I would consider The previous Thor movies to be good and enjoyable editions to the MCU even though there was still some room for improvement seeing as they may arguably not be considered the best of the best compared to movies like Iron Man or Captain America. In 2017, Thor would get a major upgrade as not only would we be spending more time on Asgard and the vastness of space, but we would also get a new change in directors once again as this time we have Taika Waititi who would go on to direct some well known episodes of The Mandalorian. Let's find out if this movie can step things up and bring us a Thor adventure we always wanted to see.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) thinks he has prevented Ragnarok after defeating the fire demon Surtur, when he comes back to Asgard he finds out that his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is alive and has posed as Odin for the past few years. With a little help Thor and Loki discover Odin (Anthony Hopkins) in Norway and in his last few dying moments, he warns them about their sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) who plans to take over Asgard and rule the nine realms. Suddenly Hella appears and destroys Thor's hammer in battle the brothers try to escape but then find themselves separated with Thor landing on a distant planet called Sakaar where he is captured by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and taken to The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) where he is pit to battle The Hulk (Mark Ruffulo) who has been missing for the past two years. Now Thor and a found Loki as well as with the help of Valkyrie and Hulk attempt to escape Sakaar before Hela takes over all of Asgard.
Now I’ll admit I was a little bit too nice on my review for Thor: The Dark World, and while i’ll still stand by the fact that I believe that movie is better than the first entry, Thor Ragnarok is in a lot of respects so much better as it delivers on what I originally wanted to see in a Thor movie. A new original story, Not a lot of time spent on earth and focusing on a grand epic adventure that takes full advantage of the Asgard and space settings. There are more action packed and creative moments in this movie than in the last two movies if you combined them. It also seems this movie took a page right out of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies because this movie balances its action-packed storyline with often hilarious moments especially from its new characters like Korg and returning favorites like Loki.
Unlike the previous Thor movies where with the exception of our main leads most of the characters were very underdeveloped and not very memorable. This movie is the complete opposite as most of the characters we meet leave very memorable impacts and have tons of personality that add something new to the table whether its comedy or drama related. Thor and Loki are still just as great at working alongside each other but we also meet other fun characters like Korg or Valkyrie and even the Hulk gets his own little storyline that deals with his constant Hulk changing dilemma. The big standout though is the villains of the story as they are some of the most memorable villains the MCU has ever dished out. Jeff Golblum is just hilarious as The Grandmaster but the real star of the show is Hela as she is one Heck of a butt-kicking villain that can take down armies of people with no problem whatsoever.
The visuals we get in this movie far succeed what has been accomplished in the previous movies. Since a lot of time is spent not on earth, we get the privilege to see the unique and stylised locations in space that our characters get to visit. From the blocky and trash filled areas of Sakaar to the lair of the fire demon Surtur, each location feels almost like something you'd see in an 80’s style music video or comic which helps make this Thor movie stand out from the others as well as other MCU films. Costuming for the characters is some of the best in the MCU since the guardians of the galaxy movies and some of the standouts include the looks for The Grandmaster and the sexy black costume for Hela that is made even more interesting with the added CGI effects. The action has also been brought up with more creative uses of how our heroes and villains use their power ups to attack. Hela proves herself as an unstoppable warrior and our heroes use whatever weapons necessary to escape Sakaar and stop Ragnorok from happening.
The Music is done by Mark Mothersbaugh who’s style of scoring this movie is much different than most MCU movies as a lot of the tunes are accompanied by an 80’s like synthesizer music that fits with Thor’s space age adventure. The music in this movie could be compared to how the unique the music was in Tron Legacy as it takes the traditional movie music score and adds a new spin to the formula by adding non-traditional instruments to make for one heck of an experience.
Thor Ragnarok is such a fun time with its fresh action-packed storyline that takes full advantage of its environment, characters that are memorable and fun, visuals that bring the franchise to a whole new level and a music score unlike anything we’ve heard in a Thor movie before. If you haven't guessed yet, I really enjoyed this movie and I am not afraid to claim that this is the best Thor movie that we honestly should have got from the beginning. Needless to say it was so worth it to wait through two just good adventures before we would come to the movie that redefines what Thor should be like.