Review of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) by Armand M — 21 Dec 2017

Another good film for the MCU. Thor: Ragnarok is the 17th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this time concerning Thor trying to prevent Ragnarok - a foretold future event that would culminate in the destruction of Asgard. Things get even more complicated when it is revealed that thousands of years ago, Odin had a daughter named Hela; together, they conquered the Nine Realms, but her ambitions grew to a point that she was cast out by her father, and was subsequently erased from Asgardian history. Well, almost. But now she's back, so it is up to Thor to try to stop this formidable foe.

So, I didn't like the previous sequel Dark World, mostly because it came off as forgettable, and the main bad guy was very bland. In fact, he's up there for me as the WORST villain from the MCU, probably a little higher than Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man's antagonist. But I can say that Ragnarok surpasses Dark World, and is one of the better sequels for the Marvel films overall, though not as good as Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. One thing I loved about the film was the visuals. The scenes were flashy and very colorful. Some were even surreal to an extent. I guess part of my reason for not liking the Thor movies up to this point was that, to me, the scenery seemed pretty bland and gray. This is especially true for Sakaar, the garbage planet surrounded by wormholes that Thor and Loki end up falling into. The colors make the garbage planet visually striking, so much so it could come off as a real world. As for the characters, once again, they're pretty good. Thor comes off as more comedic here, but he also emerges as a leader towards the end. The Hulk is also pretty great here as well. For one, he can speak a complete sentence here. After the events of Age of Ultron, Bruce had been the Hulk for two years. As such, the Hulk comes off as the more dominating of the two, while Bruce is pushed to the side as Hulk began to overpower him. In Sakaar, he is the champion of the tournament that Thor is made to fight in; really, it seemed as though Hulk was finally in a place that was more acceptable of his anger issues. Lastly, there's Hela, the Goddess of Death. Portrayed by Cate Blanchett, Hela was Odin's firstborn, who is most definitely more powerful than Loki or Thor. For one, she wipes out an entire armed force by herself, she has the ability to raise the dead and use them as her undead army, she even broke Thor's hammer without much of an effort, etc. Her whole deal is that she felt as though she were stubbed by her father, and she desires to expand Asgard's empire, but she needs the sword that controls the Bifrost Bridge for that. She's sadistic, and somehow more egotistical than Loki is. I can say that Hela was one of the best villains the MCU had thus far, following after Ego and the Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming. However...my only issue is that I felt that we could've had more scenes that further delved into her relationship with Odin, because we really don't get much of an idea how they interacted with each other other than word of mouth. Even though she's the main villain of the film, her whole scheme gets sidetracked a lot because of the scenes regarding Sakaar. I also did like Doctor Strange's short cameo in the film as well, but I felt that it was doing the character some disservice by giving him a short role.

Other than that, another good film in the MCU line up. I wouldn't call it as great as some movie critics are saying it is, but it was certainly a popcorn spectacle.