Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok is currently the second-highest reviewed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film of all time, behind only the original Iron Man.
The international review embargo lifted early on Friday morning (NZ time) and so far, the Boy filmmaker's first big Hollywood film is a critical darling - with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 98 percent.
- Kate Rodger gives Thor: Ragnarok five stars
- Chris Hemsworth crashes Taika Waititi's Newshub interview
Metacritic is arguably a better gauge of how a film is being reviewed and Thor: Ragnarok's score of 77 puts it in second place for the MCU series to date, and third-equal for any Marvel film ever.
Metacritic's current top ten rated Marvel adaptations of all time are as follows:
1. Spider-Man 2 (Sony) has 83
2. Iron Man (MCU) has 79
3. Logan (Fox) has 77
4. Thor: Ragnarok (MCU) has 77
5. Guardians of the Galaxy (MCU) has 76
6. Captain America: Civil War (MCU) has 75
7. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox) has 73
8. Spider-Man (Sony) has 73
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming (MCU) has 73
10. Doctor Strange (MCU) has 62
Critics are praising Ragnarok's comedy in particular, with several highlighting Waititi's style.
"The New Zealander has somehow parlayed his offbeat comic sensibility straight from indie gems like What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople and on to a canvas a hundred times bigger," writes Timeout New York.
"It's amazing that Waititi - a newbie in the jungle of corporate filmmaking - was able to inject so much of his unique voice into such a committee-approved juggernaut," writes Entertainment Weekly.
"Daft as a badger sandwich and twice as funny, this is vintage Waititi, and the boldest, most outrageously fun film Marvel has yet produced," writes Empire.
"Irreverent playfulness has always been a staple of Waititi's work, but the director's light touch doesn't preclude Ragnarok from being the kind of brawny blockbuster that audiences demand. And as he demonstrated with Wilderpeople, Waititi exhibits a droll sense of humour without losing sight of character dynamics, tonal sophistication or thematic undercurrents," writes Screen Daily.
"It's an enthusiastic, hilarious reboot of the idea of what a Marvel movie can actually be, resulting in an effervescent, delightfully self-aware ride that was the most fun I'd had in a superhero movie in years," writes The Verge.
Thor: Ragnarok opens in New Zealand cinemas on October 26.
Newshub.
