Thor: Ragnarok

I really need to get my posts up sooner. Anyways, it's been a week since I saw Thor: Ragnarok, but I wanted to talk about it before I forget everything that I saw! Or maybe, I just need to go see it a second time. Hmmm...

This will sound like hyperbole, but Thor: Ragnarok has jumped into my personal top five of the Marvel films. I enjoyed this movie that much. It had what the last few outings (re: Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) lacked. Fun.

Now I know you will talk about how funny the Guardians of the Galaxy movie was. Yes, the FIRST one was funny. The second one had jokes that went on too long and tried too hard at times. Am I retroactively contradicting my earlier review? Probably. You expect me to go back and re-read my own stuff??

In a conscious effort to keep my reviews shorter, let me get into what I loved about this movie. The logo and the trailers had an an 80's rock synth bent to it and that carried through in all the musical choices. I absolutely loved that.

You have big action set pieces where you get to see Thor, Hulk and others really tear it up. There are a lot of really good action scenes in this movie. At times I felt there was too much CG, but that is just where we are with big budget action movies now.

I've stated to death how much I like movies with smaller conflicts. Granted, this one deals with the death of an entire world, but at least the Earth really isn't involved, so that's a breath of fresh air. It's in space where anyone could show up.

Remember that shot I took at GOTG Vol. 2 about three paragraphs up? You should cause you just read it! This movie had a comedic through-line that I really appreciated. From the very beginning, the tone is set with how comedic this movie was going to be. In this movie, I think the jokes really land. The only joke that I got sick of was the name of the giant worm hole that the heroes have to go through. Other than that, I feel like everything hit it's mark. This wouldn't work without the actors, who all play their parts in making the comedy work. We have to give it up for Chris Hemsworth who is putting in work as Thor.

Arguably, I think Korg has the best lines in the movie. I'm not trying not to be suspicious of that, considering the director, Taika Waititi voiced him.

Despite all the comedy, I think there was some good resolution between Thor, Loki and Odin. There was really a lot of heart here in resolving some of the familial issues. Also, I think Hela makes a fantastic villain. So why is it that two of the best villains from the Marvel movies come from the Thor franchise??

Oh! I also just need to say, "Jeff Goldblum". That's it. He's at his Goldblumy best here.

What Marvel movie would be complete without some easter eggs? I only saw this once, so I didn't pick up on that may. There is your requisite Stan Lee appearance, which are always funny.  Seeing Beta Ray Bill's face in that massive tower on Sakaar was awesome. While we're mentioning Sakaar, I like that this movie is closely based on Planet Hulk.It really works here. We're never going to get a solo Hulk movie, so it was a good use of it here. I also liked the cameo by a certain Marvel movie character here. These movies are starting to feel like the comic books where anyone could show up for a team up at any time. I mean, the Hulk plays a big part in this movie. How cool is that?

So like I said at the beginning, this is now in my top five Marvel films. I say top five because my top three are firmly set at Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers. So maybe this will be #4.

This is a film that comic fans and non-comic fans can enjoy. Over the years, this has been my biggest indicator on how good I think a comic book based movie is. If a person off the street can enjoy it, you've done your job. Go see this film!