Review of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) by Kyle M — 27 Jun 2018

As the current interconnected arc is nearing its end, the Phase One movies are neared to their end as well. Both Iron Man and Captain America finished their stories, while the strongest pair of the bunch Thor and Hulk are in-synced of reaching the end of their own journeys that the cinema has to offer. The storytelling style of the Marvel Cinematic Universe scrunched up multiple comics of singular heroes, either flawed or perfectly blended together, showing how quickly it was for the characters' defining, relevant stories being told in just a couple of movies. Next up in the Marvel threequel attempt is Thor in "Ragnarok", displaying his mightiest thunder.

We find Thor at the end of his Infinity research looking at a conjunction of a prophecy that foretells the end of his homeworld and people of Asgard but gets sidetracked when an all-powerful new threat has been unleashed. After an encounter with the locked Hela, Thor lost connection with his mighty hammer and gets imprisoned in the other side of the universe whereas he's being seen as a contending gladiator. As Hela is setting her plan forth by fitting Asgard to the image she used to know, Thor must survive his gladiator fight with his missing ally Hulk so he can get home in time to prevent Ragnarok from happening.

"Ragnarok" departs the Thor trilogy away from the fantasy genre into the cosmos as a cinematic exploration of the larger territory of the beyond - mostly with the Guardians of the Galaxy usually as our guides. Speaking of which, enforcing the departure in genre tone is the unique vibe that places the God of Thunder in a "Guardians" film, which is seen as a nostalgic ride back to the past namely the 80s, and the music takes it further by sounding like an 80s video game whenever the action picks up and the familiar motif is being played at the same time - with two occasions of Led Zeppin's "Immigrant Song". Composer Mark Mothersbaugh increased his musical scale to perfect a third chapter's scoring that touch bases to the previous themes, while enforcing the overall feeling.

Director Taika Waititi also increased his taste in direction into a mainstream blockbuster - as well self-inserting himself into a supporting character - to bring pure fun as part of the envisioned lighter tone despite the title's meaning being "the end of all things". It's rather a questionable tonal shift by the increased comedic energy that sort of felt off to the taste in the trilogy as a unique end than the other two aforementioned trilogies. But Waititi managed to balance it out with extra kinetic energy in the action to make it up, in adjacent to garnering entertained laughs. Not only that but the other excelled element is the impressive display of character development that Thor seems to still show but more impactful as part of the film's expressive theme of loss alongside with gain in untouched power to show why he's called the Mighty Thor. And there's Hulk's mental growth as the first part of his three-parted story arc.

In addition to the growing character development that the film presents, the characterization was well performed, particularly Chris Hemsworth being an equivalent to the whole film's balance in personal energy. The other standout is Cate Blanchett in a greater villainy role that she totally pulled off within the genre's standards. The conflicting familial dynamic between Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston continues more peacefully with a grown heart, probably mostly courtesy of the comedic shift. While still discussing under the terms of characterization, the one flaw that was bothersome is the first quarter being rushed with opportunities of better shines to characters being quickly passed out of impatience. Although both parts are understandable when power level is being unusually expressed.

"Ragnarok" is a perfect solo outing of the Thor films, as well the best by looking at the characterizing growth and the balancing of the excitement in the action and purity in fun - albeit questionable for tonal reasons. In comparison to the previous threequels, it still goes around the sole character's standards while (mostly) circling back to the beginning chapter of their journeys (Stark's reflection, Rogers' intersecting world), and this is quite an epic film to the godlike thunder punch with the same Marvel excitement, particularly when set as a preparation for the certain War. (A+).