Me wanting to see Thor: Ragnarok was down to some really shallow reasons. Or not, as the case may be, as some of you may share them.
- Cate Blanchett
- Seeing Tessa Thomspon strut out of a spaceship wreckage in a shower of fireworks like she's announcing the opening of the Black girl magic amusement park
- Taika Waititi and his chill, fine, offbeat ass self
I really didn't care about Thor himself, any of the other characters or where this whole story fits within the build up to the Infinity war films and beyond. To be honest, I'm so done with hearing about these damn Infinity war films.
But Thor: Ragnarok surprised me, because it genuinely made me care about a film series that I wasn't a fan of, a character who I couldn't stand and managed to change my perception of the Marvel cinematic universe. Just a little bit. And now my wig is in Asgard. Or Kevin Feige's office chair. Same thing.
With this being a Marvel production, there's 'Hela' money (*Exaggerated slack jawed wink*) for non-stop special effects and big set pieces. But Ragnarok is not anchored by its scene of Thor beating waves of hell minions with his hammer, Hela mass slaughtering Asgardian soldiers with her death ballet or Thor and Hulk punching each other half a mile across a Colosseum. It's anchored by character, and surprisingly given the title character, humour.
Thor: Ragnarok is a superhero movie by proxy of it featuring a superhero. But it's much more of a comedy, a buddy movie and a character movie above all else. Ragnarok never takes itself seriously, even with a plot-line which includes genocide. Almost to the point of self deprecation at how absurd all of this infinity stone, Goddess of death, God of thunder and space / time travel nonsense really is. Because let's face it. It really is nonsense. But there's nothing wrong with that. So why make a film that takes all of this hero shit so seriously, when everybody could have a hoot of a film instead?
Thor: Ragnarok seems wholly slapstick and silly on the surface, but there's a smartness to it all which not only makes it work, but moved my needle of expectation from a Marvel film, just as Guardians of the galaxy and Spider-Man: Homecoming had done before it. A welcomed thing in the wake of Marvel studio films becoming so predictable and formulaic. Two other things that Ragnarok also pokes fun at and refuses to go out of its way to change.
Thor: Ragnarok does not feature the most sophisticated plot and the superhero movie tropes are in abundance. The trailers have shown literally all of the biggest set pieces during the beginning, middle and end of the film. But the plot and the visual spectacles aren't the bread and butter of this film. Thor: Ragnarok is defined by its characters, their personal journey's and how they find their place within this crackhead world of powerful gems, God like figures and immortal flames.
Ragnarok does something that no film in the Marvel cinematic universe, or any film has done before. It re-wires a character and sets them on a different path to that of what we've accepted for the past 6 - 7 years, without a reboot or a storyline which involves amnesia or cloning. Which goes to show that maybe the MCU isn't as frigid and inflexible as we thought it was.
Thor has never been my favourite character in any medium. The comics, the videos games nor the films. I just always found him monotonous, boring and difficult to root for because he was so self righteous, unaware and fucking stupid. No amount of Chris Hemsworth in a sleeveless piece of body armour made me warm to the Asgardian prick. It was for these exact reasons that I always preferred Loki, even when he was being the worst of arseholes. Ragnarok openly acknowledges how deadass, linear and downright stupid Thor is. But rather than using the humiliation of Thor to make him a vessel of potential pity and continually unlikable, it gives him more humility than we've ever seen him granted in a film before. His being a God means very little to anybody outside of Asgard. In fact, nobody cares. His powers are rivalled on many occasions and he's forced to realise that his life can be made to be of little value and that there's an entire universe outside of bloody Asgard. You'd think that after two life threatening missions as part of the Avengers which included aliens falling out of a portal in the sky and killer sentient robots that he would have gotten this by now. But he finally does with Ragnarok.
Thor is excused from facing his own demons this time around, after us having two films of him doing that, but he is forced to face those of the people around him; which is what actually grounds him and humanises him as a character. Ragnarok presents to me a Thor, that for the first time ever, that I wanted to see win and genuinely liked. And just as the movie hits that point where you're fully committed to this new Thor and you accept that you like him, you get a scene of him walking around topless. Taika Waititi knows what he's doing ya'll. He's a world class troll and Marvel is fucking lucky to have him.
This new Thor also showcases Chris Hemsworth as more of a leading man than any other Thor featured Marvel flick. Hemsworth gets to show greater facets of his acting aside from throwing a hammer, brooding and flicking his hair. More than anything, he get to show his comedic chops. Chris Hemsworth is funny. Fans of his will know this from his interviews. But Ragnarok is the first time where everybody will get to see it first hand on the big screen. The guy is not only funny, but he's not afraid of using his physicality to look stupid for the sake of 'the art'. You'll see Chris Hemsworth get tasered. Swatted like a fly by the Hulk. Sat strapped in a chair screaming. Crying and pleading desperately with Stan Lee not to cut his hair. Slide around with no seat belt in a spaceship and have his face pressed up against its window. The Team Thor short that we got treated to a year ago which saw Thor attempting to assimilate to a normal life on Earth and live with a roommate, being dim witted and stupid; it's pretty much canon now.
Chris Hemsworth not only sells Thor in this film, but himself as an actor, in a way that I personally don't think he'd done in any of the films which came before.
Ragnarok is not just a story about Thor though. It's also a story about Hulk and Bruce Banner. Loki. Skurge. Hela. Valkryie. Heimdall. All of whom have their own story arcs and becoming moments. Each of these characters are as important as Thor within the grand scheme of the story, and he himself knows it. He knows he can't return to Asgard without Banner, Loki and Valkyrie. He can't rebuild Asgard without Heimdall. He knows he can't confront Hela without his friends and family by his side. The one guy who always seemed hellbent on trying to do everything himself and seeing others as lesser than himself simply because he's a God, is shown great humility here. He not only accepts the help of others, but acknowledges that he needs it.
Thor: Ragnarok presents as much of an ensemble cast as Captain America: Civil war. Chris Hemsworth delivers as Thor. But Tom Hiddleston continues to give Loki layers. Tessa Thompson shines as the drunken ass fallen angel from grace that is Valkyrie. She's literally everything that I wish Black Widow was, who's nothing but a pouting wig mannequin in a catsuit. She's a representation of a new kind of female hero who does things which would be deemed uncharacteristic of a woman by old social standards. You could switch Tessa out with a male and the role would still work. But it being a female makes it more powerful, and the fact that a gorgeous black woman such as Tessa is playing her, just makes it even more so. Cate Blanchett does what Cate always does: acts a bad ass bitch and chews up every damn scene. Mark Ruffalo continues to wipe Edward Norton's take on Bruce Banner from memory and is as charismatic as ever.
Marvel studios have definitely established a formula with their films. They had done quite a while ago. At this point it'd be pretty easy to be fatigued by the Marvel films and I honestly wouldn't blame those who are. But what Marvel have begun to establish during this phase of their films is that it's okay for each of them to have their own tonality. The films can exist as part of the same tapestry without all being the exact same. From the Inception style Doctor Strange, to the Saved by the superhero bell of Spider-Man: Homecoming to Ragnarok's Asgardian take on Bill & Ted's excellent adventure. It helps the films stand alone and not feel like a shameless tie-in to the upcoming Infinity war films. Of course, there are things which occur in each of these films which will play some part in the Avengers movies. But it's become less shameless and more subtle with each film.
Thor: Ragnarok is pretty bold and audacious, but what anchors this film is the relationships between the characters. The relationships of which play out so well over the course of this film, that I left the screening wanting a Ragnarok 2, more than seeing these characters reduced to extras in the upcoming Avengers infinity war nonsense. I want more Thor and Hulk. More Thor and Loki. I need more Valkyrie in my life. Korg needs his own mini series. Hela needs to be brought back.
Thor is just a lot of fucking fun. Despite being a big budget production, it has this indie vibe about it which is all down to its director Taika Waititi. Characters banter a lot with each other. There are no overlong monologues. There are no obvious 'THIS IS YOUR DESTINY' moments which seem to punctuate every hero movie. This tone of this movie is set from its opening and holds it right up until it's post credits sequence.
Thor: Ragnarok is good. It didn't leave me giddy in the same way that Spider-Man: Homecoming did. But it is a bloody good film. And much like Spider-Man: Homecoming, it's a great distillation of what it takes to make a Marvel film great and transcend it from just being a super hero movie.
Verdict: Go see it.