Thor: Ragnarok is poised to be a (Hulk) smash.
The embargo on reviews lifted Thursday, and the Marvel movie
is by and large earning raves from critics. In the third
installment in the series, Thor ( Chris Hemsworth ) is
imprisoned on the planet Sakaar. Without his mighty hammer
Mjolnir (or his long blond hair!), the crown prince of Asgard
must save his home planet before Hela ( Cate Blanchett ), the
goddess of death, can destroy it. But first, he must win a
gladiatorial battle against a lost ally: The Hulk ( Mark
Ruffalo ).
Directed by Taika Waititi and produced by Kevin Feige,
T
hor: Ragnarok stars Tadanobu Asano as Hogun,
Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Idris Elba as
Heimdall, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Tom Hiddleston as
Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Rachel House as Topaz,
Zachary Levi as Fandral, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Tessa
Thompson as Valkyrie and Karl Urban as Skurge. The film is
rated PG-13 for brief suggestive material and intense action
scenes.
Thor: Ragnarok is in theaters Nov. 3.
Here's what critics are saying about the movie:
• "With tongue firmly in cheek, this latest outing for the
thunder god plays more to the giddy Guardians of the
Galaxy crowd than to those who prefer their superheroes to
be grim and gritty," The Wrap 's Alonso Duralde writes,
praising its balance of "stakes and silliness." Fans "committed
to the ongoing expansion of the Marvel screen universe will come
away feeling respected for their devotion, while those who aren't
interested in the set-up for the next ten movies in the franchise
can have fun and get on with their lives." Hemsworth is a
"daft performer," whose combined humor and sexuality "make
him the 21st century version of Marilyn Monroe or Jayne
Mansfield ." His "comic rapport" with Hiddleston, Ruffalo
and Thompson makes for a "screwball delight," Duralde adds.
Whether people see superhero movies for "glossy escapism or the
pulse-pounding action, you'll get your large soda's worth."
• Infused with Waititi's "signature goofiness," Thor:
Ragnarok is "by far the best of the solo films" starring
Hemsworth "as the hammer-wielding warrior," USA
Today 's Brian Truitt writes. "It's zany to a fault, though:
The adventure leans hard into the campy Flash Gordon
vibe and slapstick humor, so much so that when the third act
save-the-world stuff comes, it doesn't feel completely earned."
While it's "fantastic" and "trippy" visuals are stunning, the
"best surprise" is seeing "both sides of Hulk, the rage monster
and the insecure genius, get more to do than in their prior two
Avengers appearances." And perhaps because of that,
Truitt writes, "Even tonal issues can't upend the magic this
movie taps into putting Thor and Hulk together as new best
buddies, whether they're throwing down in an arena or having a
bromantic heart-to-heart."
• "Undoubtedly the best of the character's three films, it's more
confident than the others, more kaleidoscopically colorful, and
more eye-catching in its design. It has more coherent fight
sequences and more impressive digital effects than its
predecessors did. And while it takes its hero's story to
surprising new places, it has an endearing reverence for his
comic-book roots: he keeps calling himself 'The Mighty Thor,'
because that used to be the title of his monthly comic," the
BBC 's Nicholas Barber writes. "More importantly, this sequel,
or threequel, establishes its blond leading man as somebody
who's fun to hang around with for two hours. Not for him the
geopolitical debates or the personal angst of Iron Man and
Captain America."
• Hemsworth "diffuses his character's beefcake machismo with
a quick tongue and a barely concealed insecurity—he's like Ben
Stiller in the body of Dolph Lundgren ," The Guardian 's
Steve Rose writes. Ruffalo gives his "most fleshed-out
performance" as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, but overall, "There
are a great many corners cut, plot holes papered over, and laws
of physics bent out of recognition in this movie, to be honest.
And if you've sat through the past dozen recent Marvel movies,
you'll find the core elements very familiar—a rag-tag team of
heroes (Thor unimaginatively dubs them 'the Revengers'), an
all-powerful antagonist, an impending apocalypse, and a set of
essentially un-killable characters. Added to which, the liberal
use of CGI and green screen makes for a visual flimsiness. Even
the scenes set in 'Norway' look fake."
• " Ragnarok is a doodle notebook full of teenage
daydreams, a neon-infused fantasy of what superhero films could
look like. There are gigantic monsters and beautiful women;
zombie armies and a big spooky dog; an evil witch and Jeff
Goldblum, but this isn't just a wacky movie made for the sake
of wackiness. Ragnarok is the child of confident filmmaking
and understanding of what the Thor franchise could have
always been," Polygon 's Brock Wilburt writes. "It takes a
character that could have always been more and makes good on
that promise through competent storytelling and unbridled
enthusiasm for the world. This is exactly how fans should be
rewarded for their fandom." Compared to other superhero films,
"There has never been a clearer example of throwing the entire
kitchen sink at a single title and having every single washer and
lug-nut of that porcelain mechanism land in perfect order" than
this.
• The movie is "pretty much skippable," Variety 's Peter
Debruge writes, "although it's not without its pleasures—most
notably, the fact that Thor's not so solo this time around..."
That said, it's also "easily the best of the three Thor movies
—or maybe I just think so because its screenwriters and I finally
seem to agree on one thing: The Thor movies are
preposterous," he adds, noting that the script makes fun of the
film's "plot, production design, locations and past adventures."
As heroes go, "Thor is a big yawn," he writes. "Irreverent
almost to the point of camp," Waititi was finally able to "imbue
Marvel's dullest Avenger with a personality—even if said
personality is little more than stony stoicism, best revealed in
comedy riffs" with The Hulk.
• Hemsworth finally gets the "chance to find the comic groove
beneath the title character's beefcake godliness," The
Hollywood Reporter 's Sheri Linden writes. "He does
it expertly, and the self-mocking humor is all the more welcome
given Thor's essential blandness." Hopkins' "high-ground
patriarch feels a tad looser," while Hiddleston "offers more of
the seething sarcasm" that makes his villain "the best thing to
happen to bad hair in the new millennium." Some scenes "might
bring a viewer back to the day's news," Linden adds, but "it's
the loose-limbed laughs that amp the story's comic-book
formula. In the evanescent Ragnarok , even the shock of
grievous bodily injury evaporates before our eyes. What will
linger when the weapons are withdrawn is the knowledge that
you've been prepped for the inevitable next chapter."
• Waititi "brings his caffeinated pinball energy to the often-
stoic Asgardian he-man, goosing the predictable, sometimes-
plodding plot beats and tired tropes of the men-in-tights genre
with giddy hits of WTF laughing gas," Entertainment
Weekly 's Chris Nashawaty writes. Even so, it's hard to
overcome the "meandering and narcoleptic story," with its "rote,
paint-by-numbers" script. Blanchett "camps and vamps" in her
role, "essentially doing exactly what Angelina Jolie did in
Maleficent and what Charlize Theron did in Snow
White and the Huntsman ." Thompson, however, is a
standout. "The Marvel universe needs to see more of her," he
says. "She's a star."
• "Anchored in genocide, slavery and the literal end of days,
this is as weighty an adventure as any the hammered one has
undertaken," Empire 's James Dyer writes. "But Waititi's
feather-light touch imbues the whole affair with effervescent
jollity, caring not a wit whether it's dealing with mass
impalements or a priceless reaction to the sight of Hulk's giant
green penis."
• "More than just having a spike in witty lines, Thor is free of
the weight of whether or not to take Odin's crown, as well as
his obligations to Earth, and instead gets to use this sequel to
stand up as the proud defender of Asgard in time of crisis,"
Cinemablend 's Eric Eisenberg writes. "Hulk has literally
evolved, going from mindless beast to a syntax-challenged
meathead who can finally start to articulate his side of his
inner-conflict with Bruce Banner. And then there's Loki, who
actually proves everyone wrong by being a somewhat effective
leader of his realm—even if it means letting everywhere else
descend into chaos." Fans have seen "a lot of these heroes and
villains over the last decade" in various films, but "this story
successfully never feels stale."
