Thor: Ragnarok

This film was one of Marvel's best...


A few days ago, I wrote my list of the 5 best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  If I had written that just a couple days later, it might have been different.  This film has very few flaws, and even manages to avoid one of Marvel's biggest weaknesses.

First, when you hear the announcement of a superhero film about Ragnarok, you would not expect it to be funny.  This is not true in Thor.  However, despite the humor, the jokes are not out of place.  There are plenty of serious moments that counteract the funny scenes and it maintains a nice balance.  The humor fit well in the story and there were no real forced jokes to be found.  Taika Waititi took the reigns and did a wondrous job reinventing a character that had begun to fall off.  It was a new, refreshing and better version of the God of Thunder. The movie was hilarious, while at the same time serious and dark.  It was a perfect balance for my tastes.  Along with all of that, the action scenes have you at the edge of your seat as you wait to see what happens next.  They are well-choreographed and some of the best in a comic book movie.

The characters were played to near perfection, it would have been hard to get better performances out of the cast.  Chris Hemsworth is back as Thor, and he seems excited to be that character again.  Something that seemed to be lacking in the previous Thor movie.  Tom Hiddleston reprises the role of Loki, and is just as great as ever, as he is one of the best Marvel Villains.  Speaking of villains,  Cate Blanchett takes the character of Hela and brings her to life.  She is menacing and beautiful and ruthless all at the same time.  There was a little liberty taken with Hela's backstory, but that is all forgotten with that performance.  Mark Ruffalo has his best performance as the green rage-monster in this one, adding his part to the humor.  Tessa Thompson gives a very strong performance as Valkyrie, and you should know her name if you do not already.  Idris Elba is great as ever in the limited role that he has in the universe.  Even Waititi gets in on the action as he voices Korg, a man made of rock that accompanies helps Thor out in his own weird way.  And, lets not forget the wonderful performance of Jeff Goldblum.  This casting choice was just perfect and nobody else could have played that role so well.

So, Thor: Ragnarok was a great movie and a fantastic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  This is definitely worth the watch and I highly recommend it.