Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do In The Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople)

Written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher L. Yost

I don’t think anyone was ready for Thor: Ragnarok. Even with the Marvel Universe getting so much more experimental, even with some other strange entries in the MCU, I still don’t think anyone was fully prepared for the insanity of this movie. Certainly those who were fans of the director’s previous work knew that it was going to be different, but post-colonial space farce was not on anyone’s radar that I know of. The movie finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) partway through his completely unsuccessful hunt for the Infinity Stones, plagued by nightmares of the destruction of his home, Asgard. His search for the cause of his dreams leads him back home, where he learns that his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has usurped the throne and exiled their father. When they catch up with Odin (Anthony Hopkins), he is near death, and can no longer hold the boys’ older sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) in exile. When she returns, she attempts to kill her brothers, but succeeds only in casting them out to cosmic dumping ground Sakaar, where they must contend with megolomaniac the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) and his gladiatorial games. After teaming up with his old friend Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), a Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) hiding from a dark past, and a ragtag band of revolutionary gladiators, Thor must make it back home in time to stop his sister’s mad plan to conquer all of the Nine Realms.

If that sounds at all like a traditional Marvel movie, it belies the truth somewhat. From the very beginning of the film, Waititi takes the mythological, noble trappings of the trilogy’s heritage and uses it as a fertile ground for absurd farce. Thor has always been funniest when his movies take him down a peg (see the tasing scene all the way back in the first Thor), and this movie is largely an exercise in humbling the mighty god. At worst, this movie could be accused of rewriting the character of Thor somewhat, as he takes himself significantly less seriously in this outing than in his previous adventures, but his key character traits of pride, self-importance, and affable foolishness are maintained admirably, and the differences don’t grate as much as they might. This new tone is established from the very first scene with Surtur, where a typical big, bombastic villain speech is interrupted by the very natural physical behavior of a chain. It’s a great comic moment punctuated by a wonderful needle drop of “Immigrant Song,” and the movie is off to the races. Perhaps the most pointed element of this humor is Waititi himself as CGI character Korg, a failed revolutionary rock-person whose mild-mannered speech and demeanor provide constant laughs pretty much whenever he’s on screen. But the humor finds its way into every element of the film, even Blanchett’s wonderfully overblown work as the film’s villain, who gets a few dryly humorous line deliveries of her evil plans. Hulk returns in the capacity in which he works best, as a side character and foil. The introduction of Valkyrie is well executed, and she immediately has more charisma than Jane Foster ever did in the previous movies. Really all of the characters are fun and funny, and the movie as a whole is immediately more charming than either of the preceding Thor outings.

The part of the movie that isn’t a jokey, Guardians-esque romp through a sci-fi junk planet fares less well. It’s here where much of the theme of the movie resides, albeit uncomfortably. The movie is concerned with ideas of colonialism and the whitewashing of the past, implying post-mortem that Odin was guilty of covering up his colonial conquests and the pillage he won from them. The themes are muddied, though, because he’s already dead and can’t defend himself. Also, the person revealing all of this is definitely a homicidal maniac, and therefore not usually the character you want as the mouthpiece of your movie’s theme. It doesn’t really help that these scenes are also more uneven from an action perspective. Upon rewatching the movie, it feels like the movie slams on the brakes every time the action returns to Asgard. You can feel your excitement leaving you as you settle back in for more of Hela killing characters with almost no lines in the movie and walking around Asgard narrating the theme at you. The only thing that really works in these parts of the film is the redemption story of Skurge (Karl Urban), which was clearly added to give us something to be invested in for these otherwise perfunctory scenes. Blanchett is clearly having a great time, but she’s pretty much just spinning wheels until Thor shows back up, making many of her scenes feel like a waste of time. To be clear, I really like the themes that are being expressed in these scenes, and even feel like they’re interestingly nuanced in some ways, but it’s not where the action of the movie is, and that will always make it feel kind of hollow. It seems almost as if there are two separate movies going on here: the sci-fi, “Planet Hulk”-themed one, and the Hela-fighting, sins-of-the-fathers one. The two really don’t mesh together well at all. I do like the implied idea that there’s no way to fix a society built on colonially acquired goods, and that it simply must be destroyed and the colonizers must start over with only their own strength. That’s a really powerful message, and an arguably even more liberal one than Marvel movies usually go for; I just wish it moved me emotionally as much as it did intellectually.

The strengths of the movie definitely overpower its weaknesses, though. Loki is back in full force throughout the movie, and his presence isn’t wasted. The scene of the play he has written about himself is hilarious, and his constant squirming and scheming really add a lot to the movie, especially when Thor finally really gets the better of him for the first time in these movies. Jeff Goldblum is having an amount of fun that should probably be illegal basically playing Jeff Goldblum. The Grandmaster is so weird, and so different from any other Marvel villain, that he captivates the viewer’s attention. You can never quite tell what he’s going to do or say next, and that’s a refreshing feeling in a series that can be very formulaic. The weirdness and alien-ness of Sakaar is captured wonderfully, and the production design team on this movie is second probably only to Guardians. Even the CGI previz stuff is better than the average Marvel movie. The backstory scene for the Valkyries and their noble downfall is some brilliantly gothic, metal-band-album-cover excess, and I love it. I can’t shake the feeling that the movie would probably have been better if Waititi had been allowed to both write and direct (as he has done with almost all of his other film projects over his career), but you can still feel his authentic comic voice coming through in the delivery and tone of almost all of this movie. The movie has a huge number of moving parts, and the director does an admirable job of keeping all of them moving, although I’m not sure the movie ever becomes anything more than its varied interesting parts. I don’t think that it coheres into the something greater it might have been.

Overall, though, the movie still works. It holds together, despite that incongruity of parts. If it doesn’t transcend, it certainly entertains. It’s got a couple of legitimately great fights (both of which involve the Hulk in some capacity), and a lot of legitimately great jokes. I admire it for the scope of its ambition, as well as its ability to execute on that ambition. It represents a further broadening of what ‘a Marvel movie’ can mean, and that’s always going to be a good thing. If this cinematic universe isn’t going to eventually stifle itself creatively, it drastically needs movies like this to keep things fresh and to riff on the formula established by so many of the others. It’s one of the more individual, creator-driven efforts within the Marvel universe, and that makes me happy. It’s definitely got some stumbles on its way to that creativity, but I’m still more than confident in giving it a hearty recommendation. One of the can’t miss movies of the MCU.

Overall:

Stray Thoughts:

• Doctor Strange is better in his five minutes in this movie than in the entirety of his own film, which says a lot about Waititi vs. Derrickson as a director, I think.
• I understand why they killed the Warriors Three like a bunch of chumps in this movie, but I’m still sad about it. It feels unearned, and I actually liked those characters. It just feels a little cheap.
• I’m fairly confident that Thor telling his brother that “It’s about growth; it’s about change,” is Waititi making a not-so-subtle meta-joke about the MCU itself and his movie’s place within it. I like this assumption that I make.
• There was a lot of hullabaloo around the release of this movie about supposedly removed scenes revealing Valkyrie to be gay (or at least bisexual). As usual, I don’t have much to say about that except that it probably would have been cool and good to do, and if they really did cut something like that it’s too bad. Doesn’t really affect the movie as it stands, but worth thinking about.
• I love Karl Urban in everything he does; he seems to add a little touch of humanity to even the most neutral characters (see his performance in Dredd for perfect evidence of this ability). I wrote it off in a few lines above, but I dearly love the pathetic loser’s redemption arc that Skurge goes through in this movie.
• Can you imagine how amazing it would have been if they had actually kept Hulk’s involvement a secret until release? It would have been the best surprise in the whole MCU. Too bad.
• Post Credits scene 1: Nice moment for the brothers that gives a little denouement for their relationship in this movie, and also foreshadows the next big movie. Pretty good.
• Post Credits scene 2: A minor joke, not weird enough for a bonus Grandmaster moment. A little disappointing.
• Stan Lee cameo: A really funny one that actually ties into the plot and Thor’s new look. I like this one.