BY JORDAN NORKUS
Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Friday, Nov. 3, “Thor: Ragnarok” was released to the United States in theaters.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Cate Blanchett, “Thor: Ragnarok” follows Hemsworth as Thor as he fights for his home and the Asgardian civilization against Odin’s first born daughter and the goddess of death, Hela.
“Chris Hemsworth’s performace as Thor is a nice turn for the character; as the film became more humorous, rather than dark and brooding,” said senior Patrick Robinson.
The film was directed by New Zealand film director, Taika Waititi; who also provided the motion-capture performance for the character, Korg.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Waititi said that the creators looked at the comics “Planet Hulk” and “God of Thunder” for inspiration, but he got too overwhelmed reading them.
“We mostly took the visual stuff from comics, going through saying ‘that looks cool, that looks cool,’ said Waititi in the interview. “I wasn’t taking storyline or characters because my strength is tone and character and dialogue.”
Some of Waititi’s other works include “Boy,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”
“I am really excited for ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ because I have been a fan of Taika Waititi for a long time,” said Robinson. “I’m curious to see his take on a large budget studio movie after spending most of his career making indie films.”
The Associated Press reported that “Thor: Ragnarok” is one of this year’s best box-office debuts, opening with an estimated $121 million in North American theaters.
“Everyone I have talked to has liked it so far, and I’ve heard it’s the funniest one yet,” said senior Ken Young. “But not too comical to take away from the action. I think ‘Deadpool’ was really well done, so I have high hopes.”
Many different critics said how the film is bold, extremely funny, and unlike the other Marvel films to date.
“I am always pleasantly surprised that they let me do these weird jokes. It’s almost like all of the elements individually are so ludicrous—the giant wolf and the zombie army and the fire demon—the idea of sticking all of those things together in one film shouldn’t work, but it does,” said Waititi. “It was like asking a bunch of six year olds what they wanted in a movie and then just being like, ‘Okay. Greenlit.’”
Waititi also talked about how Marvel wanted something different for “Thor: Ragnarok,” compared to the other two “Thor” films. He said how “Thor” has the least amount of identity compared to the rest of the franchises under Marvel.
In order to achieve what they wanted, Waititi ignored the source material and the first two films, and tried to do his own thing.
“[Marvel] wanted it to be a departure from what they had done before, and Chris had wanted to do something that felt less familiar,” said Waititi. “The secret weapon to all of this was letting Chris be more himself, because he is very funny and that was the part of Thor was not exploited in the right ways. I know he wanted to do more in the other movies, but there are just so many characters.”
After its opening weekend, “Thor: Ragnarok” received an 8.2 on IMDb and a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. According to Marvel Entertainment, it’s the best reviewed Marvel movie of all time.
“I think it’s getting great reviews because it broke the formula of Marvel movies and [Waititi] decided to create something new,” said Robinson. “I also really enjoy the work of Mark Ruffalo and I think Marvel can always use more Hulk.”
After some of the cast members and filmmakers surprised fans at opening night screenings, Hemsworth turned to his social media accounts to thank his fans for the support.
“The turn out and response is just amazing,” said Hemsworth. “Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me do this for a living.”
“Thor: Ragnarok” is now playing in theaters.
