Thor: Ragnarok

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Edit Coming 04/27/26

In the third 'Thor' film, things take place two years after the events of 'Age of Ultron'. Thor and Loki find themselves at the mercy of the Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett), who is seemingly infinitely more powerful than Thor and Loki combined.

During their first showdown, in an attempt to use the Bifröst, Thor and Loki find themselves knocked off course and thrown onto a junk planet called Sakaar. This is where they are met by Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) who holds a fight competition in which various opponents he chooses must face off against The Incredible Hulk.

It's also here that Thor meets the likes of Korg (director, Taika Waititi) - a big, greyish rock creature whose very reminiscent of The Thing ('Fantastic 4' version) and probably the funniest part of the whole movie. I'm simply not gonna give away more than that 'cause he already acts as a pleasant surprise to those seeing this for the first time, and at this point, this movie's still kinda fresh.

Meanwhile, Hela is at Asgard, attempting to take things over. Now it's up to Thor and Loki to team up with some unlikely companions to get off Sakaar, get home to Asgard, and put a stop to things. But the big question always remains; can Loki REALLY be trusted THIS time? Well, I won't say about the outcome of that, specifically. You'll just have to find out for yourself if it's something different or more of the same. As for the movie as a whole, I'm VERY pleased to report that it's a far cry from the 'Thor' films we're used to. Thank God, Earth finally took a back seat as a setting, and the whole love interest between Thor and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). It's not that I didn't like Jane, it's just that this is "Thor, the God of Thunder" we're talking about, and he deserves better treatment than a fish-out-of-water love story.

Here, it gets to be an epic off-world adventure that feels much closer to being a 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movie as opposed to the past two 'Thor' movies. This adds a whole dimension to these movies that frankly fits the characters much, much better. We're given the fun and stylish version of 'Thor' that we've sincerely wanted since the beginning. That's not to say the first 'Thor' was no good. As a matter of fact, they did a good job with something that had been done a bout a million times before. But 'The Dark World' did end up dragging a lot of the Earth-focused stuff out, and it ended up being kinda forgettable by the end. 

The film pulls no punches when it comes to showing off that it's gonna be pretty out of this world with the opening scene alone. It's another great example of breaking those chains comic book movies have had in the past. "Keep it realistic" or "Keep it grounded" can be overrated rules. I (and most comic book fans) would rather say, as long as your story and characters are well done, go all out. It can be done well, taking the time to deliver a bit of everything ('Guardians of the Galaxy' / 'Wonder Woman') or badly, lacking something in plot or character development, but looking really good ('X-Men: Apocalypse' / Batman v Superman'). 'Ragnarok' thankfully gets closer to the former. While still a bit goofy, it understands that it's goofy and just goes for it. It's self-aware, in a way.

5/5

MID-CREDIT SCENE: Thor, taking his fellow Asgardians to Earth aboard the Grandmaster's ship, is intercepted by a larger spacecraft.

POST-CREDIT SCENE: The Grandmaster encounters a group of his former subjects, still rebelling.

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