“Thor: Ragnorok” brings smashing sequel

By Ben Dross, Staff Writer

If you are looking for a movie that’s quite literally out of this world, “Thor: Ragnarok” is the movie for you.

“Thor: Ragnarok”, the third instalment in the Thor Trilogy, follows Thor through his imprisonment on a different planet, where he’s pitted against fellow avneger and friend the Hulk.

The movie boasted great humor, strong acting and amazing visual effects. The film set the bar in many aspects with great innovation from a franchise which has been churning out movies for almost ten years now.

The humor throughout the movie was spot-on from start to finish. Every character in the movie had a funny line. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) himself stole the show, cracking clever jokes from the first scene onward. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) took up the role of the anti-hero with many hilarious lines, which is rare for a villain. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) was incredibly funny, gaining more speaking time than in previous films, and his scenes with Thor were especially entertaining. However, Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) was poorly written, as they tried to turn him into the comic sideshow that he was not.
The comedic star of the film by far was Korg (Taika Waititi). Even when he was facing death and revolution, he still found the humor in his dire situations. Played by the director of the film himself, it was no surprise Korg fell directly in line with what he was trying to do.

It was a strong move by the Thor franchise to depart from their normal Norse mythology. They were able to combine the two worlds quite nicely through the usage of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Her story had an interesting spin, as she walked the line between Norse myth and alien adventure. In a way, she was the character representation of the film itself. By having Thor and company wind up on an alien planet, the franchise moved closer to other super-hero franchises (hence the Doctor Strange cameo) and explores new characters.

Another new character is the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). While it seems as though he will only be around for this one movie, it was exciting for comic book fans to see another big name character added to the Marvel Universe.

Hella (Cate Blanchett) was a decent villain, bringing her acting talent to the character of Thor’s older sister and goddess of death. She was always entertaining on screen, but her goal as a villain was predictable. It would have improved the film to include some more villains who have a goal other than “taking over the world” for no apparent reason. But the rest of the script does a good job providing action and mitigating the weak motive.

The visual effects in this movie were amazing. Sakar was a wild adventure world, begging to be explored. Reds, yellows, blues and bright greens were incredibly prominent. “Thor: Ragarnok”was made great by all of its bells and whistles.

Ultimately, “Thor: Ragnarok” was another smash hit for Marvel, and fans can not wait to see what is to come.