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Thor: Ragnarok

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 Cate Blanchett's Hela. I don't know if she was necessarily under-served by the script but she owned the screen when she was on it.

Possibly the best thing about the film is the choice of headline track - 'The Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin. So good it appears twice, and rightly so. According to Waititi, they had to get their money's worth as the rights to Zep songs are bank-breaking. Other nice notes were the Matt Damon cameo, Hiddleston's oiliness and Thor's acid trip to meet Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster accompanied by 'Pure Imagination' from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The only mild quibbles I have are regarding the occasional looseness of direction. Apparently, a heap of scenes were pretty much improvised and it showed now and then. There's one moment, for example, where Thor and Banner are sitting in the street after escaping from somewhere and the 'banter' seems to lose focus a bit. But minor quibbles, as I said. This weird bromance works extremely well for the most part. Top craic and repeat viewings called for.

See also:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) because any chance..... What We Do in the Shadows (2014), a Taika Waititi 'mockumentary' and Little Fish (2005) for another great Cate Blanchett performance.

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