The Goddess of Death, Hela, is lose in Asgard and is making a huge mess and, what’s worse, she’s broken Thor’s hammer-shaped metaphor and dumped him into the universe’s trash can where he has to fight in Gladiator style fights to the death against this screaming green guy.
Here was my problem with the Thor movies. It took me a while to realize why I never could get into them, so hear me out. Thor is a God. He’s a cosmic wanderer. He’s larger than life and big as the galaxy and more wondrous than anything ever seen on Earth. What did the previous two Thor movies do with him? They domesticated him, made him down to Earth both literally and figuratively, made his supporting cast a bunch of humans, and gave him a human Earth girlfriend.
When it comes to cosmic events, I don’t give a tinker’s cuss about Earth.
Now, I actually liked the first Thor. The second was meh… But that was my problem. Thor has never been allowed to be a God for anything more than a few minutes of screen time. In Thor Ragnarok, Thor is a God. He’s a unit. He’s flying, he’s zapping stuff with lightning, he’s going from planet to planet. Ragnarok feels cosmic, huge… it’s a story of a God in the universe and it’s the best Thor outing easily.
Hell, as far as the Marvel movies go, this is probably one of the best.
Thor is really allowed to cut lose here and just have fun and, yes, Chris Helmsworth is not only attractive but he’s a funny guy too. The dialogue here is way less stilted and feels more fluid, probably due to director Taika Waititi’s love of improved conversations. It just works.
Also, let’s appreciate that name: “Taika Waititi.” Just saying it makes me happy.
So, yes… Thor Ragnarok has a great sense of humor, the scale is huge, very little takes place on Earth which is a plus. More importantly, this movie has some amazing action scenes. Some of the best I’ve seen in a while. There’s a flashback scene that shows the Valkyries fighting Hela and it’s a work of art. Every frame could be the cover of a metal album. Stylistically, it’s breathtaking.
This movie is so good and I loved it. Thor’s best… one of the MCU’s best. It makes me sad for all the years that Thor has walked around with a stick up his rear end.
Jason Gaston 