrees of screen time but give great support. The villain, Hela is played by Cate Blanchett and she brings humour to the role, as well as giving Marvel one of the better villain's in its films so far. But the film is nearly stolen from them all by director Taika Waititi who plays an alien made of rock called Korg and is by far the funniest thing in the film.
But then Taika Waititi is the films secret weapon. The director of Hunt For The Wilderpeople and co-director of What We Do In The Shadows brings his off-beat humour to the film and wrings every drop of comedy he can from the script. He apparently allowed the cast to improvise and you can see that in their performances which, as I said are great. It is clear they are had as much fun making the film as the audience has watching them.
The CGI in the film is pretty good, the score is great, the use of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song is inspired, the design is good. There really is little to dislike in this film. Perhaps Hela is a bit underused and a sequence in the mountains looks like an out-take from The Lord Of The Rings (no bad thing admittedly) and the mid and post credit scenes aren't that good compared to some we've had recently, but these are minor issues.
Thor: Ragnarok is easily the best solo Thor film. It's also one of the best Marvel films so far. It has to be said too that Marvel and especially their producer Kevin Feige. Thor: Ragnarok is a film that could only be made when you have established the 'shared universe' to such a degree. I'm not sure they could have made this film early on when building that universe up. But now, especially after the two Guardians films, Marvel can get away with something as offbeat and as funny as this.
Thor: Ragnarok is an absolute blast. It's one of the funniest films of the year (a damning indictment on the state of comedy films this year in truth) and one of Marvel's best films.
Loved it.
Rating: 4/5
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