Review of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) by Thomas R — 13 Feb 2018

Thor Ragnarok Review (SPOILER-FREE) #ThorRagnarok.

Thor Ragnarok is the next Marvel movie in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and is the third Thor Movie. Out of all of the Marvel (this regards FOX marvel movies too) movies this year, Thor Ragnarok has had my interest the most. So far this year, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2 was a blast with its very likeable characters, fun entertaining action and it's mostly hit but sometimes miss comedy throughout. Spiderman Homecoming was a breath of fresh air for the character of Spiderman for we finally got a movie that wasn't mainly about setting up future movies and having way too many villains (i'm looking at you amazing spiderman 2) but instead focused on bringing the audience a light-hearted comedy with some really good action throughout. And Logan was a bloody, dark, action-packed thrill-ride of a movie that will go down as the best X-Men movie to date. And now we have Thor Ragnarok.

After the last 2 fairly decent Thor movies, I was a little confused on why Marvel would make another Thor movie. After seeing the trailers, however, all of my doubts were gone. I went into Thor Ragnarok expecting what the trailer delivered, a fun action movie with little doses of comedy on the side. I expected it to be a good movie. A movie which if I was asked to rank on the MCU timeline, it wouldn't be down there with Iron Man 2 and 3 but it wouldn't be up there with the Avengers and Captain America 2 (Winter Soldier) and 3 (Civil War). It would be somewhere around the middle. Out of all of the Marvel movies this year, I thought this would probably be my least favourite. I WAS SO WRONG. I walked out of Thor Ragnarok with a huge grin on my face and I can say that it has exceeded my expectations more than any movie has ever exceeded my expectations. This movie is AMAZING. And here's why:

The Story:

The story in this movie is very all over the place. But I mean that in a good way! Many locations are explored in this movie, you have the surprising beautiful junk planet of Sakaar, the somewhat now dreary Asgard which looks like DC took over the helm of its colour saturation and a couple more. The story is pretty simple. Ragnarok is like the apocalypse of Asgard, Thor needs to stop Ragnarok, Thor gets into some shenanigans, the story goes on from there. It's your run of the mill story but it's told well. The characters all have well-established motivations and their reasons for avoiding/going towards certain objectives are believable. For the story, it's definitely better than the other 2 Thor movies and it goes to some very nice locations too.

The Characters:

A lot of people regard Loki as one of the best marvel characters in the MCU. This movie further helps keep Loki's.

Reputation. The characters are great in this. Chris Hemsworth is playing Thor for the 5th time in the MCU and this is probably one of his best performances as the God of Thunder. His character is courageous, funny and since he's had about 5 movies, he knows a lot about the cliches he has gotten into and he mocks them just like we would. Our new character Valkyrie is a very sarcastic character who really likes to have a drink. Her introduction is not only a perfect way of introducing her but is also very funny and unexpected due to how you would expect it to be like 'I am Valkyrie, I'm this and that and I want you aboard my ship' but instead you get something completely different. The new villain Hela is one of the better Marvel Villians. When you look back on Marvel and DC, DC is a lot stronger when it comes to their villains (e.g. Heath Ledger's Joker) but now I can see Marvel starting to catch up and honestly see DC starting to go into reverse. Wonder Woman is a good example of the way DC is going for the movie was great but the villain was REALLY bad.

But for Thor Ragnarok, Hela does a good job and she's not forgettable, I'll give her that. Definitely, the weakest character but all of the characters are great so that doesn't mean she's bad by any means. And if you want me to explain Hulk, I'll explain him quick. He SMASHES A LOT, he's really funny and has really funny banter with Thor. Bruce Banner (for those who don't watch these movies, Hulk when he isn't angry) is CLEVER A LOT, he's really funny and has really funny banter with Thor.

Overall, characters are great. I just want to give a quick side note to my favourite character in the entire movie, Korg. Apparently, Marvel has plans for this character in the MCU and I am very excited about this news because Korg is AWESOME. He's the funniest character in the movie, he's made out of rocks and he's very likeable.

The Comedy:

Not only was this movie the funniest Marvel movie of the year but I would say that it's the funniest Marvel movie ever. There are 3 types of laughter when watching a movie. The first type is a light chuckle. The second type is a laugh. The third type is a roar. The third type occurred MANY times during the movie and I was part of that same crowd. The phrase hit and miss doesn't associate with this movie at all. Every joke this movie pulls off is hilarious not leaving one awkward silence.

The Landscapes:

I never really talk about this in movies but I had to for this one. This movie is beautiful. The planet of Sakaar is definitely a highlight of the movie. I literally had my mouth gaping in amazement. The sheer size and beauty of the planet were shown in great detail and the sets on this planet are awesome. As well as that, Asgard looks really great too. The dark look really showed the intensity of the situation and I was reminded of the scope of Asgard too. It's really big and outstanding. There's always something happening on the screen when you're in Asgard, whether it is in focus or not. So yes, I loved the landscapes.

Overall, Thor Ragnarok is, quite frankly, a MASTERPIECE and is the best Marvel movie of the year. I've been thinking about it all day and I can't find a single flaw. So because of that, I'm going to give Thor Ragnarok an A+. I'm definitely going to watch it again in the next month.

This year has been a great year for superhero movies. Especially Marvel since they have been bringing their literal A game. And since there are no more Marvel movies this year and since Justice League is on the horizon, I'll give my thoughts on where both Marvel and DC rank this year. I'll update this list when I review Justice League (which I most definitely will review).

UPDATE: Didn't come around to reviewing Justice League because:

A. It sucked (which I'm sad to say due to how, sort of, promising it looked and how Wonder Woman set my expectations a little too high for the movie).

B. It's hard for me to review due to the fact I never want to or feel any interest in watching it again and I want to try really hard to pretend it doesn't exist.

C. My thoughts over the months went from:

November: This movie was OK but I'll never watch it again.

Now: Now thinking about it, I really understand why I'll never watch it again.

Here's my ranking for ALL of the super hero movies that came out in 2017:

1. Thor Ragnarok: A+ (First Saw On Oct 25th).

2. LOGAN: A+ (First Saw On July 11th).

3. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2: A (First Saw On April 28th).

4. Wonder Woman: A (First Saw On June 1st).

5. Spiderman Homecoming: A- (First Saw On July 7th).

6. Justice League: F (Saw about November-ish).