Thor: Ragnarok

After defeating Surtur, a giant god-like creature hellbent on destroying Thor’s homeworld, Asgard, the God of Thunder tracks down his father, King Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins), with the help of the portal-wielding Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberpatch). But when Odin suddenly dies, his secret firstborn daughter, Hela (Cate Blanchett), appears to assume power of the throne. Once she destroys Thor’s hammer, Mjolinir, she swiftly seizes Asgard. In trying to fight Hela, Thor and his brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the God of Mischief, wind up on the distant garbage planet of Sakaar, where they meet allies old and new, including The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).

“Hang on, I’ll be back around in a minute,” says the captive God of Thunder, as the chain by which he’s dangling upside down twists around, awkwardly cutting off the confessional plans of a leviathan horned beast who wishes to destroy Thor’s home world once he’s slaughtered our hero. This line comes but seconds into Thor’s threequel, promising us exactly what the trailers did; that this is rather a reinvention of sorts than an actual sequel. The humour is joyously-reminiscent of Avengers Assemble (2012), the at-times-hilarious multi-MCU-hero ensemble which embodied the kind of tear-inducing gags that have been unforgivably-missing from each film thereafter, save for 2014’s retro-freshing Guardians of the Galaxy.

Here to save Asgard - The Revengers Assemble

In fact, it was 2015’s unremarkable Avengers: Age of Ultron where we last saw Hemsworth’s Thor wield his mighty hammer, Mjolnir. And with Thor: Ragnarok marking, quite unbelievably, the seventeenth film in the MCU, it’s suffice to say a lot has happened since the Avengers sequel. Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 (2017) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) have all kept things ticking along, but now, Thor finds himself facing his most formidable foe: his own film series. Thankfully, though, he breaks free from the literal chain, as well as the metaphorical one of his past underwhelming exploits, and gives his captor, the giant beast, a real what-for with his trusted hammer, all the while Rush booms throughout the hellishly-dark caves lit only by pockets of lava.

While audiences argue that this year’s unprecedented hit Wonder Woman, the latest in the DCEU, was not only a cinematic feminist movement of sorts (please), but also the “hero the DCEU needs but doesn’t deserve”, it’s only fair to state that, while the MCU remains at the opposite and more desirable end of the critical and financial spectrum to the DCEU, Thor, in Ragnarok at least, does more for his respective hero-verse than the Amazonian warrior-princess did for hers. In short, experimenting with style has paid off, much as it did when James Gunn took on Guardians three years ago.

Thor gets a makeover that's long overdue

New Zealand director Taika Waititi brings some of his own comedic flavour to this neck of the universe (and even lends his acting talents as hilarious alien rebel Korg), proving that the big bosses at Marvel Studios need to smash more long-standing hammers and not be afraid to dip their toes into territories unknown. On paper, Ragnarok is a space opera. On-screen, it’s both that and a side-splitter, and gives even the very finely-tuned Guardians a run for its infinity stones. Ragnarok is perhaps the silliest, messiest, and zaniest of the bunch – and that’s a big bunch – yet it’s exactly what we’ve all been waiting for: pure, unfiltered superhero nonsense.

During a third-act fight with his evil sister, Hela, Thor recalls words from his father, King Odin, in that his hammer – the now-late Mjolnir – was never the source of his power, but a method by which his power was channelled, thus leading Thor to call upon those trademark lightning powers of his with nothing but his bare hands. Thor is outlandish, but the outlands are its home. My point is that Thor really never did need the assurance of that hammer in the first place. And now it’s time for the other films in the MCU to let go of their safety harnesses too, and find their strengths in other shapes and forms.

For my full audio review which was aired on Swindon 105.5, click here.