Once a year, it seems like a major comic book franchise tries to do something new and unexpected, and it usually either works out really well for the franchise or tanks any possibilities of any future movie. This month, the third and presumably final “Thor” movie “Thor: Ragnarok” was released to theaters. From the opening scene, this feels like a different Thor movie, tonally and stylistically. Do not be fooled, this is not an action movie. It’s a full on comedy from start to finish, with small scenes of action thrown in between. Does this change work for the Marvel Cinematic universe? Or is too sudden a change too big of an issue? 

“Thor: Ragnarok” is the 17th movie in the Marvel Cinematic universe, which stars Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as Thor and Loki respectively. This film follows the two brothers’ battle against the goddess of death Hela, as played by the wonderful Cate Blanchett. This is the first movie in the new style of Marvel solo movies, which plan to team two or more characters together, by adding the Hulk in to help Thor defeat Hela. The standout performance, however, has to be Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, the weirdest and most Jeff-Goldblum-like performance I’ve seen. The mix of sheer absurdity and hilarity makes this character one to remember. 

I have to address my favorite part of the movie, the director Taika Waititi. This New Zealand based director rose to popularity over the past few years from outstanding comedies such as “What We Do In the Shadows” and “Hunt For the Wilderpeople.” Marvel tapping him to direct this new Thor movie was the smartest move the movie juggernaut has made, as his bright and vibrant colors really bring a new look to the franchise, along with his now-iconic style of humor. Waititi voices the lead comic relief character Korg, a rock monster with a high-pitched New Zealand accent. He is the absolute standout character. In a movie packed wall-to-wall with jokes, nearly every line Korg said had me in stitches. 

This movie is not perfect, however. The lighter tone works for the majority of the movie, but the scenes that need to be emotional are severely undercut by humor. It is fine to have all jokes in a movie, but when there are jokes over scenes that are supposed to show emotional growth of characters, it tones those emotional moments down significantly. I also thought there were some really bad moments of CGI in this film, however they’re so sparse, it doesn’t ruin the illusion too badly. 

I really enjoyed this movie. It’s a different enough take on the superhero movie we’ve seen many times now, by going for a much more comedic tone. All of the performances were fine, the jokes landed almost every time and the few actions scenes made up for the lack of them by being so darn cool to look at.