Thor out of five: Marvel’s latest has critics raving

Success stories don't come much more successful than this one. Even so, though, there have been some parts of this epic superhero tapestry that have been less welcomed than others.

Image captionThe film marks Hemsworth's fifth screen outing as Thor, not including cameos

Thor is a case in point. Whether toplining his own films or chipping in as part of the Avengers ensemble, this relic from Norse mythology has always seemed out of step with the rest of the extended franchise.

By recognising and embracing his core ridiculousness, though, Thor: Ragnarok may have finally found a way to integrate the character and his world into the wider MCU landscape.

Despite taking its title from a Norse word for apocalypse, the latest Marvel film is a joyously irreverent hoot in which superhero heroics are almost an afterthought.

The scenes in which Chris Hemsworth's Thor banters and bickers with the now-talking Hulk are a delight, as are any in which Jeff Goldblum appears as the ostensibly villainous but actually rather affable Grandmaster.

Image caption Jeff Goldblum plays The Grandmaster, overlord of remote planet Sakaar

If there is a downside to the film's tactic of constantly deflating its moments of tension, threat and menace, it's that it leaves Cate Blanchett with very little to do as chief antagonist Hela.

The two-time Oscar-winner snarls her dialogue with aplomb and sports an antler-like headpiece that could put your eye out. No sooner is her character introduced, alas, than she is promptly relegated to the sidelines.

It's a Hela of a waste of a great actress that does little to dispel one's feeling that the MCU - and the superhero genre in general - remains something of a boys' club.