Worth: $17.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Christopher Judge, Sunny Suljic, Danielle Bisutti, Alastair Duncan, Richard Schiff, Ryan Hurst
Intro:
... a slick and absorbing fantasy adventure with a surprising amount of emotional heft and pathos.
When God of War dropped in 2018, it had a seismic, appropriately deity-sized impact. Essentially a soft reboot of the much-loved Playstation series, God of War 2018 added nuance, depth and genuine human emotion to a series better known for its jaw-dropping gore and occasional quicktime event-based threesomes (look it up).
The story of Kratos – Spartan Warrior, eventual God of War and Nimbin’s narkiest fire twirler – had well and truly run its course by the series’ latter entries. The bald-bonced revenge-nugget had glassed nearly every single God in the Grecian pantheon and there wasn’t much left for him to do. God of War 2018 cleverly jumped further into the future, giving Kratos a kid to look after, another dead wife to mourn and – most importantly – a whole bunch of new Gods to maggot, this time drawing from Norse legend. Well, now the eagerly anticipated follow up is here, God of War: Ragnarök, and while there are some minor quibbles, the result is a slick and absorbing fantasy adventure with a surprising amount of emotional heft and pathos.
God of War: Ragnarök continues the story of Kratos (Christopher Judge) and his teenage son Atreus (Sunny Suljic), as they navigate their awkward father/son dynamic in a changing realm that is suffering the effects of Fimbulwinter. After a slightly sluggish opening section that doesn’t quite seem to know how to begin the story, Ragnarök soon embraces the titular world(s)-ending threat and sets the pair off on adventures together, apart and with other characters.
Much like the previous game, Ragnarök features a pleasing blend of exploration, puzzle-solving, gear-crafting/improving and, of course, combat. Kratos takes centre stage with the same mix of chunky attacks, well-timed parrays and various equipable special skills and finishers. As with 2018, it feels great to once again don the big fella’s sandals, and the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos are as unique and powerful as ever. There’s also a third weapon you’ll unlock later in the game, which we won’t spoil, but know that it’s a great addition to an already impressive arsenal.
The thing about God of War 2018 is that it was such a surprise, such a fresh take on a familiar (perhaps even stale) character. It did, however, end on a bit of an anti-climax or at least a slightly irksome cliffhanger. Ragnarök has the opposite problem. It starts off a bit slow and safe, re-treading old ground and never quite finding the most interesting way to begin the story. Also, at certain points throughout its 30-something hour runtime, the game does lean a little heavily on Marvel-esque quippy dialogue between characters. It’s never horrible or mawkish, but it does sometimes detract from the game’s gorgeous atmosphere and bittersweet tone. In the back half, however, and particularly the final third, the game becomes a surprising, emotionally resonant and straight up epic, with a stunningly memorable conclusion to a bold new chapter of a series that began on the Playstation 2 in 2005.
If you like the father and child dynamic of the previous game, if you enjoy exploration with a rotating roster of companions all of whom have a lot to say, if you want to feel like an agro superhuman beating down devious deities like you just caught them flogging your lawnmower, God of War: Ragnarök is an unmissable, albeit not quite revelatory, experience that will have you thanking the supreme beings at Santa Monica Studio for this worthy offering.
