Thor: Ragnarok

"We know each other! He's a friend from work!"

- Thor

Thor Ragnarok is a 2017 American superhero action scifi comedy-drama film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Thor (2011) and Thor: The Dark World (2013), and the 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Taika Waititi from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing team of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Hopkins. It premiered in Los Angeles on October 10, 2017, and was released in the United States on November 3, 2017, as part of Phase Three of the MCU. A sequel, Thor: Love and Thunder, is scheduled for release on May 6, 2022.

Plot
The movie begins with Thor imprisoned on Muspelheim confronting Surtur, a fire demon who claims he's prophecized to destroy Asgard by causing the Ragnarok once his crown touches the eternal flames in Odin's vault. Thor swiftly defeats Surtur, takes his crown, and returns to Asgard only to find Skurge has replaced Heimdallr after the latter apparently was fired by Odin. Thor quickly deduces that Loki is impersonating Odin and blows his cover, enraged, he forces Loki to help him find Odin who is on Earth.

Upon arriving at New York the two find out that the Retire House were Loki dumped Odin was demolished and suddenly Loki is kidnapped by Doctor Strange. Thor visits Strange's place and informs him that they're looking for Odin. Strange offers to help but as soon as they find him the Asgardians must leave Earth. He uses Thor's hair to find Odin and opens a portal for him and Loki to go after Odin.

Due to the four years Odin spent on Earth as a mortal, the aging process has caught up to him and he's about to die, but before he does he warns his sons that Ragnarok is incoming and once he dies their sister Hela will be released from her prison. Odin dies, and just like he said Hela appears. Thor attacks her but she effortlessly destroys Mjolnir. Loki tries to flee back to Asgard but Hela chases after them and knocks them away while traveling the Bifrost warp tunnel. Hela arrives at Asgard and promptly takes over the realm, killing many civilians and forcing Skurge to be her executioner. She also uses the Eternal flames to revive her old army and the Fenris Wolf

Thor finds himself in a strange planet full of wormholes but before he can do anything he is captured by an alcoholic bounty hunter. Thor is taken to "The Grandmaster", he explains that Thor is in Sakaar, the dumpster planet where most people are stranded and the Grandmaster plans for him to be a gladiator for his entertainment; if Thor defeats the Champion he'll be freed and allowed to go back to Asgard so he can confront Hela and stop Ragnarok. Thor also finds Loki has befriended the Grandmaster. While preparing for his fight against the champion he befriends a rock monster called Korg, he also finds out that the scavenger that captured him is actually a Valkyrie, an ancient race of Asgardian warrior women who dissapeared a long time ago for some reason.

Back in Asgard Hela reveals that she and Odin rose Asgard to power through blood, violent wars, and aggression but after a while, Odin banished Hela and tried to cover up his darker past with a pacifist facade. During her rule Asgard has fallen into chaos while she plans to conquer other worlds to establish the Asgardian empire only to find the Sword that operates Bifrost has gone missing; Heimdallr stole the sword and established a shelter for refugees to hide from Hela's wrath.

Thor goes to the Colosseum to fight the champion only to find none other than Hulk. Thor is pleased at first and Loki is utterly terrified, but he soon finds out that Hulk has fully taken control of Banner and intends on attacking Thor. The two fight and are evenly matched until Thor momentarily activate his thunder control powers without Mjolnir, with that he almost wins but the Grandmaster cheats by electrocuting Thor with a taser attached to his neck so Hulk can win.

A while later Hulk and Thor share a brief talk as Hulk has learned to talk albeit in a very rudimentary way. During the talk Thor finds the Avengers Quinjet that stranded Hulk in Sakaar, he also learns that Hulk hasn't reverted back to Banner in two years and wants to stay in Sakaar. The two bicker for a while but eventually Thor convinces Hulk to help him reach the Quinjet, he also tries to convince Valkyrie to join him and stop Hela but she refuses. Thor reaches the Quinjet and tries to activate it when suddenly Hulk appears, inadvertently breaking the jet. Thor activates a message from Natasha which soothes Hulk and causes him to turn into Banner again. Banner is shocked to learn that Hulk had developed a consciousness of his own and that he's been stranded on an alien planet for two years.

The Grandmaster assumes Thor kidnapped Hulk and puts a bounty on him, forcing Thor and Banner to remain hidden. Thor tries to convince Banner to help him fight Hela but Banner's afraid that if he becomes Hulk again, Hulk will try to take full control of the body once more. Valkyrie and Loki compete to find the two and briefly fight, during which Loki accidentally takes a look at Valkyrie's memories; she and the rest of the Valkyries had helped Odin fight against Hela but Hela killed every single one, she was the only one who survived because she fell into a wormhole to Sakaar.

Valkyrie finds Thor and Banner and offers to help them defeat Hela after all, she takes them to her room where she has Loki captured so the four can figure out a way to escape Sakaar before Ragnarok. Loki had stolen several security codes from the Grandmaster they can use to hijack some of his ships which they can take to the wormhole connected to Asgard, but they'll need a massive distraction so they can reach the ships. Thor comes up with an idea, and suggests they call themselves "The Revengers" but no one likes the name. Thor convinces Korg to start a revolution against the Grandmaster while Valkyrie deactivates the tasers on all the slaves.

During the revolution Thor and Loki get to the ships, Loki tries to backstab Thor but Thor, already predicting that, puts a taser on Loki to electrocute him. He tells Loki that it's for the best if he stays in Sakaar so he can rule the place, and so the two never see each other again before leaving with Valkyrie and Banner. Not long after that Korg and the rebels find Loki and take him in a massive ship as they escape as well.

In Asgard, Hela is about to find Heimdallr's shelter when she realizes Thor is at the throne so she goes to confront him, during which Heimdallr guides the refugees to Bifrost so they can evacuate the planet. Thor and Hela have a brief talk over what Odin wanted for Asgard's future and battle each other. Hela's army and Fenris ambush the refugees at the Bifrost when Valkyrie and Banner show up. Banner decides to become Hulk once more to fight Fenris. Hela overpowers Thor and punctures one of his eyes, as she prepares to kill him Thor has a vision of Odin. Thor fears Hela can't be defeated and Asgard is doomed, only for Odin's spirit to tell him that Asgard is not a location, it's the civilization. With those encouraging words, Thor activates his Thunder powers to blast Hela away.

Loki and Korg arrive in their massive ship, which happens to be large enough to carry what's left of the Asgardian population. Loki joins the fight while the civilians aboard the ship and Hulk defeats Fenris and Skurge sacrifices himself so the Asgardians can get on the ship. Thor returns but Hela is still coming, she confronts the Revengers still confident that she's unbeatable because Asgard is what makes her powerful. At that moment Thor comes to a conclusion, Odin didn't want them to stop Ragnarok, in fact, it is the key to defeat Hela. Thor and Valkyrie fight Hela while Loki goes to Odin's vault so he can put Surtr's crown on the Eternal Flame, he also stumbles into the Tesseract. Surtr awakens and begins Ragnarok, Hulk briefly tries to attack Surtr but Thor convinces him that "Big monster" is not the enemy. Hulk reluctantly takes the three to the ship as it begins to take off. Surtr proceeds to completely destroy Asgard, also killing Hela in the process.

Now in outer space, Thor mourns the loss of Asgard but also understand that it was for the best. He also finds out that Loki used the Tesseract to warp himself to the ship and genuinely plans to stay. Thor finally takes the throne of Asgard and promises to rebuild their civilization, but until then the ship is on route to Earth so Hulk can return home and to shelter the Asgardians for the time being.

In the mid-credits scene, The Statesman encounters a massive ominous ship.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The film is very different to the previous Thor movies, seeing as the side characters like Jane aren't featured (outside of a mention), the tone is more light-hearted, giving off an improv comedy vibe, and the formula for the predecessors is pretty much dropped. And yet with that, the film still works tremendously.
 * 2) After the mixed reception to Thor: The Dark World and Thor's relative lack of popularity compared to the other Avengers, Chris Hemsworth requested for Thor's character to go through some major changes, including cutting his hair and getting rid of Mjolnir. The changes paid off very well, Thor is now very different from the serious Shakespearian talking brute from previous MCU films; here he is very ironic, more comedic, smarter, less arrogant, and more badass without his hammer.
 * 3) *Subtle hints throughout the movie suggest that Thor's more comedic side is his way of hiding his grief over recent events, which would eventually be confirmed in Avengers: Endgame, when it turns out that he suffers from PTSD and depression related to said events, and his comedic side is to relieve himself.
 * 4) Loki is amazing and very different from the murderous supervillain he was in The Avengers and Thor: The Dark World, here he is a mentally sane person despite an anti-heroic personality until the end where he becomes a true hero and has a bit of guilt over what he did to Earth in past.
 * 5) "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin is used during two major action sequences, and it fits both beautifully.
 * 6) Hulk is back! And this is arguably his best appearance so far. While he talks in the previous films, albeit rarely, he talks much more now to a limited degree, which gives him more personality.
 * 7) Elements from the Planet Hulk storyline are adapted into the story.
 * 8) When Hulk smashes Thor in the arena, it's a hilarious callback to the first Avengers film when Hulk smashes Loki at Stark Tower, especially with Loki's reaction.
 * 9) Lots of funny comedy that doesn't feel forced or out of place, like Odin reminding Thor that he's not the god of hammers.
 * 10) Many non-intrusive callbacks to previous MCU movies.
 * 11) Hela may not be the MCU's most well known villain, but she manages to pose an incredible threat to the heroes, and somehow did the impossible by destroying Thor's hammer, and coming dangerously close to killing her own brother.
 * 12) Doctor Strange makes a brief but very funny cameo in the beginning.
 * 13) Thor and Loki finally reconcile and for once Loki doesn't end the movie as a backstabbing jerk.
 * 14) Skurge's death scene was very faithfully recreated from the comics.
 * 15) At the very ending of the movie, Thor's theme song from the first movie is played slightly remixed to symbolize Thor's character arc concluding with him finally taking the throne of Asgard.
 * 16) Although this movie is mostly a comedy, it has dramatic elements like Odin's death and Asgard's destruction.
 * 17) Korg is a funny likable comic relief. His scene when kicking the wall because he thought there was a ghost became a memorable scene.
 * 18) "I've been falling for 30 minutes!"
 * 19) * "Piss off, ghost!"
 * 20) Awesome action sequences, like the bridge battle where Bruce Banner (previously the Hulk) jumps off a ship to land in front of a dog so that the army further in front can make a preemptive strike.
 * 21) The "4D" rendition by James Corden, which featured the film's main cast, was a pretty funny recreation of the movie, and the actors clearly had fun performing it.
 * 22) "Get help! Please, get help! My brother is dying! Help him!"
 * 23) The musical score by The Lego Movie composer Mark Mothersbaugh is excellent.
 * 24) Great direction by Taika Waititi.
 * 25) Awesome cinematography.
 * 26) The scene in the final battle where Thor controls lightning without the Mjolnir is just plain EPIC!!!

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some of the jokes can be hit-and-miss, particularly when Hulk walks about naked.
 * 2) A few bad characters that barely have personality or character development are here and there:
 * 3) *Hela has barely any personality, and most of her scenes feel very out of place in the movie. Although Cate Blanchett's threatening performance somewhat makes up for it.
 * 4) *Surtur is also quite disappointing, since he doesn't have much personality either, is very bent on destroying Asgard and little more (kind of like Malekith from the previous movie), and only appears at the beginning and part of the end.

Reception
Thor: Ragnarok received praise for its acting and Waititi's direction, as well as the action sequences and humor, with many critics considering it to be the best installment of the Thor films. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating with an average score of 7.6/10, based on 428 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exciting, funny, and above all fun, Thor: Ragnarok is a colorful cosmic adventure that sets a new standard for its franchise—and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, the best of the Thor series, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 90% overall positive score and an 85% "definite recommend".

Trivia

 * There's a deleted scene where Yondu Udonta from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 appears for a quick cameo. It was later explained that this scene was filmed as a joke because Yondu's actor Michael Rooker happened to be near the set when they were filming Thor: Ragnarok and was allowed into the set.
 * The Infinity Gauntlet with all six Infinity Stones was briefly seen in Odin's treasure vault during the first Thor movie, which lead to many confusions when Thanos was shown with the gauntlet later. This movie soft retcons the gauntlet in the vault into a fake replica, thus clearing up the confusion.
 * According to the director Taika Waititi, about 80% of the dialogue in the final cut of the movie were improvised.
 * A Sequel, Thor: Love and Thunder is set to release on July 8, 2022.