How do you follow up on one of the greatest video games of all time? Sony Santa Monica finds itself in a situation not dissimilar to when Francis Ford Coppola created the sequel to his mob movie masterpiece, The Godfather. Like part two of the Corleone story, God of War Ragnarok puts a fierce, younger member of the family directly under the microscope. In doing so it manages to reach the heights of its predecessor and, in some ways, even tower above it. The writing, performances, and music are each exceptional, bringing this expansive Norse tapestry to life – but even as it holds your heart in one hand with its elegantly told story it’s crunching bones in the other with fantastically ferocious combat. It all binds together to forge a monumental action epic that adds yet another impressive landmark to the video game landscape.
Keeping things broad and spoiler-free, Kratos’ story picks up a few years after the final revelations of 2018’s God of War – this is absolutely not one of those sequels where everything will make sense without playing the first game, or at the very least watching the included story recap (which is probably too brief to serve as anything but a jolt to the memory). The apocalyptic Ragnarok is coming, and its events circle around his son Atreus like one of Odin’s ravens. Fimbulwinter – a time of unrest that presages Ragnarok – has very much come and, during the intervening years, Atreus has been growing stronger, learning about his Giant name “Loki”, and trying to convince his father to trust him. There are touching callbacks to the hunting scene from the 2018 God of War as Kratos proudly watches Atreus prove that he’s no longer a child. But it’s no slow introduction: Ragnarok wastes no time in stepping into the action and, after a breakneck opening battle, the first step of this new journey is to leave the frozen realm of Midgard and find a missing Norse god in the broader and varied universe.
There are twists and turns aplenty, with fakeouts and misdirection woven into the story’s fabric as it darts between loud spectacle and tender conversation. Characters old and new play their own crucial parts, including fresh characterisations of Norse behemoths like Thor and Odin, with a line of dialogue rarely wasted between them. These are truly unique depictions, and it’s a credit to Sony Santa Monica and the actors playing each that I wasn’t reminded once of their MCU equivalents. Despite being laden with myth and melodrama, there’s still plenty of time for welcome pockets of self-aware silliness that almost always elicit a laugh, whether that be another bizarre dwarven contraption or the simple thrill of Kratos eating a sausage.
When not eating dinner, Kratos’ thunderous voice actor Christopher Judge frequently engages in smartly realised dialogue with his equally impressive castmates. Make no mistake, though: this is firmly Judge’s court, and one he frequently dominates. Kratos’ traumatic personal history is reflected in everything from his mournful tone of voice to his appearance – his Icarus wings are long-since clipped, but his complexion is still pale like a square of wall where a family portrait used to hang. Death weighs heavy in the winds that guide him on every journey he takes, whether delivering it himself or searching for some closure. The everlasting cycle of violence between parents and their children has long been a theme ever since the original God of War trilogy, although one that was only truly emphasised in 2018’s revival. Now it’s an inescapable fixture of Ragnarok; an exploration of the rawest and most human of emotions, and what happens when they are channeled through superhuman vessels.
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