Ragnarockin' It

SPOILERS FOR THOR: RAGNAROK

As my brother Sean puts it, Thor: Ragnarok is "the Flash Gordon-iest movie since Flash Gordon." And that's a good thing; this film knows exactly what it is, a lighthearted adventure story with just a touch of drama and pathos so as to give the stakes some heft without diminishing any of the fun.

Stuff I loved:

• The performances, particularly Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Blanchett, and Ruffalo
• The kickass score
• The opening sequence - Thor vs. Surtur
• The Thor/Hulk bromance
• The well-executed Dr. Strange cameo
• Korrg and his insect knife-buddy
• The clever banter and wit
• The escape scene
• Hela is one of the better Marvel villains, with a solid motivation and a sense of genuine menace
• The notion that Asgard is a people, not a place
• Valkyrie was cool
• Jeff Goldblum!
• Jeff Goldblum's no-nonsense helper
• Great colour palette on the garbage planet
• Great spaceship designs

Stuff I thought didn't go over quite as well as it should have:

• Loki's gimmick is starting to wear thin; in particular, the major twist of The Dark World is given an anticlimactic finish here
• Despite the epic scale of the climax and the major change to the status quo, I was expecting something...weighter to lead into Infinity War
• Both post-credit sequences were rather underwhelming
• No Howard the Duck cameo! For shame

All in all, though, this was a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek ride--a refreshing change of pace from the more portentous Marvel films.