Thor: Ragnarok Movie Mini-Review!

Wow!  Who knew the crazy, cosmic content spanning decades of Thor’s comics would result in one of the most memorable movie experiences Marvel has produced to date.  Granted, it took adding elements of one of the most popular Hulk stories (Planet Hulk) to get it done.    Nonetheless, there is no doubt this is a Thor movie, with the best and most memorable scenes featuring the title character.  Thor: Ragnarok is also the most solid and complete iteration of the Thor series to hit the screen.  Thor: Ragnarok is every bit as tongue-in-cheek as Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and does a fantastic job of creating their own ’80s space-centric aesthetic with what is potentially the most stylized and distinctive music in the MCU.

Thor and Loki reunite as they find themselves on the planet Sakaar; a virtual dump of a planet ruled by the Universe Elder known as the Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum).  The rest of the main cast includes the Hulk (who’s been traversing the galaxy for the last 2 years) and another Asgardian; Valkyrie.  Valkyrie was one of the fabled female warriors formerly tasked with protecting the Asgardian Realm.  The villain of the movie, Hela, played by Cate Blanchette, rounds out the cast and carves out a special spot for herself in the MCU.  Mark my words, Hela is going down as one of the BEST villains to be introduced so far.

Thor: Ragnarok gives us a chance to see the Hulk as we’ve never seen him before.  Thor and Hulk (as well as Banner) have great chemistry whenever they’re together.  From a fan standpoint, there’s plenty of comic book material backing up the relationship, with decades of interactions between Thor and Hulk to draw from throughout Marvel comics.  The movie version of Hulk looks better than ever, with Ruffalo’s influence and essence easily seen every time the big green monster moves or speaks.  Throughout the movie we are given laughs, action, and enough fan service to please the most diehard of Marvel fans.

Thor: Ragnarok is one of the longer running movies, at almost two and a half hours, but I don’t think you’ll notice.  The movie stands out as one of Marvel’s best offerings to date, and the colors, music, and action spectacles beg to be seen on the big screen.  Definitely a must see for Marvel fans and movie fans alike!