Thor: Ragnarok
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Written by: Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher L. Yost
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Taika Waititi, Rachel House
Action/Adventure/Comedy - 130 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on
Written by: Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher L. Yost
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Anthony Hopkins, Benedict Cumberbatch, Taika Waititi, Rachel House
Action/Adventure/Comedy - 130 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on
Where Iron Man stand-alone films are always the funniest of the bunch and Captain America’s films are the most enjoyable, the first two Thor films come off as sticks in the mud. Whether it’s because they wanted to treat an actual God more reverential or the villains and storyline weren’t quite up to Marvel par, Thor: Ragnarok goes a long way to make up for past sins. Thor 3 arrives on a higher tier in the comedy category as it overtly tries to match the Guardians of the Galaxy films for the amount of one-liners and sight gags. Director Taika Waititi, instituting a full tonal change for Thor, resurrects the stale Avenger with a film welcoming compelling new sidekick characters, substantially features another Avenger hero, and still makes time for more sibling rivalry with Loki; a theme and plot nobody can still be interested in.
Taika Waititi is an odd choice for the Marvel execs to place at the helm of a tentpole mega-budget blockbuster. Beloved by the indie film community for his outstanding New Zealand films What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), this trust in an indie director follows the recent pattern of plucking up-and-coming directors from breakout hits and launching them into the major leagues. Colin Trevorrow vaulted from Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World. Gareth Edwards hopscotched from Monsters to Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Perhaps the major studios are onto something, for Waititi trots out one of the more enjoyable Marvel Cinematic Universe films, certainly better than Age of Ultron and any previous Thor picture.
Taika Waititi is an odd choice for the Marvel execs to place at the helm of a tentpole mega-budget blockbuster. Beloved by the indie film community for his outstanding New Zealand films What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), this trust in an indie director follows the recent pattern of plucking up-and-coming directors from breakout hits and launching them into the major leagues. Colin Trevorrow vaulted from Safety Not Guaranteed to Jurassic World. Gareth Edwards hopscotched from Monsters to Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Perhaps the major studios are onto something, for Waititi trots out one of the more enjoyable Marvel Cinematic Universe films, certainly better than Age of Ultron and any previous Thor picture.
Thematically, the most noticeable difference from the past is the introduction of Marvel’s first lead female villain, Hela, the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett, Song to Song). A couple secondary female villains pop up in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but Hela appears stronger than any legion of heroes, be they mortal and/or immortal, as they all fall to her blades as she takes over Asgard. Looking somewhat like Elizabeth Banks’s Rita Repulsa from Power Rangers, Cate Blanchett appears like she loves the Maleficent-on-steroids headgear as she represents the power-dynamics of the past usurping the more liberal and egalitarian ideas of the present. We frequently hear fan gratitude that with heroes like Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, girls can see someone like them on screen. Well, fair is fair, now they can imagine themselves as the über-nemesis as well.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth, Ghostbusters) has his own problems to work through before he can even get to Asgard and confront Hela. Held hostage on Sakkar, a Pee-Wee’s Playhouse sort of planet, Thor must fight his way out Gladiator style. Captured and stuck with a neck implant, Thor is not a God on Sakkar; he’s just another fighter sent into an arena for entertainment. Sakkar is run by man known only as Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum, The Grand Budapest Hotel). Grandmaster operates Sakkar like his own Lego set. With his troll doll hair and blue paint sliver running down his chin, Grandmaster is older than we think he is. These arena games are probably one of the few pleasures he has left. If you’re as old as Ragnarok hints Grandmaster might be, he has most likely experienced pleasure from every possible thing hundreds of thousands of times. Perhaps a Gladiator arena is just this millennium’s hobby.
Sakkar’s colorful sets are inspired by Jack Kirby’s illustrations from the comic books. It has a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vibe and even cheekily includes a song from Gene Wilder’s interpretation. On Sakkar, we meet a new sidekick who wins my vote for character I hope most returns in future Marvel films, Korg (Waititi). Korg is a helper character who exists to shepherd the hero through his tough times; to get him back on his feet again. Outside, Korg is a behemoth made of rocks, but inside, he’s a delicate soul playing the mother hen for the gladiators led out to slaughter. The arena’s reigning champion is a figure we know all to well, an Avenger even more boring than Thor, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Now You See Me 2). But here is a mighty green thumb up for Hulk’s bachelor pad - equipped with a hot tub, bar, and circular bed.
Doing his best to try and drag Ragnarok down with the likes of The Dark World, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Crimson Peak) is back for more brother vs. brother melodrama. As the two once again try and one-up each other only to realize they must work together to get anything done, I am more than over this storyline forced upon us for yet another iteration. However, here comes composer Mark Mothersbaugh to save the day. Everything 1980s continues to enjoy a revival these days (think Tron, Transformers, Stranger Things, and Sylvester Stallone) and Ragnarok is here to play too. Mothersbaugh, who you know as the lead singer from Devo, creates an awesome retro synth film score which the audience will nod along to as we get from here to there. The music is funkier than the Blade Runner keyboards, perhaps more akin to Tron: Legacy’s pulse-pounding bass. I’ve heard folks declare Ragnarok as the best film in the Marvel Universe, it’s not, and it has an astronomical Rotten Tomato score, but once everyone settles down and thinks it through, Ragnarok will be a more than welcome addition to the canon, Thor’s best stand-alone film, but that’s about it. It’s not going to take over the universe. Allegedly, that is Infinity War’s job.
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