Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok reinvented the God of Thunder’s solo MCU franchise by injecting his standalone adventures with a healthy dose of humor. Chris Hemsworth had a better time playing the character than he had in years under Waititi’s direction. It really shows in the movie, and the fun that Hemsworth had on the set transfers to the fans in the audience.
While it’s funny enough to be an out-and-out comedy – especially in a time when the comedy genre is dying with an endless slew of lazy duds – Ragnarok is ultimately a comic book action-adventure, so it has plenty of explosive set pieces.
Action Sequence: Thor Vs. Surtur
The opening scene of Thor: Ragnarok finds the God of Thunder trapped in a cage in the hellish home of Surtur, surrounded by fire and brimstone, and mocks the Fire Giant until they engage in a fight.
Thor holds out his hand, summoning Mjolnir, and makes short work of Surtur’s demons – as well as Surtur himself – set to the rocking sounds of Led Zeppelin’s Norse mythology-themed hit “Immigrant Song.”
Gag: Loki’s Play
After Surtur told Thor that Odin is not on Asgard, the God of Thunder returns to his home realm and sees Odin staging a wildly inaccurate play about his sons’ relationship.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that “Odin” is really Loki in disguise. The play is a hilarious gag, with Luke Hemsworth cameoing as the actor playing Thor and Matt Damon cameoing as the actor playing Loki.
Action Sequence: Thor Vs. The Hulk
When Thor arrives on Sakaar, he’s quickly put in chains and forced into a gladiatorial arena to face the Grandmaster’s champion, who turns out to be the Hulk. At first, Thor is relieved, because his fearsome opponent is “a friend from work.”
But then, the Hulk begins to charge, and he doesn’t seem to recognize his fellow Avenger. So, Thor is forced to fight the green meanie in one of the MCU’s most incredible hero-on-hero fight scenes, up there with Captain America fighting himself in Avengers: Endgame.
Gag: Korg’s Introduction
Korg, voiced by director Taika Waititi, has one of the MCU’s most hysterical character introductions in Thor: Ragnarok. Thor first meets him when he’s captured by the Grandmaster and locked up with Sakaar’s gladiators.
The delightfully mild-mannered Korg greets Thor and shows him around. He cracks plenty of jokes along the way, all delivered with Waititi’s signature deadpan style.
Action Sequence: The Valkyries Flashback
It takes a while for Thor: Ragnarok to reveal Valkyrie’s backstory to us. When Thor realizes she’s a Valkyrie, we see a flashback to the traumatic event to led her to a life as an alcoholic drifter on a garbage planet.
She rode into battle with the other Valkyries against Hela and found themselves hopelessly outmatched as she slaughtered nearly the entire army. It’s a breathtakingly cinematic sequence.
Gag: “Get Help!”
After the previous two Thor movies used the God of Thunder’s strained relationship with his adopted brother Loki for predictable melodrama, Taika Waititi made their sibling bond much more tangible with dry humor in Ragnarok.
We get a hint at how close they were as kids when Thor proposes doing the “Get help!” routine to get past some guards. According to Waititi, this gag was conceived by Chris Hemsworth himself.
Action Sequence: Escape From Sakaar
After assembling the so-called Revengers, Thor escapes from Sakaar with Loki, Valkyrie, and the Hulk. They hijack one of the Grandmaster’s birthday orgy ships and head for the Devil’s Anus.
The most badass moment in the set piece is Valkyrie jumping from ship to ship, taking them down singlehandedly by manually redirecting their turrets and slashing them up with her sword.
Gag: Prisoners With Jobs
Like most of the actors in Thor: Ragnarok, Jeff Goldblum clearly had a heck of a time making this movie. He really leans into the Grandmaster’s immaturity in scenes that feel semi-improvised.
In one scene, he’s talking to his assistant Topaz and she mentions his “slaves.” He tells her he doesn’t like “the S-word,” and asks her to use the alternative he came up with: “prisoners with jobs.”
Action Sequence: The Final Battle
The final battle of Thor: Ragnarok brings the movie’s action and humor together for a spectacular climax. Once again, Thor is no match for Hela in hand-to-hand combat. This time, he loses an eye.
Inspired by a vision of his father, Thor cooks up a plan to defeat Hela. She gets her power from Asgard, so he resurrects Surtur using his crown to kickstart Ragnarok and destroy Asgard, killing Hela with it.
Gag: Thor Screams In The Imaginary Tunnel
When Thor first arrives on Sakaar, he’s strapped to a chair and taken down a tunnel filled with projections of the planet’s geography and a voiceover explaining its history.
However, as he gets further down the tunnel, it gets really freaky and mind-melding and Thor starts screaming. Suddenly, the shot cuts to Thor sitting in a room, surrounded by people, implying that the entire tunnel was in his head.