{"id":40176,"date":"2017-11-21T22:38:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T06:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=40176"},"modified":"2017-11-22T06:47:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T14:47:57","slug":"thor-ragnorok-taika-waititi-2017-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=40176","title":{"rendered":"Thor:  Ragnorok (Taika Waititi, 2017):  USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by Kimberli Wong, AFI Fest 2017<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone \" src=\"https:\/\/media.toofab.com\/2017\/10\/19\/hulk-thor-chris-hemsworth-main-300x250.jpg\" width=\"324\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Thor: \u00a0Ragnorok is the third installment in the Thor franchise produced by Marvel Studios. \u00a0 It follows the original Thor (2011), Thor: \u00a0The Dark World (2013), and a splattering of Marvel Studios franchise movie crossover appearances by the lead character, Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, and his brother Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston.<\/p>\n<p>In a lot of ways the third Thor is the most charming of the three. \u00a0This is also the first movie where an original Avenger makes an appearance in a specifically \u201cThor\u201d movie, not the other way around. \u00a0The (not so surprise) appearance of The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) is a highlight of the film, especially since the relationship between Thor, Loki, and The Hulk is complicated, funny, and poignant as the two brothers both have histories with the temperamental green giant. \u00a0To watch them attempt to communicate with him is always a challenge, and always entertaining.<\/p>\n<p>Thor: \u00a0Ragnorok picks up 2 years after Avengers: \u00a0Age of Ultron (2015), where the Avengers save the world but destroy an entire city in the process. \u00a0During this time, Thor has been fighting the good fight away from Asgard, only to become imprisoned by the fire demon Surtur. \u00a0He defeats Surtur, but not before Surtur reveals his father Odin is missing from Asgard. \u00a0Surtur claims when his beheaded \u201chead\u201d (his head with horns) unites with the eternal flame locked away in Odin\u2019s vault, he will rise again into the huge fire demon he is and destroy Asgard. \u00a0Thor, disbelieving, laughs, and carries the head away with him to lock it up later in&#8230; Odin\u2019s vault.<\/p>\n<p>Upon his return to Asgard, Thor finds Loki, who he believed to be dead, parading around disguised as Odin and ruling the kingdom in his stead. \u00a0Loki has locked Odin up in an old people\u2019s home on Earth, but when the two arrive there, the building is literally being torn down. \u00a0While the two are contemplating this, they are magically hijacked by Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberpatch). \u00a0Dr. Strange gives Thor beer and takes him and Loki to their father Odin.<\/p>\n<p>Odin reveals that he is dying, and upon dying his first-born Hela (Cate Blanchett), a bloodthirsty, all-powerful warrior who he locked away since she became too ambitious, will be released and try to take over any realm she can. \u00a0As soon as Odin dissolves into the mist, Hela appears and promptly gives both Loki and Thor a sound and defeating beating.<\/p>\n<p>The rest of the movie is basically Thor and Loki trapped on the alien planet Sakaar, Thor battling The Hulk in a gladiator style-battle overseen by The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), as they attempt to escape back to Asgard to stop their half-sister Hela. \u00a0One of the strengths of the Thor franchise is the incredible acting and characterization within this mostly virtual, otherworldly alien setting. \u00a0Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, specifically, do an excellent job at capturing the nuances of the Thor-Loki dynamic, so that it is both sad and funny, tragic and heart-warming, doomed and hopeful. \u00a0Cate Blanchett once again stuns with her absolute versatility as an actress, playing the almost comically evil, gorgeously vengeful half-sister convincingly undefeatable. \u00a0And the rest of the characters, too, work together to create a very touching, very real, and very human alien realm.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewed by Kimberli Wong, AFI Fest 2017 Thor: \u00a0Ragnorok is the third installment in the Thor franchise produced by Marvel Studios. \u00a0 It follows the original Thor (2011), Thor: \u00a0The Dark World (2013), and a splattering of Marvel Studios franchise movie crossover appearances by the lead character, Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, and his brother [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afi-filmfest-2017","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/226246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}