“Thor: Ragnarok” debuted in theaters this past weekend, raking in an opening day total of $46.5 million dollars. Although the latest installment in the “Thor” series didn’t exactly live up to audience’s expectations, the incorporation of big name villains left lots of play for further exploration in upcoming sequels and within “The Avengers” saga.
The last installment of Thor’s story took place within “The Avengers: Age of Ultron.” There appears to be little connection from this Avengers movie to his own last movie, “Thor: The Dark World,” with audiences finding Thor in the dungeon of Surtur.
It’s almost as if Thor is breaking the fourth wall, like Deadpool did within his movie of the same title, and it looks like Marvel attempted to bring some of Deadpool’s classic language and interaction into the film, although mostly in this opening scene.
To viewers who have followed all of Marvel’s latest movie installments, or fans of the comics, this opening scene jarred viewers away from the classic Thor that they had loved, forcing him into a role based more on comic relief. After opening the movie pretty much just like the situation Deadpool finds himself within, the comic relief and jokes added throughout the rest of the film mirrored the humor within “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which was very startling for viewers, especially seeing how Thor and Loki weren’t considered as humorous of characters before “Thor: Ragnarok.”
The first half of the movie, after the death of Oden and brief introduction of Hela, Oden’s first born daughter and the goddess of death, is spent on garbage wormhole planet Sakaar. There, Thor runs into his old buddy and fellow Avenger, The Hulk. The two are forced to fight, which was teased heavily throughout released movie trailers, and the fight was perhaps the only thing that lived up to expectations. Like Thor, Marvel attempted to make The Hulk a point of comic relief, even in his green, monster form, which was a little distracting to audiences, but enabled a lot more laughs than some of Thor’s humor.
One of the biggest disappointments from “Thor: Ragnarok” was villain Hela herself. Although students will have to go see the movie to discover what happens in the final fight scene, be prepared for a major let-down. Thor finds himself on the outskirts of the final fight, as, without his hammer, is of little use to fight to save Asgard from total destruction.
“Thor: Ragnarok,” even amidst its attempt to follow at the comedic heels of hit movies “Deadpool” and “The Guardians of the Galxy,” continued to put Thor in the midst of an intergalactic battle for supremacy and safety, which made the latest “Thor” installment easier to watch. Although it wasn’t exactly what audiences thought they were going to see when sitting down in the theater, “Thor: Ragnarok” put a different spin on the traditional ‘Thor-saves-Earth’ theme that was becoming way too predictable, even for a Marvel movie.
Thor will reappear in the next installment of “The Avengers” saga, “The Avengers: Infinity Wars,” premiering sometime in 2019.
As Witt Night at the Movies approaches on Wednesday, students can’t miss the opportunity to see “Thor: Ragnarok” for free, especially as a non-traditional Marvel and “Thor” presentation.
