MCU REWATCH REVIEW: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

My emotions have been all over the place with regard to this movie in the last year. Before we knew anything about the direction that they were taking with it, I speculated based on the casting of Cate Blanchett as the villainous Hela, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Karl Urban as Skurge that the Marvel Cinematic Universe was making a push for one of its movies to win an Oscar, and Thor would be a great vehicle to do that considering the mythological, grandiose storytelling aspect that could be employed. 

Then they indicated that there would be a tonal shift and showed us as much with the 80's retro graphics treatment and Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin in the trailers, which led me and everyone else to believe that they were taking a real Guardians of the Galaxy approach to Thor now, a complete departure from the tone of the first two movies. When I actually saw the movie, I confirmed it for myself but I still very much enjoyed it and at the time called it the best of the Thor movies like so many others did. 

Now I've watched all of the Thor movies again recently as part of this big MCU re-watch effort and I've moved Ragnarok down to third-best Thor movie, which doesn't mean that I don't like it anymore, but does mean that I think the first and second Thor movies are better and the reason really comes down to that tonal shift. I didn't need it. Not one bit. I liked the other Thor movies and the direction that they were going in with them, enough to the point that I wanted to see it continue without going super space sci-fi with comedic stylings interwoven through. Sadly for me, the rest of the audience at-large didn't seem to agree and Marvel Studios made the tonal change, which might be the biggest effect that the Tonal Turn has had on an MCU movie since Guardians of the Galaxy was introduced. 

Thor: Ragnarok isn't bad, it just definitely takes on the idea of emphasizing the humor and the campy nature of certain things like Guardians of the Galaxy does. You see that from the beginning with Thor's conversation with Surtur about Ragnarok. It's humorous and lighthearted despite the severity of what they are actually talking about, but I liked it because it was dry humor and I have an appreciation for that. 

Not every joke hits home though, like the Matt Damon Loki impersonator joke as Loki rules Asgard incompetently as a projection of Odin, but still it's a case where the humor doesn't destroy the story for me and is in fact a part of the story itself. You still get the Hela story, you still get Hulk being named the champion of the Grandmaster and you get the actual realization of Ragnarok and a destroyed Asgard, which is devastating and is certain to have repercussions throughout the whole MCU. 

I don't really have much else to say about this movie since it's one of the pretty recent ones and not much changed for me other than my ranking order with the other Thor movies. I still think it's solid, has less jokes than Guardians of the Galaxy 2 by far, and even though it does represent the Tonal Turn very well, it's not a comedy by nature despite the jokes are in it. It's not the first Thor movie I would pop into watch but it's definitely one that I wouldn't mind watching again at all. 

Plus I do like Led Zeppelin so that's got to count for something.