"You cannot stop Ragnarok. Why fight it?
Because that's what heroes do!"
Hello everyone!
I think I honestly just couldn't decide if I was willing to sacrifice 2+ hours when people kept saying the third Thor movie in the Marvel franchise wasn't even close to the first two. But, because AXN has been streaming Avengers (Phase one AND two, would you believe it?), I kind of got the wanderlust to finally sit down and figure out what happens next.
Turns out though I was wrong in waiting as long as I had.
Thor: Ragnarok is, as the title says it is, basically about the end of the world - or, at least, Thor's world, which in this case doesn't necessarily mean Earth. It kind of just means Asgard, but as Asgard was one of the Nine Known Realms of the cosmos connected with Yggdrasil ... you get the idea.
Still, it was one hell of a ride! Grab on to Thor's cape, it's off to Ragnarok we go!
I'm not entirely sure whether or not I've done any other Avengers-related movie reviews besides Age of Ultron, but I'm going to give it a search and, if there are any, you'll be able to find the links to them at the bottom of this blog post (future edit: I have quite a few ...).
Now, Thor's been a-wandering since last we saw him fight, and when we actually see him he's kind of ... tied up.
No, really, he's LITERALLY tied up.
See he's visiting Surtur, the fire giant, who will, as has been said in prophecy, bring about Ragnarok and the Fall of Asgard. Thor's idea of solving this problem is to defeat Surtur - bring his helmet over to Asgard's vault - and live happily ever after.
He does in fact manage just that, but upon arrival to Asgard proper he finds it dying a slow and painful death under Loki sculptures and honours, and finally figures out (what we viewers have known since Thor: The Dark World) that Odin is not, in fact, Odin, but Loki. And Loki doesn't want his face smashed in by Mjolnir, so he agrees to take Thor to where he left their father. Unfortunately the home for the elderly is being demolished, and Loki gets snatched before Thor can ask any more questions, but helpfully, Doctor Strange leaves him an address and the two of them come to an agreement: Thor takes Odin and Loki, and returns to Asgard. Promptly.
Unfortunately Mjolnir (disguised fetchingly as an umbrella) sort of demolishes Strange's home a little, but off to Norway we go, where Odin explains that he's dying, or fading away, whichever, and that his passing will unleash his firstborn, Hela, unto the world, and Hela will help usher in Ragnarok.
Now, the boys didn't even know they HAD a big sister (or that she's Cate Blanchett-beautiful), but there's very little time for introductions as Hela makes her grand appearance. And crushes Mjolnir with one hand.
Side-note: in the original myth, Hela was actually the daughter of Loki and Mjolnir had never been wielded by anyone but Thor, as opposed to what we'll later see in this movie.
Both brothers kind of get kicked out of the Bifrost (when did these people have time to repair it again?) and Thor crash-lands on a junkyard planet ... where he gets caught, his hair gets cut, and Jeff Goldblum tells him he's going to fight his champion. If he wins, he's free! If he loses ... he may die.
Oops.
While I'm cheering Thor's new haircut (Chris Hemsworth looks SO much better with short hair!), Loki's debating the fastest way to get off the junkyard planet after Goldblum's champion turns out to be none other than Hulk.
At first elated, and then Hulk-smashed, Thor has no choice but to fight his friend, but he does accidentally channel his thunder-and-lightning powers in the fight - which prompts Goldblum to zap him so he's incapacitated when Hulk smashes him in.
Everyone but me seems surprised when Thor wakes up mid-funeral rights and then he and Hulk have a bit of a conversation, not that it can be much when Hulk kind of has the intelligence of a school boy most of the time. But Thor sees the Quinjet Banner was last on after Sokovia, just chilling in the yard, and plans on escaping with it, and hopefully taking a remaining Valkyrie warrior with him. (She's not really having it until Loki messes with her brain though, making her relive the death of the Valkyries at the hands of Hela when Odin sent his warriors to contain her).
Anyway, before he can do ANY of that, Hulk tries to make him stay and a recording of Black Widow brings him back as Bruce Banner, who as no recollection of anything that's happened since Sokovia, two years prior.
The pair do make plans to escape, however, and are eventually joined by Valkyrie who gifts them a trussed up Loki as a peace offering. Thor helps the other gladiator fighters, led by Korg, start a revolution which provides a distraction so he and the others can go steal Goldblum's ship. Loki tries his trickery one last time, but Thor's learned about his duplicity by now and leaves him on the junkyard planet while taking off with the rest (and having a hilarious exchange with Bruce about how seven PhDs don't help with flying an alien spaceship).
They do, in fact, get off the junkyard and to Asgard, where Hela's been bringing hell on the residents (she kills the Warriors Three!), but also educating the viewers as to why, specifically, she was imprisoned:
when this all began, Hela was Odin's executioner and champion, holding Mjolnir and leading his armies as they conquered the known worlds. In those days, she rode Fenris Wolf (another one of Loki's children, natch) and the fallen were buried directly under the Asgardian throne room in honour. But then Odin decided enough was enough, and Hela was having none of it, so he imprisoned her and went on to have other kids, peacefully.
Naturally, this pissed her off to no end. And now she has Fenris with her again, and the rest of the fallen, reawakened by the Eternal Flame, when Thor & Co land on Asgard.
How does Thor know what's going on, mind you? Well, Heimdall's been banished and he kind of stole the sword that opens the Bifrost, but he's also been leading the quiet resistance against Hela and hiding people away from her. Now, with Thor's arrival (which the two orchestrated by communicating over a distance, as you do), they have a way out of there.
But first, Hela.
Thor challenges and fights her - and realizes he is not, in fact, the God of Hammers, as in a vision, Odin explains Mjolnir was never really the source of his power, as he wrongly believed; rather, it was a channel, and Thor himself can hold the power of lightning if he so chooses.
He does so choose. And fries Hela a new one while he's at it.
Meanwhile, Valkyrie and Banner go against the army, with Banner Hulking out to tackle Fenris, and Loki arrives with reinforcements in the form of Korg and the rest to help out.
Thor realizes nothing will stop Hela since she draws her power directly from Asgard; nothing, that is, except Ragnarok, and while she's distracted he sends Loki to reanimate Surtur with the Eternal Flame. Then, much to Hulk's annoyance, they leave the big monster behind to destroy Hela AND Asgard while the rest of them take off into space (a note here on Skurge, played by Karl Urban, who was mostly comedic relief throughout the story until the end when he sacrifices himself so the rest may live).
The population now safe, Thor is crowned king, and he actually resembles Odin quite a bit because he lost his right eye while fighting Hela, but now, he and his friends (Heimdall, Loki, Valkyrie, Hulk, Korg et al) have to figure out where to go. Where will they live?
Remembering Odin's words that Norway could very well be Asgard (and that Asgard is not a place, but a people), Thor plots a course for Earth.
And while he and Loki seem to have made peace, being stopped by a giant alien space ship was probably NOT part of their plans.
Thanos making an early appearance?
We'll have to wait until Avengers: Infinity War to see!
Easily the most comedic of the Thor trilogy, it's an enjoyable movie if you don't take it too seriously, wich is basically its point: the hilarity just keeps on coming from one scene to the next, but there's just enough seriousness to keep you going. And, also, Thor with short hair. Who doesn't want to see that?
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rumours about the god's impending doom during Infinity War are untrue - they can't kill Thor! Ragnarok didn't kill him (and it should have)! Why should Thanos?
Ahem.
Highly recommended as two hours worth of relaxed fun, and to catch up with some of our Marvel favourites. If you haven't seen it yet - what're you waiting for?
xx
*images and video not mine
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