Film Shapes

Thor: Ragnarok is the 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yep, 17. Considering they started with Iron Man only 9 years ago, that's quite a pace. And this third Thor film is one of the best. It's certainly the most straight-out comedic in tone, even though it deals with death and destruction - 'The Fate of the Gods' in old Norse mythology. The constant subversion of the super-heroic moments are great (though Shane Black did something similar in  Iron Man 3 ). For the most part, Earth is a minor player here with the action split between Asgard and a planet called Sakaar - familiar to comic readers as the setting of 'Planet Hulk'. Two of that comic's characters, Korg and Miek pop up in very different roles. Korg is basically a rock man voiced by the director Taika Waititi, and Miek is a non-speaking insect, obviously. The film doesn't drag at all and things knit neatly, and kind of unexpectedly, at the end but I could have done with more of...