Thor: Ragnarok

Last night I finally had the opportunity to see Thor: Ragnarok and I had a blast watching this movie with a rowdy late night crowd.  Thor (Chris Hemsworth) battles against his long-lost sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) for control over Asgard but first he must escape from the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), the leader of the planet Sakaar, by fighting in a gladiator battle with the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and enlist the help of the treacherous Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and a disillusioned Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).  This movie is absolutely hilarious and I was laughing out loud within the first minute as was the rest of the crowd.  Hemsworth is a great comedic actor and I especially enjoyed all of Thor's goofy banter with Loki (my favorite character in the series) and the Hulk.  I also really liked the villain Hela and it is clear that Blanchett had a lot of fun with the role, vamping and strutting around.  There are so many funny lines in this movie but I think my very favorite is said by Korg, a rock creature who is also imprisoned by the Grandmaster, when he explains how he came to be working as a gladiator: "I tried to start a revolution but I didn't print enough pamphlets."  I laughed and laughed at that!  The production design is fantastic, especially on Sakaar with all of the psychedelic colors and retro patterns.  There are some great action sequences and the use of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" in the opening and final battles got my adrenaline pumping.  It is really lighthearted and zany but I actually did enjoy the story because the notion of Ragnarok, or apocalypse, where an old world is destroyed and a new and better one is reborn is particularly compelling.  I definitely recommend this entertaining movie for a great time at the movies!

Note:  There are some fabulous cameos, especially in the play performed on Asgard (pay attention to who is playing Loki!) and the scene where Thor's hair is cut (I think I prefer Thor with long hair, though).  The scene with Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) had me laughing the whole time ("I have been falling for 30 minutes!").