Taika Waititi’s film has really been a big surprise for most movie and Marvel fans. It’s funny, drastic, and very enjoyable. It’s personally my favorite Thor film in the franchise and Hulk’s presence in the story truly highlights how connected this universe is. And with distribution rights aside, Hulk serves best as a supporting role, which is always a treat.
In this film, we see Thor (Chris Hemsworth) get stranded on a planet that specializes in trash and gladiatorial games as a new threat, Hela, (Cate Blanchet)comes into play and takes over Asgard. Thor then has to fight Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in the arena, and then team up to return to Asgard and fight Hela together. This is all in the trailer, so don’t get teary-eyed with spoilers.
There really wasn’t anything to complain about in this film. Some people might be taken back or disappointed that Natalie Portman as Jane Foster isn’t in this one. She doesn’t need to be, and she’s written out in a natural, nonviolent way. Another potential negative for some fans or critics is the comedy. Ironically, the comedy is my biggest positive for this film, but some people I know were not fans of how comedy plays into Nordic mythology into something as big as Thor. They and we need to remember that this is a comic book movie. This is a story about a guy who carries a hammer and befriends a giant green guy with the stretchiest pants in the galaxy. There’s room for comedy here.
One of the most impressive qualities from this film as I briefly mentioned before is how the comedy, drama, and action executed with each other. It’s a very seamless effort as we see Thor come to grips about his family’s heritage, his imprisonment on a strange planet, and having to deal with Dr. Bruce Banner’s alter ego for half the movie. It’s a very balanced story with bits of mythology, tragedy, and cameos, some well-placed cameos that I didn’t see coming.
Waititi did a great job with this film, and brought to life a different side of Thor that we have never seen. His direction also puts into perspective how powerful both Thor and Hulk can be. We’ve seen their powers before in past stories, but some acts they do really makes me think they were on steroids if they weren’t on the drug already.
Mark Ruffalo (L) and Chris Hemsorth (R) in “Thor: Ragnarok”
MovieGo 