REVIEW: Thor: Ragnarok (Road to Infinity War)
Alright, let us continue The Papi Chulo RADIO Road to Infinity War (RTIW for short) review event with the seventeenth movie in the lineup, Thor: Ragnarok.
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We are on the second to last film for the RTIW event folks! Today’s review is going to be a good one because we are checking out the third movie in the trilogy of Thor. After The Dark World left a bad taste in our mouths, will Thor: Ragnarok redeem Thor or will he burn in the flames of Ragnarok?
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Before we get into it, it should be said that there will be spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet (Although since it came out last year, you should have seen it already).
This is going to be my longest review because I love the film so much and there is a lot to talk about. Alright, with that out of the way, it’s main event time!
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The story picks up where we hear Thor (Chris Hemsworth), monologue while stuck in a cage with a skeleton. I want to say that Thor is in hell but it is never really said where he is. Anyways, the bottom of the cage opens up and Thor is dangling on a chain in front of Surtur (Clancy Brown). Surtur tells Thor about Ragnarok, a prophecy that will end Asgard and have it start a new. Before Surtur can finish Thor, Thor busts out of his chains with his hammer and fights Surtur and his hellspawn while a dragon also fights Thor as well. Thor defeats Surtur and grabs his crown before reaching the Surface. Thor tries to call for Heimdall (Idris Elba), but he is banished from Asgard. There’s a new gatekeeper in town, Skurge (Karl Urban), he is showing off his stuff to some ladies when he finally hears Thor’s cries for help and he teleports Thor back to Asgard, along with the head of the dragon causing the Bi-Frost to be covered in blood and brains. Thor goes to see Odin (Anthony Hopkins) when he sees that everyone gathers for a play about Loki’s (Played by Matt Damon during the play), death and celebration of his life. Thor is able to see through this ruse and reveals to everyone that it’s actually Loki (Tom Hiddleston), himself. Thor questions Loki about where Odin is and this takes them to Earth where we see the retirement home that Loki supposedly put Odin in being demolished. Loki is then taken away by a portal and Thor is left with a business card on the street with an address, 177a Blecker Street. The home of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Thor meets with Strange and Strange agrees to help Thor find Odin, who is now in Norway. Before Strange sends Thor on his way, he gives back Loki, who has been failing for 30 minutes in a pocket dimension. Strange sends Thor and Loki on their way to Odin and the three of them have a heart to heart before Odin passes away. Odin warns them that Ragnarok is coming and their long-lost sister, Hela, The Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett). Odin passes away and Hela is free from her prison that Odin kept her in. Hela then confronts the two brothers and destroys Thor’s Hammer and fights them. Loki calls down the Bi-Frost and Hela knocks them both out and emerges in Asgard.
Meanwhile, Thor lands on a planet known as Sakaar. Some of the locals try and capture Thor for food but we meet Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), who is drunk and kills the locals to steal Thor for herself and take him away. We cut back to Asgard, where we see Hela starts her invasion by killing off most of the Asgard Soldiers and ships. While that is taking place, Heimdall who is still alive takes the Bi-Frost sword so that no one else can use it. Back on Sakaar, Thor is strapped to a chair and is taken to the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), and Valkyrie sells Thor to Grandmaster so he can become the next fighter in his Contest of Champions. Thor is thrown into a circle prison and we meet Korg (Taika Waititi), Meek and Doug (Oh wait, Doug’s dead). Korg talks to Thor and tells him about how things are and gives him some encouragement to fight the champion. Back on Asgard, Hela and Skurage go through the vault and find the Eternal Flame. Hela tells Skruge that her army and pet wolf are buried beneath the vault and she goes down with the flame to bring all of her soldiers and wolf back to life. Back on Sakaar, Thor and Korg are getting ready for the contest when Thor learns that Valkryie is from Asgard and was apart of the Valkyrie, a force of female warriors who were the toughest of Asgard. Thor is then taken away to be processed and he also get’s a haircut.
Thor is then put into the gladiatorial arena where he finds out who this champion is. The champion of Sakaar is none other than, HULK (Mark Ruffalo). This excites Thor to see a friend from work and he goes off explaining what has happened to him in the past few days. Hulk doesn’t care and this is the big fight between Thor and Hulk goes down. It’s a real smackdown of gods but when Thor seems to be on the winning edge, he is then stopped by Grandmaster who zaps him because Thor has a chip in the side of his neck that Valkyrie put on him and Hulk ends up winning with one big ground pound. Back on Asgard, Hela dubs Skruge as her Executioner and when they plan on attacking the nine realms, they realize the Bi-Frost sword is gone. Hela wants Skruge to rally the citizens in order to find the sword. Meanwhile, on Sakaar, Thor wakes up from being knocked out by Hulk and finds himself in Hulks living quarters. Thor looks around and finds Hulk in the bath where Thor wants to know how Hulk got to Sakaar. Of course, since we last saw Hulk in Age of Ultron, he was in the Quinjet which was flying out to space and Hulk landed on Sakaar from the Quinjet. Hulk shows Thor that they Quinjet is outside Hulks place and when Thor tries to go to it but learns that he is being kept there by the chip in his neck. While Hulk goes out for training, Thor contacts Heimdall and talks to him through a vision communication power that Heimdall has. Thor learns about what is going on at Asgard and tries to tell Heimdall he is coming back home to stop Hela.
The next day, Hulk and Thor talk to Valkryie. Thor tries to convince her to help him escape and get back to Asgard. Valkryie doesn’t want to leave and Thor is able to distract her and get the device that controls the chip and is able to take the chip off. Thor escapes through the window and goes to the Quinjet. Before Thor can do anything, Hulk comes and smashes up the Quinjet before seeing the same message from Black Widow from Age of Ultron. This causes Hulk and Banner to fight over control and Banner is able to win the fight with Thor watching and helping Banner out by telling him what happened and where he is. This causes the Grandmaster to send out a message to the people asking them to look for Hulk. Then, Grandmaster tasks Loki and Valkryie with finding both Thor and Hulk. They both have one hour to do it and this causes them to fight with Loki learning Valkryie’s past and making her see visions of her past fight with Hela. We then cut to Thor and Banner talking to each other about what is happening and the fact that Banner was stuck as the Hulk for 2 years. While they are on the run, they stumble on a crowd of locals who are celebrating the Hulk. This causes Thor and Banner to get lost but, they soon find each other and Valkryie also finds them as well. She takes them to her place where she has Loki chained up to a chair. They interrogate Loki and they all devise a plan to go save Asgard. They need a ship strong enough to go through the Devil’s Anus and survive the gravity of the Wormhole so they can fly to Asgard.
The first part of their plan, break into Grandmasters Vault full of ships and take one. This plan causes the people of Sakaar to start a revolution. Loki tries to double cross Thor and he sets off the alarm but Thor put the Chip on Loki and leaves him on the ground to be Electrocuted for as long as the machine can. Once Thor gets the ship, words get’s to the Grandmaster who sends out a public alert. Grandmaster sends his right-hand Woman, Topaz (Rachel House) and a squad of ships to stop Thor. Valkyrie comes in with her ship and shoots down some of their ships before getting her’s destroyed. Valkryie survives and starts to hop from ship to ship destroying them by hand. Thor does the same thing and leaves Banner to drive their ship alone. Banner presses a button which causes fireworks to come out and that ends up killing Topaz. Korg and his revolution team find a ship in the vault and bring Loki along with them. Team Thor rejoins on the ship and escape Sakaar through the Wormhole and get to Asgard. On Asgard, Skurge has gathered up the citizens of Asgard hoping for someone to tell him where the Bi-Frost sword is but no one wants to tell so Skruge gets ready to execute a citizen when someone finally reveals the location, and Hela goes to the place where Heimdall is keeping the Refugees. Once Hela gets there, she finds no one and Heimdall is telling everyone to move to the Bi-Frost.
When Thor makes his return and gets Hela’s attention back at the palace. She rushes back to the palace where she and Thor fight each other while Valkyrie and Hulk fight off Hela’s army, and wolf that is going to kill the citizens at the Bi-Frost. During the fight with Thor, Hela manages to cut Thor’s eye, leaving him with only one eye, just like his father. Loki comes in with Korg and is able to get the citizens of Asgard on their ship while everyone fights. Everything seems to be looking good when Hela is able to come back from Thor using his lighting powers. However, Thor makes a plan to use the Eternal Flame to resurrect Surtur and cause Ragnarok while everyone gets on the spaceship. Hela’s arm manages to get on the ship and Skruge finally decides to stop hiding and help save the people while also dying in the process. Loki goes to the Vault and puts Surtur’s head on the flame and he is reborn and starts to destroy Asgard. Everyone manages to get on the ship and leave behind Hela and Surtur to fight it out. Once they are out in orbit. They make a plan of where to go next after Asgard’s destruction. Everyone agrees to go back to earth. Before they can, they are stopped by Thanos’s giant ship.
Alright with the story section out of the way, let’s break it down:
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The acting this movie is simply outstanding. Every single person brought their best to this movie and it really pays off because everyone does their part and no one feels wasted at all. That is one of the movies biggest strengths, no one in this movie feels out of place. Everyone is in this movie to serve their purpose and some will even leave you wanting more. Like, Korg, Grandmaster and Valkriye (Where are their solo movies, Marvel?). Besides, who doesn’t love Jeff Goldblum?
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The CGI is outstanding and very colourful (A Weird thing to say but I’m saying it anyway). Sakaar is beautiful, Hulk is awesome, Thor’s lighting powers are great and the huge arena fight with Hulk and Thor is absolutely stunning. This movie is just full of colourful visuals and great looking sets. Sakaar looks like a real planet and the people also look very alien and real. It almost feels like they are trying to top Guardians of the Galaxy and they succeed.
Everything about this movie just screams visually stunning and entertainingly fun. The story of this movie is simple and easy to follow which is also great. What makes this movie special though is all in the execution, this movie is filled with jokes and action and all of them hit and not a single one of them miss. This movie is able to strike a very amazing balance and it knows when to make you laugh or excite you with what is happening. This is a huge leap from the last Thor movie and it also changes Thor and his world in a huge way that makes him both a badass and a very relatable hero. Thor is still a god mind you but, he is the most human of his people and that is what makes him so likeable.
Thor has gone from a headstrong warrior to a king who is now looking for a new home for him and his people. Whether or not he finds it before Thanos get’s through with him is gonna have to wait till Avengers: Infinity War. Thor may have rejected the throne at first but, now he finally understands why he has it and it’s nice to see his journey come to a close in such a stylish and entertaining fashion.
This has to be one of the best Marvel movies ever made (Sorry Black Panther).
The Verdict:
Wow, Thor: Ragnarok is a triumph. Not since The Avengers have I felt that a movie transcends being a movie and turns into an event. Thor: Ragnarok is a movie that has non-stop laughs, action, drama, spectacle and heart. Everything in this movie is perfected and Thor: Ragnarok is easily the best Marvel/MCU movie to come out ever. This movie will be studied and people will try and replicate the formula for this movie. However, there can only be one true king, Hail the king of New Asgard and long live Thor.
10/10
Next up, the last movie we are going to look at in the RTIW. The most recent one to come out and it also has a king in it, The King of Wakanda that is! Of course, it’s Black Panther.