Thor: Ragnarok Review - 9 Ups & 4 Downs

3. Hela Is Not Another Throw-Away Villain

It's almost a cliche now to talk about how the MCU has a villain problem. Putting aside Loki's successes and the smaller positives of Ultron (though he's divisive) and Zemo (rightly called understated), there aren't too many to really crow about (though Ego and Vulture have been good additions in 2017) and lots of talk pre-release focused on the expectations on Cate Blanchett's shoulders.

And though she's not in it as much as you might expect - mostly because of the split story focus - she lives up to the hype. She's utterly spell-binding, thanks to a combination of her costume and make-up design and Blanchett's almost serpentine physical performance. She's haughty, arrogant and terrifying, but with a confidence in her strut that is pure femme fatale, and honestly, she needs to come back to the MCU very soon.

She's also almost casually devastating, swiping away enemies, tearing strips off Thor, threatening to squash Loki and Heimdall like bugs... This is a big deal villain with a glorious performance behind her. And you're going to remember her.