'Thor: Ragnorok' REVIEW: Colorful, zany and utterly hilarious, Marvel once again brings us a

'Thor: Ragonork' is the third film in the Thor trilogy and it's the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, the second was directed by Alan Taylor and now this time it's directed by Taika Waititi, director and actor of films like What We Do In The Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016). With all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, I'm always excited for them even if some aren't really that good like Iron Man 2 (2010) and Thor: The Dark World (2013). From just watching the trailers, I knew that this was going to be a different adventure for the Marvel hero Thor and it looked by far the most departing of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films we've had so far. Earlier this year we've had Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and both of them were solidly entertaining and fun superhero crowd-pleasers. This one is no exception.

It has been two years since we've seen the last of Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) in the film The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and shows us what he has been up to until now. Apparently he went off on his own to try and find the remaining Infinity Stones and ends up getting stranded in a junk planet run by The Grandmaster (played by Jeff Goldblum). There he finds his brother Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) and unexpectedly runs into his avenger pal The Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo). Together with an abandoned Asgardian named Valkyrie (played by Tessa Thompson) they have to stop Thor's oldest sister Hela (played by Cate Blanchett) from ruling Asgard and save its citizens. Seem pretty all over the place, right? But, that's the beauty of this film.

The first thing you should know about this movie is that it's the most balls-to-the-wall entry among the three Thor films so far. If your major complaint with those first two Thor films is that there wasn't enough Thor action and that he spent too much time on Earth and not Asgard or other worlds in the galaxy, then this is the Thor film for you. Like the first two Avengers and Guardian's movies, this manages to be brightly colorful, bizarre and other-worldly much like in the comic books. Chris Hemsworth as Thor is as usual very intelligent about being really hilarious about his muscular physique and manly facade, but still as we know him to be the mighty god of thunder and kicks all sorts of ass. What makes this film stand out among the rest of the MCU films is that it eventually becomes a buddy comedy once he meets up with The Hulk who hasn't been Bruce Banner for a long while apparently. Their comradery and witty banter make this film all the more fun to watch rather than hokey romance dialogue with Natalie Portman's character from the first two films.

The performances in this film is overall great for the film that it is like Tessa Thompson character who might work well as a potential love interest for Thor. Even though the film doesn't pursue for Thor to have a romance, but I could see him getting together with Valkyrie in future installments. Tom Hiddleston once again fits the character of Loki like a glove and manages to be quite funny while still pulling tricks up his sleeves as he is the god of mischief. There are even quite a few new characters that the film introduced that are quite amusing as well like Karl Urban as Skurge, a conflicted Asgardian who ends up teaming up with the villain of the film. Benedict Cumberbatch does make an appearance as Doctor Strange and he's also very humorous in the amount of time he has in the film.

Unfortunately with almost every entry in the MCU the antagonists are usually the weakest aspect of those films and it's the same with this one. I can happily say that Cate Blancett is giving a likable and over-the-top performance, but her character didn't really do much for me in terms of her motivation or any emotional weight at all. She was just a plot device to motivate Thor to reach his arc of the film which is fine because we still love Thor. When I say Doctor Strange made an appearance in the film, that's exactly what I meant. He only appears once and is never seen again. I was so hyped on seeing Thor, The Hulk and Doctor Strange potentially working together, but it just didn't happen and I was disappointed. In making the film look as gorgeous as possible there also a noticeable amount of green screen and CGI in some areas, especially in the action sequences. It did look like a video game action sequence at times and it was kind of distracting for moments to come. The pacing is also not as tight as it should be, but I find myself laughing hard in the next scene after it dragged for a while.

Overall, I'd say that this is my second favorite Thor film for me personally. I like the zaniness of it, but I much prefer the heart of it all like in the first film. I wouldn't say this is my favorite superhero film ever, but for what it's trying to do which is to make you laugh and keep you in awe at the size and scope of the intergalactic world, it works well in that department.

'Thor: Ragnorok' gets an A-