Thor Ragnarok: A Checklist -Melbourne International Film Festival, ReviewsFestevez

Irreverent opening extravaganza of little relevance to main story – check
A lauded indie/out of left field Director (Taika Waititi) to give the Marvel Cinematic Universe a much needed injection of new – check
Return of beloved character everyone thought was dead – check
CGI cityscapes, and lots of them – check
Cameos from famous actors so Marvel can have literally every A-lister in their show-reel – check
A baddie who really just wants to destroy, darkness etc – check
An Oscar-winning Hollywood juggernaut (Cate Blanchett) who can do this in her sleep – check
Surprise surprise – the villain isn’t who you thought she was – check
Those songs you loved from your childhood that didn’t already feature in Guardians of the Galaxy – check
Gratuitous shots of hero’s chiselled abs – check, check and check
Appearances from Avengers who don’t merit their own stand-alone movie and have nothing to do until 2018 – check
Appearances from other Avengers who did get their own stand-alone movie and can bag a truckload of money for a day’s work – check
Hilarious repartee between our favourite superhuman friends – check
Avengers fighting each other, when they’re not fighting the actual baddies – check
Fight scenes where you’re never really sure how or under what circumstances the Marvel crew can ever actually injure each other – check
Stan Lee – check
Hark backs to the Marvel comics and earlier films, because the series is now old enough to be self-referential – check
A prodigal son (or daughter) on a revenge and/or returning to roots story – check
Other-worldly ghouls (Jeff Goldblum) who you really can’t hate because they’re just so charming – check
Bits and bobs for the internet-savvy (Jeff Goldblum) – check
An Einstein-Rosen Bridge just when you need it – check
Climactic end of movie battle with lots of punching and all the ex machina – check
The destruction of some place or other – check
Continuity with Infinity War to remind us that there are even more of these coming – check
Post-credits sequences, because without them, and everything else, it wouldn’t be a Marvel movie – check