Liberator of Asgard

IN Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok – the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilisation – at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela.
But first, he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger – the Incredible Hulk!
Thor: Ragnarok, directed by Taika Waititi, sees Chris Hemsworth returning as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.
They are joined by Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson and Karl Urban, with Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins.
The film opens in cinemas here on Oct 26.
In an interview transcript provided by The Walt Disney Company (Malaysia), Hemsworth talks about the evolution of his character Thor, whom he has played in several movies.
How do you perceive Thor after playing him for seven years?
“I’ve been playing the character seven years now which, on one hand, seems like a lifetime ago but also seems like yesterday that we were shooting the first film.
“The first film was so much fun because it was one of my first big jobs. It was all so new.
“I was in the hands of Ken Branagh, which was just wonderful. He brought the Shakespearian tone, history and the comic books to life in a way that I don’t think anyone else could have.
“This film in particular is the biggest character shift and a gear shift tonally in the storytelling, so that affects my approach.
“That was all birthed through Taika’s vision and his sense of humour, his attitude and his need for exploration. Doing something different really paralleled what I wanted to achieve in this and what the studio wanted to do.
“Kevin Feige and the team at Marvel wanted to see where we could take it, and it’s been one of the most exciting and fun sets I’ve ever been on.”
What are Thor’s physical transformations?
“There are a few physical changes with the character in this film.
“The first one is he loses his hair. He’s in a gladiator world where part of their processing is to chop the hair off, which happens off screen. And he turns up with his hair hacked off.
“It certainly gave me a different attitude. Different costumes, different weapons, different cast of characters to work off, give you a different energy. And so as simple as having a different haircut can affect the way you move.
“Then he also loses his hammer. It’s destroyed by Hela, the villain in this film. That forces him to question everything in existence, and his own strength … own history and past, and sends him again on a different journey.
“It was about stripping him back physically, but also emotionally, in order to rebuild him in some way or have him have to rediscover something. So that is a great way to break him down.”
Does losing his hair and hammer affect his strength?
“Initially, Thor thinks it’s going to affect his power. He feels that the hammer is the source of his power.
“It’s that classic idea that the power is really within you. The hammer was just something that orchestrated it.”
What is Ragnarok?
“Ragnarok is the end of all things; the end of the universe. Life itself as we know it ends.
“Ragnarok in this film applies to Asgard and the ticking time bomb was to prevent Ragnarok from occurring in order to save Asgard.”
What is the relationship between Thor and Loki here?
“Thor has always given Loki a second chance and trusted him time and again but in this one, it’s different. He accepts what Loki is and leaves him at that.
“And maybe that’s out of a more intelligent attempt to bring him back. Or maybe Thor truly has run out of options and ideas to bring him back.
“And it seems to get through to Loki this time. … I think inherently there is good in Loki but he has a warped view and an entitlement of where he should be and what he should be given.
“But it was fun to play that change in Thor’s attitude and to do something different, yet we still have great brotherly moments in among that attitude.”