A more than welcome reinvention of the character
While the overly serious, long-haired Thor who spoke like Shakespeare may have been true to the comics, I didn’t find him to be an especially interesting character. In Thor: Ragnarok, however, director Taika Waititi takes the character (and the franchise) in a whole new direction, and it’s nothing but positive.
Most notably, this film has a completely different tone than the first two Thor films, which is a bit ironic considering that Ragnarok itself is a rather dark topic: The prophetic destruction of Asgard, Thor’s home world. Where before Thor movies were quite serious with several emotional moments, this film gave new life to the Thor franchise by taking it the opposite direction, and introducing us to a more comedic take on Thor.
Yes, while Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are known for their quips, this film may have more jokes packed into it than any of them. Still, these jokes never feel excessive or forced, as the vast majority of them are well timed and feel nearly seamless. On top of this the film still knows how and when to take scenes seriously, including one of my favorite scenes in the film where Thor has a heart to heart conversation with his father about the source of his strength.
Chris Hemsworth has always been great at portraying Thor, but his acting felt better than ever in this film. Hemsworth is a naturally funny person, and allowing him more liberty to work aspects of his own personality into the character improved the performance immensely, making Thor seem like a much more natural and relatable character.
The film isn’t just a comedy, though. It’s also a grand superhero film with an very enjoyable story featuring- in my opinion- one of the best song choices in the entirety of the MCU. Does it get any better than Led Zeppelin mixed with Thor?
All things considered, I’ll have to give this movie a 10/10. It’s one of my favorite superhero films to date, it addressed all of my qualms with the Thor franchise, and it’s just plain fun
Watch the teaser trailer for this film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODqPGttjjOY
The Film Review 