As a prophecy of doom hangs over all of Asgard, The God of Thunder is inexplicably nowhere to be found. Thor finds himself stranded at the far end of the cosmos, marooned on the garbage planet of Sakaar, which is ruled by an eccentric ruler named The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Thor (Chris Hemsworth) quickly realizes if he wants to make it back home he must go through a Gladiatorial game, dubbed the Contest of Champions, against Sakaar’s greatest fighter.

Taking a page out of the Guardians of the Galaxy handbook, Marvel has handed over the keys to one of its flagship properties to a relatively novice director (What We Do In the Shadows’ alum Taika Waititi) to breathe new life into one of their most stagnant characters. Where Kenneth Branagh saw the world of Asgard through the lens of Shakespeare ‘s overwrought melodramas, Waititi takes a more lighthearted approach, stripping away all the pomp and circumstance to transform Thor’s saga into a bubblegum space opera. And as Waititi and Hemsworth (who’s having a ball with his self-serious take on the character) walk a delicate line between pathos and full-blown self parody, Cate Blanchett and Goldblum turn in their own deliciously campy performances as Ragnarok’s dual bads.

Yet for all its bold moves, Thor: Ragnarok  is still just an assembly line of Marvel tropes. And Waitiiti’s most egregious fault is his need to juxtapose the A and B story lines. Every time the film begins to have fun on Sakaar, the story is interrupted by a jump cut to what’s happening back on Asgard where Blancett’s Goddess of Death holds the realm hostage (less fun than it sounds).  Blanchett, however, may be one of the best big bads in the extended universe, a testament to her performance as well as  a condemnation of Marvel’s weak stable of villains.

And let’s not forget the marketing department’s huge mistake of ruining Ragnarok’s biggest surprise when it included The Hulk in all its promotional materials. This egregious error spoils what could have been the biggest payoff in the history of Marvel films, and it’s a very  odd choice, considering Waititi does everything he can to conceal this surprise in the film’s opening acts.Despite those minor miscalculations, Ragnarok is still a fun and breezy (if a little forgettable) romp through the Marvel cosmos. Its lighthearted approach has effectively revitalized a stagnate franchise and made Thor a viable hero again.

-Mike