Thor: Ragnarok Non-Spoiler Movie Review

Thor: Ragnarok is by far the best Thor movie to date. In part I think because the addition of the Hulk/Banner (Mark Ruffalo) really made it more like a Thor and Hulk movie than just Thor. The overall plot sees Hala (Cate Blanchett), God of Death return to Asgard to try and reclaim what she feels is rightfully hers after Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) shenanigans with Odin (Anthony Hopkins) in the last movie. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) of course tries to stop her but in doing so ends up discarded to a planet called Sakaar, a world ruled by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) where he conducts his “Contest Of Champions” competitions. There Thor encounters an old friend from work as well as a washed out Asgardian Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) running from her past.

Mix in appearances of several other well known Marvel characters like Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Skurge (Karl Urban), Hemidall (Idris Elba) and Surtur (Clancy Brown Voice), and you have quite the action filled comed…err I mean action drama.

While I enjoyed the movie overall, I do think Marvel and director Taika Waititi went a little overboard with the comedic relief in this movie. I don’t mind a little comic relief thrown in like in Avengers when Hulk punches Thor or smashes Loki around on the floor (something Loki remembers in this movie), but Thor in general is a pretty serious character or at least he used to be. Trying to turn Thor into the next Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man, while does give you a number of laughable moments in the film, takes something away from the overall seriousness of the character.

All that said, as I mentioned in the beginning, I still feel this was the best of the three Thor films so far and the special effects were quite impressive. What they are doing with the CGI on characters like Hulk and Surtur was amazing. With each movie featuring the green giant, it gets harder and harder to tell if he is real or not.

The movie also leads up nicely to the big Avengers: Infinity War due out late next year and of course the Stan Lee cameos continue to be awesome. Also be sure to stay for two after-credit scenes, especially the first one.

GRADE: B+