The God of Thunder returns

On Oct. 24, the God of Thunder returned to the Marvel Franchise in “Thor: Ragnarok.” The movie fills all the plot holes from “Thor” and “Thor: The Dark World,” and features Thor and Loki searching for a way to end Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard.

In “Thor: The Dark World,” which precedes Ragnarok, the humor and the liveliness of characters was watered down and flat, lacking the “wow” factor of Marvel movies. However, director Taika Waititi took a more humorous and colorful approach in making the third installment of the Thor trilogy. Compared to the previous films of the Thor franchise, Waititi introduced more interesting supporting characters, such as the Incredible Hulk and Valkyrie, adding more flair to the plot. Hulk was reintroduced as a humorous and powerful equal with Thor, along with a carefree and tenacious Valkyrie.
My favorite supporting character arcs are those of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Valkyrie is a former Valkyrior, a group of legendary warriors that were defeated by Hela. The film brings a different side to Loki than the villainous backstabber of previous movies. Instead, Hela (Cate Blanchett) takes the role of antagonist, enabling Tom Hiddleston and Taika Waititi to give Loki’s character a new likable charisma and in-depth motivation. Hela’s dominant and malicious character helps reveal the dark nature of Norse Mythology.  As for Valkyrie, her character development is a bit rushed and cliched, but she  nevertheless represents Marvel’s highest caliber female superhero since Black Widow in the Avengers franchise.
The movie soundtrack and CGI had a “Guardians of the Galaxy” vibe to it, giving the movie an upbeat and colorful mood. Ryan Lin (‘19) says, “As always, Marvel’s CGI artists do a spectacular job of bringing fantasy to life on the big screen.”  I also really enjoyed the soundtrack from “Thor: The Dark World,” so it was nice to see them reuse some bits of it in the movie.  In this movie,  the studio used Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” because it adds to the energy from the fight scenes. According to Business Insider, in addition to the adrenaline-fueled vibe, the lyrics mention “the hammer of the gods,” perfectly describing Thor.
“Thor: Ragnarok” ties up the loose ends from many previous Marvel Cinematic Universe  films; it also has many Easter eggs and callbacks to the previous films, which fans will  appreciate. “Thor: Ragnarok” does an excellent job of introducing new characters and developing previous ones, all of which we hopefully will see in the future MCU films.