**** outta *****

4 outta 5

Thor: Ragnarok is basically a situation comedy with action sci-fi and fantasy flourishes.  It moves at an incredibly speedy space which is quite impressive considering it’s over 2 hours.  The downside is it has a pretty lame main villain however the performance of the aforementioned main villain makes it better.  Despite the incredible effects the movie is at its best when it’s people crabbing at each other.  It doesn’t have the cosmic pathos that made the original Thor such a fantastic movie but is extremely fun.  The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been gradually trending towards making Thor and friends comedic sidekicks and this is where it goes full bore.  The only slight problem is that when the movie gets serious it’s difficult to accept but mostly the movie is basically big action and big laughs. 

In the kingdom of Asgard in Outer Space the Space God Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has realized that his trickster brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), has assumed the identity of King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and taken over the throne.  However, after finding their wayward father, the brothers are confronted with their evil sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett) who casts them into the cosmos and takes over Asgard.   Thor is captured by Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and forced to fight in the gladiator pits of the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) against the biggest gladiator, the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo).   But since Thor and Hulk are friends from the Avengers, they try to get off the planet and stop Hela from ruling Thor’s home. 

There is quite a lot going on.  A significant chunk of it is intercutting between Thor stuck on the Gladiator Planet and Hela taking over Asgard and since the Gladiator Planet stuff is so good, it makes the rest drag by comparison.  There is a bit of shuffling over plot points to get down to the good stuff.  Thor and Loki are simultaneously thrown into space and when Thor lands, he is immediately captured and made to fight, however Loki has been there for weeks and is already a high class member of society, watching Thor fight for his life.  Their arrival differential is offhandedly explained by the Grandmaster saying “Time works differently here.”  The whole movie is kind of like that as its set on hyperspeed and doesn’t let go.  But since things are so zippy, that’s fine, even if the movie is sort of cheating. 

This plays better if one knows the backstory of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is a sequence where Thor and Loki meet with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)  which is entertaining on it’s own but makes more sense if one has seen both Doctor Strange and the other Thor films.   The Marvel continuity is getting denser and ever threatening to tip over into incompressibility but this manages to be understandable.  

All of the actors are pretty great in Ragnarok with nifty character moments in between the whiz bang chaos.  Hemsworth as Thor is really funny however he’s become less a steadfast hero and instead kind of dopey.   Most of the supporting cast of the last two Thor films are discarded by killing off his warrior buddies or and dismissing Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster in two lines of dialogue.  Hiddleston as Loki is really entertaining even though Loki’s motivations shift from scene to scene, however, it gets a pass because Loki is a God of Mischief and his goals are going to vary.  Thompson as Valkyrie has an entire arc as a former soldier who has been binge drinking for eons until Thor and the Hulk kick her into gear which is quite cool but it’s breezed by fast.  However, Thompson is such a good actress she’s able to convey an entire character arc simply with quick reactions.  There isn’t a lot of Hopkins’ Odin but he has some great bits, like when Loki is pretending to be Odin and Hopkins gets to ham it up or when the real Odin is imparting fatherly wisdom to Thor.  Goldblum as the Grandmaster is weird but a full dose of Jeff Goldblum being weird is always watchable.

The main villain is Blanchett’s Hela and even though the character is slightly written Blanchett manages to add a lot.  There is a subplot about Hela getting Karl Urban’s Skurge to be her executioner that is ultimately pointless but Urban’s makes it watchable.  A great addition is Ruffalo as The Hulk and this has some huge moments in the character arc of The Hulk.  What is awesome is that The Hulk is finally talking in broken, short sentences so this lets Rufflao play Hulk as a super powerful toddler. Some of the movie’s best moments are just Thor and Hulk talking and it’s gold.

Thor: Ragnarok has a hell of a lot of stuff all happening at once on top of each other.  It’s a testament to how good the actors and the pacing is that it is comprehensible and enjoyable.  This movie works way better if one knows the Marvel Cinematic Universe but manages to be a wacky standalone adventure of Thor and friends.