Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the next post in my series covering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time, we are looking at the final movie released in the calendar year of 2017: “Thor: Ragnarok”. Directed by Taika Waititi, this movie stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Cate Blanchett as Hela (Goddess of Death), Idris Elba as Heimdall, Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk. As the subtitle suggests, Asgard is in danger of being destroyed. It’s not all serious, as we’ll cover later. For now, let’s get into detail on how the movie went down.
After the Marvel Studios logo pops up, we catch up with Thor as he is captured and in chains on the realm known as Muspelheim. He mentions past events that happened as well as telling us and a skeleton that he hasn’t captured any Infinity Stones. He falls from the cage to the big room where Surtur (Clancy Brown) tells him that his goal is to destroy Asgard. Thor is spinning around slowly while being chained while Surtur is talking about this. Thor is also told that Odin is not on Asgard. Before Thor gets killed by Surtur, he is able to summon Mjolnir to get out of the chains. He fights a bunch of Surtur’s minions and takes off Surtur’s crown with his hammer. Thor signals for Heimdall, who is not at the Bifrost due to being a vigilante on Asgard. His replacement named Skurge (Karl Urban) gets Thor back on Asgard just in time before he gets eaten by a dragon-like monster. Thor returns to Asgard where he sees a play that is being performed. Matt Damon is Loki, Luke Hemsworth is Thor, and Sam Neill plays Odin in this funny skit that replays Loki’s “death” scene from “The Dark World”. “Odin” (Loki in disguise) welcomes Thor back to Asgard. Thor tells someone to keep Surtur’s crown safe. Thor then throws Mjolnir around until he throws it far ahead and brings it back with his hand, which is behind the face of the fake Odin. At the last moment, Loki takes off the disguise and doesn’t get hit by the hammer. Loki is then questioned where Odin is, and the two of them head to Earth. After they see a demolished retirement home, Thor tells Loki and a couple of girls that he mutually dumped Jane. Loki is dropped into an eternal chasm while Thor goes to talk with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Thor is questioned by Strange about why he is on Earth. Thor tells him that he is looking for Odin. Strange says that Odin is in Norway and uses a piece of Thor’s hair to help teleport him and Loki to where Odin is. Loki is released from the chasm and falls to the ground. He yells this: “I have been falling for 30 minutes!” Before Loki gets to fight Strange, he and Thor get transported to talk with Odin.
The chat is brief however, as Odin is near death thanks to Loki’s spell. Odin tells them that they have a sister named Hela, who will be released once Odin fades into dust. He says that he loves them both before dying. Thor is angry at Loki for a moment before Hela appears. Thor then throws his hammer at Hela, but she is able to tear it into pieces. Loki desperately tells the people at the Bifrost to bring them back. Hela follows both of them and send them both to a place called Sakaar while she goes to Asgard and kills two of the Warriors 3 (Volstagg and Fandral). She also gives an assistant job to Skurge. Sakaar, where Thor and Loki landed, is basically where all junk throughout space goes. Thor fights some scavengers before being put in an electrical net. He gets rescued by a drunk lady who takes care of the scavengers. Thor thanks her but she gives him a shocking disk to the neck. This disk can be activated by pushing a button. She sends him to meet the Grandmaster. Thor is shocked again while asking her a question. Meanwhile, Hela kills all of the soldiers and Hogun, plus some ships, by herself before seeing the palace. Heimdall grabs the Bifrost sword before we see Thor on a chair where he is informed during a trippy sequence about The Grandmaster. He meets the Grandmaster at last after screaming at him. Thor then sees someone get pardoned from life in a gooey mess. The Grandmaster tells Thor about the Contest of Champions. Somehow, Thor sees Loki, who was not given a chair. After that whisper match, Thor is told that he will be given his freedom if he wins against the champion. Thor then meets Korg and Miek in a circular room. Korg is made of rocks while Miek has some blades. Korg tells Thor that nobody has won against the champion. Back on Asgard, Hela destroys the ceilings to reveal the history of Asgard when Hela was around. Hela tells Skurge that she was banished by Odin. She goes into the vault and find the Eternal Flame, which brings back a lot of undead soldiers and a big wolf named the Fenris Wolf. Back in the circular room on Sakaar, Loki arrives to talk to Thor via hologram. Thor keeps throwing rocks at him while he talks about numerous things, including potentially teaming up with him and Hela. Thor responds with the reminder that Loki took the throne and sent Odin off to die on Earth, which releases Hela. After Loki leaves, Thor heads to another room to get a weapon for his fight with the champion. Thor tells Korg about Mjolnir and how he could fly with it. Thor finds out that the drunk lady is a Valkyrie before she shocks him again and he is taken for a haircut. Stan Lee does the haircut with a crazy scissor contraption. After the haircut, Thor gets on the battle floor while he waits for the champion to show up. Once the champion shows up, Thor realizes that it is the Hulk. Thor yells out “Yes” and also says this: “We know each other! He’s a friend from work!” Loki is terrified at this revelation as he remembers being thrown by him back in New York. Thor and Hulk then battle it out, with each of them exchanging blows. After Thor pulls a big hammer out of the wall and hits Hulk with it, he says the line that Black Widow said to Hulk in “Age of Ultron”: “Hey, big guy. Sun’s getting real low.” It works for a moment, but Thor gets thrown around by the Hulk similar to how Loki got thrown around years earlier. Thor and Hulk then exchange more hits until it looks like Thor will die. But then, Thor has visions of his dad and punches Hulk with a lot of lightning a couple of times. Thor seems to have the fight won until the Grandmaster shocks him via the neck disk (even though Thor had a lot of lightning already) and gives Hulk a free win.
Back on Asgard, Hela gives Skurge the role of executioner, which was the same role that she had when Odin was king. They then go to get the Bifrost sword, which was taken by Heimdall (but they don’t know that yet). We then see Heimdall fight off some undead soldiers while protecting civilians and leading them to a hiding place. Back in Sakaar, Thor scares some ladies off after being cleaned by them. He puts his clothes back on before seeing Hulk get out of a hot tub naked. Hulk tells Thor that he arrives via the Quinjet from “Age of Ultron”. Thor tells Hulk that he needs to prevent Ragnarok from happening. Hulk tells him that he wants to stay because he believes that Earth hates him. Thor attempts to leave the room, but is shocked and hit by a force field. Thor sees a vision and talks with Heimdall for a moment in this vision. Later, Thor and Hulk have a confrontation, but they talk calmly after that. The next day, Valkyrie enters the room, messes with Hulk, and drinks a big bottle in a few seconds while Thor tells her what is happening on Asgard. She is then told that Hela has taken over Asgard. Valkyrie refuses to go at first, which makes Thor go by himself (after getting the shock disk off of his neck). He breaks a window and falls down to the ground. He finds the Quinjet and gets in it. He tries a few names until he says “Point Break” (the nickname given to Thor by Stark). Hulk then arrives and damages the Quinjet, but not before seeing the video of Natasha trying to get him to turn around from “Age of Ultron”. Hulk turns back to Banner after seeing that video. Banner wonders if he has been the Hulk for two straight years (he has). Thor and Banner then see a hologram of the Grandmaster telling the citizens to find them. Thor keeps reminding Banner to keep calm. We then see the Grandmaster task Loki and Valkyrie to find them. Loki and Valkyrie fight each other for a moment. During the fight, Loki touches her forehead to give her visions of the past. After that, she knocks him out cold. Elsewhere, Thor and Banner have a talk in which Banner fears that if he turns to Hulk again, Banner might not turn back to human form. While they walk in secret, Banner gets splashed with green powder and sees a few reminders of Hulk, causing him to run away and get lost. Valkyrie arrives and finds the two of them in the streets before bringing them to a room where Loki is at. Valkyrie tells them that she can’t run away anymore and she wants to fight Hela. After they get in the room, Thor throws something at Loki to make sure he is real (he is real this time). Thor tells the others that they are going to go through something called “The Devil’s Anus” (which is the biggest hole in Sakaar) to get back to Asgard. They also need a specific type of ship to get past it. Valkyrie lets Korg and Miek free to start a revolution. Loki is set free to help Thor get to the ships (a funny “Get help” scene happens), but he tricks him again. Thor responds by activating a shock disk that he put on Loki’s back earlier and gets on the ship. Thor tells Loki that he will always be known as the God of Mischief. Thor starts to fly the ship with Valkyrie and Banner flying on another one. Valkyrie sends Banner flying into the ship that Thor is flying while she fights off another ship. She also tells them that the Grandmaster’s personal ship is used for pleasure. As Valkyrie fights, Thor helps her and leaves Banner on the ship. Banner accidentally activates fireworks that distract the enemies and lets Thor and Valkyrie go back to the ship. The three of them go through “The Devil’s Anus” and make their way to Asgard, with Korg and his friends (plus Loki) not too far behind. Back on Asgard, Skurge nearly executes a lady with a big ax before a man tells him and Hela where the Bifrost sword is. Once the ship arrives on Asgard, Thor tells Banner and Valkyrie that he is going to the palace to distract Hela from getting to the hiding place where Heimdall is. Before Thor leaves, he gives Valkyrie a gun and her outfit. Hela opens the doors to find nobody at the hiding place as Heimdall leads the people to the Bifrost bridge. Hela then meets Thor at the throne and the two of them fight each other. As Heimdall leads the people to the Bifrost, he comes across Hela’s wolf and leads the people away from it. But then, Skurge shows up with the undead soldiers and ask for the sword. Back at the palace, Thor struggles with Hela and loses an eye. Elsewhere, Valkyrie can’t shoot the wolf dead and Heimdall prepares to fight it. Banner then falls down and is unconscious at the moment. Banner then turns to the Hulk and fights the wolf in the water. Korg and his friends (plus Loki) arrive with the huge ship capable of holding the rest of the Asgardian people while the ship that Valkyrie is on crashes to the bridge. Hela stabs Thor another time and asks him what he was the god of. Thor then sees a vision of Odin, who tells him that the hammer helped Thor control his power. He also says that Asgard is not a place, but the people in it. After that vision, Thor send a huge lightning strike to Hela and gets on the bridge to the tune of “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin. He and the others fight the undead soldiers while Hulk sends the wolf down to the abyss of space. After the song is over, Thor and Valkyrie fight with Hela, even though she was struck by a big bolt of lightning earlier. Before the fight, Thor tells Loki to put the crown of Surtur in the Eternal Flame to cause the destruction of Asgard. Hela disrupts the ship from departing, but not for long. Skurge helps for a bit, but he gets killed off by Hela. Hela tells Thor that he can’t beat her. Thor responds that Surtur can, which he does. Even though Hulk stops Ragnarok for a moment, Thor and Valkyrie tell him to stop and leave with them. Everyone on the ship watches the destruction of Asgard with sadness, but Heimdall says that “Asgard is not a place. It’s the people.” Thor gets an eyepatch and has a calm moment with Loki on the ship. Later, Thor finally gets to be a king of his people and tells Heimdall to set the course for Earth. After a creative name montage, we see Loki question Thor if he is welcomed back to Earth after New York. We then see the big Asgardian ship get invaded by Thanos and his bigger ship. The post-credits scene involves the Grandmaster being faced down by the people that he was the master of earlier. The movie ends with the teaser that “Thor will return in Avengers: Infinity War.”
This movie is still a blast to watch even now. There are a whole bunch of funny moments in this movie, including the “Get Help” scene in which Thor throws Loki at some guards. In fact, I enjoyed all of the scenes involving Thor and Loki. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston were perfect choices for those respective characters. Cate Blanchett was a great villain as the character of Hela, who is the goddess of death in Norse mythology. In addition to directing the movie, Taika Waititi was great as Korg. He had some funny moments, including “Piss off, ghost!” I also liked Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, though he was mainly playing himself in that role. Tessa Thompson kicked a lot of butt as Valkyrie. It was interesting to see a kind of Planet Hulk storyline in this movie when Hulk was the champion in Sakaar. The fight between Hulk and Thor was entertaining as heck, even though it ended with a free win for Hulk. Anthony Hopkins only had a few minutes on screen, but I appreciated the scenes with him and his sons and with him talking to Thor about asking him if he is “Thor: God of Hammers.” In terms of music, I loved it when the movie used Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, especially at the Bifrost bridge fight scene. The score by Mark Mothersbaugh was interesting and effective for the movie’s scenes.
Overall, “Thor: Ragnarok” is still a very entertaining movie to watch. There are lots of laughs, plenty of fun action scenes, and some heart too. It is easily my favorite Thor movie in the MCU, and it is a must watch before “Avengers: Infinity War”. There is one more movie before we see Thanos. That movie is “Black Panther”. I’ll get that post out soon. Have a great day, everyone.
(Here is the video from How It Should Have Ended on this movie. Kudos to them for this video.)
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