Thor – Ragnarok: Asgard Must Fall

Building off of the Norse Myth in which a series of events leads to the destruction and rebirth of the world.  In the case of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ragnarok comes when Hela (Cate Blanchett) the first born of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) returns from banishment when Odin dies.  During their first battle, Thor and Loki are thrown out of Bifrost, the magical bridge that allows them to travel between realms, and end up on Sakaar, a planet full of garbage that is surrounded by portals to places throughout the realms.  Thor is captured by a disgraced Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and forced to fight in gladiator type games for the pleasure of the GrandMaster (Jeff Goldblum). The reigning champion turns out to be the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), who crash landed on Sakaar after the battle of Sokovia two years prior. Thor convinces Valkyrie and Bruce Banner (the Hulk), with the help of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to help him return home and defeat Hela.  On Asgard, Hela has easily killed many of the great heroes and taken the throne, forcing the inhabitants into hiding.   Thor and his team return and battles Hela, while trying to evacuate the Asgardian survivors to a location off planet.  Thor realizes he doesn’t need to stop Ragnarok, but must help bring it forth to destroy Hela and in doing so destroying their home world. Knowing that Asgard was never a place, but the people.

Thor: Ragnarok was directed by Taika Waititi and is the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and is part of Phase Three after Spider-Man: Homecoming and four years after the previous Thor film.    The critical response was favorable, and the movie grossed $854 million worldwide.  The overall tone of the movie changed to be more in line with the humor found in Guardians of the Galaxy.

The following is just one reviewer’s opinion and thoughts and should not be in any way intended as making anyone feel bad for liking this film.  Where many critics praised the film for its change to a lighter tone and humor, making this movie stand out as the best of the Thor films, my personal feelings is they ruined the character that they had established in the previous Thor films and in the two previous Avengers installments.  This character, I like to call “Bruh” Thor.  I understand that Chris Hemsworth has amazing comic timing and talent, and it would be a shame not to utilize that, but after the success of the comical Guardians of the Galaxy, it felt like they tried to turn Thor into more of a buffoon.  Where he once was deep, with a serious nature but conflicted between love and duty to his people, Thor is now, superficial and playing for the laughs.  I loved the Thor that was originally created, but dislike what he became in this film, which had much more of a “Buddy Cop” feel than the epic mythological presence it should have had.  In addition, the senseless killing off of vital and well-loved characters without giving the heroes a dignified end seemed careless and wrong.  Chris Hemsworth’s performance as Thor in this movie, although funny and well executed, changed the very nature of the character.  The only way something like this works, is if the audience sees the journey that influences and shapes the new character.  This is not the case in Ragnarok.  The very fiber of the character was altered, and I do not feel like it was for the best. Oh! And they cut his hair!

In re-watching the film specifically for this article, I mentally prepared by detaching myself from the love I have for the established characters and tried to watch it as an unrelated film.  It was a lot more enjoyable that way.  Cate Blanchett to me was a wonderful Hela and steals the show, there was a dark wit to her line deliveries, although her motives aren’t too complex, she does explore some deep notions. The movie does have a darker theme that is explored through Hela even with the lighter tone of the film.  The exposure of colonial white washing of history for societies built on the blood of indigenous people.  Odin hid the fact that Hela even existed and that much of the wealth and freedom Asgard has is due to the bloodshed in conquering the nine realms by force and not with benevolence.  There is a wonderful scene where Hela pulls a beautiful mural of the benevolence of Odin and Thor from a ceiling in Asgard, to reveal a dark painting of Odin and Hela subjugating the nine realms.

The production value remains high for this film with some very stunning visual composition.  The scenes flow pretty well, and over all the storyline is interesting.  The music also changed, and I don’t feel for the better.  It moved from the classical pomp that is rightfully deserved for royalty to a more rock and roll with almost a 90s vibe to it.