(Spoiler free review)
Thor: Ragnarok is the 17th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum and Cate Blanchett. It is directed by Taika Waititi, the man behind the delightful and hilarious What We Do In The Shadows and also 2016's Hunt For The Wilderpeople. The story follows god of thunder, Thor, who must save his home world of Asgard when the villainous goddess of death, Hela, threatens to take over. Along for the ride are his mischievous brother Loki, a disillusioned Valkyrie and fellow Avenger's member Hulk.
Within the MCU, the Thor films are arguably the weakest and least interesting. The first was serviceable- it delivered the best MCU villain to date (not the greatest of accolades I know) in Loki and director Kenneth Branagh did an accomplished job of introducing Thor into the established MCU. The 2013 sequel, Thor: The Dark World, had a few enjoyable moments but otherwise fell flat and remains to be one of the most forgettable films in the Marvel universe. In the two Avengers films, Thor was always the most uninteresting character- which is unfortunate as Hemsworth has proven to be an incredibly charismatic actor with an aptitude for comedic timing. Needless to say, Thor needed to be reinvigorated; the character and world of the Norse god of thunder had been made believable, yet strangely bland. Though conversely it should be noted that Marvel did a great job of grounding Thor in keeping with the reality of Iron Man and Captain America. It miraculously didn't estrange general audiences, who at that time hadn't seen comic book films with talking trees and raccoons. Thor as a comic book-based property had the potential to be very ridiculous and frankly bonkers. So how would I describe Thor: Ragnarok? Well, it's completely ridiculous and absolutely bonkers. And I loved every second of it.
It turns out that the solution to the issues plaguing these films was Taika Waititi. He has an incredibly unique sense of humour and style that he injects into all of his films. A common criticism of the MCU is that most of their movies follow the same predictable formula and as an example, Edgar Wright, another remarkably unique and stylistic director, dropped out of his directorial duties for Ant-Man due to 'creative differences' with Marvel. This suggests that directors don't always have the influence over their own films that you may expect when working with a huge, corporate studio like Marvel. That interference is seemingly absent with Ragnarok: this is Waititi's film all the way, and it feels like the most distinctive MCU film since...ever?
The film is saturated with jokes and quips that are always successfully executed, unlike last year’s Doctor Strange which, as I mentioned in my review of it, was inconsistent in the landing of it’s jokes. Many find that there is perhaps too much comedy, impeding the flow of the story and the emotion. This is a point that I do acknowledge, however I never felt that this compromised my enjoyment of the film, unlike earlier this year with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. I don't fully know why it worked in Ragnarok but not in the second Guardians, but it may have something to do with Waititi's brilliant sense of humour and off-beat timing. There are a countless number of hysterical lines, and lots of cliche-defying moments that infuses the film with an unpredictable tone. This tone may also link to the fact that a lot of this film was improvised- a bold move that has certainly paid off.
However, having watched Waititi's previous works prior to entering the theater for Ragnarok, I went in expecting the humour to be great. I knew the comedy was going to be a highlight of the film. What I didn't expect at all was how brilliant the action would be. Thor's abilities and fighting skills is an area that has been barely explored in the last few films with hammer throwing and generic punching heavily favoured. The presence of a truly epic and memorable fight scene à la The Winter Soldier has been sorely lacking for this character. Once again, this is a thing of the past: the filmmakers here know how to utilise Thor's skill set in an entertaining way . Particularly, the opening set piece as well as one towards the end are incredible: I was smiling the whole way through. It was moments like the camera following Mjolnir during the opening fight scene, Thor swinging his hammer rapidly to block incoming attacks, Hulk smashing...stuff: everything was just cool. The choice of music during both the major fight sequences was flawless, and made the entire sequence more exhilarating than it already was.
In terms of performances, everyone in this film shines. Hemsworth has finally been given the opportunity to showcase his incredible comic timing- a nice change of pace from the drab Thor of the past (though there is a downside to this, as I'll discuss later). Hiddleston as Loki brings a sense of mischief as usual, and his interactions with Hulk are hilarious. Jeff Goldblum plays a heightened version of himself, which is always welcome of course. Cate Blanchett as Hela is actually one of the better Marvel villains, and notable as the MCU's first female antagonist.
Tessa Thompson is a stand out: she carries off the action incredibly well and also nails some of the more emotional moments. Hopefully Marvel delivers on that all female superhero team-up that Kevin Feige has been teasing because I'm looking forward to seeing more of Valkyrie. It's also always a delight to see Mark Ruffalo, who's rendition of Hulk is my favourite so far; though his character mainly appears as Hulk here, I appreciated the brief appearance as his calmer alter-ego, Bruce Banner.
There are a few fun cameos to look out for, including one by the director himself. He voices a rock monster called Korg and is without a doubt the best new character to come out of this film. Just prepare yourself for a laugh every time Korg is on screen, that's all I'm saying.
In terms of linking to other MCU films, this film largely stands on its own, but you'd benefit from watching the previous Thor films as well as both Avengers films. There are a lot of in universe references going all the way back to Avengers (2012) that I appreciated as a fan of the universe. Additionally, fans of the story-line 'Planet Hulk' will be hugely rewarded as there is a lot of material taken directly from that run of the Hulk comics, widely regarded as one of the best comic book arcs for the character.
Moving onto the flaws of the film, there isn't anything that I would say hindered my enjoyment of the film greatly. The movie drags a tad during the second act, but it's nothing that impacted the pacing majorly. I do think, however, that the parts where it cuts to Hela's storyline will suffer on repeat viewings- I can see myself skipping past it to get to Thor's storyline. Whilst Hela is one of the better Marvel villains, she still lacks the depth that a truly captivating one would have; it's mainly due to Blanchett's sheer talent that the antagonist works well for the most part. However, the most glaring problem with the film is actually its greatest strength: the comedy.
As I mentioned before, Ragnarok's Thor seems like a completely different character in this film, compared to his previous appearances in the MCU. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this new incarnation, it means that the film feels separate to the previous installments in the franchise and therefore less consistent with the characterisation previously established. This was fully intentional as the director intended this to be a 'reboot' of sorts for the character. Furthermore, sometimes the addition of a comedic scene or line undercuts the drama of a potentially impactful moment. There are things that occur in the film that have huge ramification on Thor, yet there is hardly a moment to stop and fully feel the emotion of the scene. Taika Waititi, in a recent appearance on the Empire podcast, was fully aware of some of the jokes undercutting big moments, but his take on it was that it subverted expectation. This is a valid point, but I still would have liked to see a little more time dedicated towards the emotion and heart of the characters.
Overall , Thor: Ragnarok is one of the stronger additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, largely due to the direction that Waititi takes the character in. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and if you don't take it too seriously in return, you are bound to get a lot of enjoyment out of the film. As of now, though still too early to decide, I am considering placing it in my top five favourite Marvel films and I can't wait to watch it again to see if my assessment of this is correct as well as to catch any other brilliant lines that I may have missed.
Summary
The good:
*Great sense of humour, the comedy nearly always works
*Charismatic and hilarious performances by everyone involved, including all of the new side characters
*Any scene featuring Korg
*Fantastic action coupled with exhilarating music
*Gives the Thor franchise a much needed rejuvenation
The bad:
*Villain lacks depth, like nearly all of the other MCU villains unfortunately
*Pacing in the middle is a little slow, as well as some of the exposition-heavy scenes featuring Hela
*The comedy can sometimes come at the expense of dramatic character moments
Overall Grade: D C- C C+ B- B B+ A- A A+
Watched the film already? Let me know what you think in the comments and check out these extra bits:
To learn about any of the easter eggs you may have missed (especially if you're a comic book fan) check out this fantastic video by Emergency Awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8DuHrH3g3c
For a detailed insight into the film, do also check out Empire's Thor Ragnarok spoiler podcast, featuring Taika Waititi
I do not own any of the images used in this blog post- all images are from IMDb