Has there ever been a movie which is the third in a series of movies which gets considerably higher praise than the first? Because THOR: RAGNAROK not only did that, but it earned more money domestically in its first two weeks than the first Thor film did during its entire run in domestic theaters. And that’s not surprising, because RAGNAROK was so good that I saw it twice and have full intentions of buying it on Blu-ray, which I’ve only done for three or four of the other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Spider-man Homecoming, and possibly one other).
I knew the third installment was going to be different when it was announced that one of my favorite indie directors, New Zealand’s Taika Waititi, was going to write and direct it. My assumptions were confirmed when I saw the first trailer, but at that point I was fairly certain it was going to be amazing.
And it was.
RAGNAROK is arguably the funniest film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, quite possibly surpassing what Ant-Man and the first Guardians movie accomplished. Waititi is a great artist, and what he did in this film makes me certain that he’ll get to write and direct another movie for Marvel, if he so chooses (perhaps an X-Men film, now that Disney is going to own Fox, giving us a gruff Wolverine like he did with Sam Neil in Hunt For The Wilderpeople, and spreading the fun amongst yet-to-be-appreciated characters like Jubilee, Kitty Pride and Iceman; or perhaps The Fantastic Four, for reasons I won’t get into during this rambling tangent).
Whether it’s Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, an extended cameo by Benedict Cumberbatch, the voice-over work from Taika Waititi, or the best on-screen addition to this series Tessa Thompson, there’s plenty of laughs to go around, but that’s not the surprising part for those who are familiar with Waititi.
The action in RAGNAROK is better than anything we’ve seen from Thor in any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies thus far. Either of the two times that Led Zeppelin’s epic “Immigrant Song” hits, the action gets incredible. No one weilds Mjolnir quite like Hemsworth here!
The comedic moments in the first Thor film were present, but there weren’t nearly as many, and I don’t recall any laughs in the second installment, so it makes for quite the drastic improvement. Perhaps the best upgrade in RAGNAROK from either of its predecessors in the series is to the villains. It should come as no surprise that when Cate Blanchet is cast as a supreme badass as powerful as Thor, she’s going to deliver. The fact that her character had such a rich backstory to build upon left no doubt that she’s one of the top villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far.
With Loki proving just as interesting in the first installment, Blanchet alone doesn’t provide the huge upgrade, but when you factor in Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster, those two combine for the best one-two punch we’ve seen from comic book movies, possibly ever. The fact that Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie character is an antagonist for a significant portion of the film also helps with stacking the odds against The Lord Of Thunder (wait, that’s not right…).
I could keep going about different aspects to this film that help make me love it, but I won’t. You don’t have to have seen the previous Thor movies nor the other Marvel Cinematic Universe films to enjoy this one, but it would help understand the context of a few things that go on (namely, why would Hulk leave?). But if you want an abbreviated list of movies to watch to help you understand things, I’d recommend:
- Thor 1
- Avengers
- Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Wait, that’s it? What about the Hulk film, the other Thor movie, and the trilogies for Captain America and Iron Man?
Just skip those 8 for now, they don’t have anything in them that you NEED to know to fully appreciate RAGNAROK. Same with Ant-Man, Guardians Of The Galaxy, or Doctor Strange. You’ll get along just fine without those 12 other movies (or more? I might’ve missed something).
My rating: 93 out of 100
Guys Film Quest 