Thor: Ragnarok is a rollicking good time!
Thor: Ragnarok will please longtime Marvel fans with its comedy and action, as well as ensnare those who haven’t fallen under the studio’s spell.
Four years have passed since the God of Thunder helmed his own feature, 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. Since that dour odyssey the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU) has seen a sea change, transitioning from serious drama into light frivolity; the recent Spider-Man: Homecoming is a great example of the new angle the MCU is going for. This all comes to a brightly colored head with Thor: Ragnarok, a film that should get even the most uninterested audience members interested in a Marvel movie. Beautifully filmed with serious kinetic energy by director Taika Waititi, with a crackling script, Thor: Ragnarok is a heap of fun. Cue “Immigrant Song!”
Dealing with the loss of a loved one Thor (Chris Hemsworth) must find a way to stop an ancient prophecy called Ragnarok from destroying Asgard. This destruction comes in the form of Hela (Cate Blanchett), the Goddess of Death, an adversary more powerful than Thor himself.
As a character Thor’s always felt too silly or mythological to “work” in the sense of film. His previous solo films have presented him as either a fish out of water or a man isolated in the “nine realms” he’s familiar with. Since being integrated into the Avengers series, and now that the MCU has dived into the recesses of space, nothing the buff Asgardian does seems out of place, and that allows the script (and Waititi) to have some fun with him.
Starting off where Avengers: Age of Ultron ended — might want to brush up if it’s been awhile — Thor returns to Asgard to find out what the weird visions he received in that film were all about. You might assume this is another feature where Thor has to undo what Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has done, including deposing the Asgardian king, Odin (Anthony Hopkins). In one of several attempts to subvert our MCU expectations, Thor deduces everything in the first scenes. He steps into an Asgard where everyone is subjected to watching a “reenactment” of Loki’s demise — look for some hilarious cameos — and realizes what we all know.
Ragnarok, the “great prophecy” that will bring about “the fall of Asgard” is Thor’s main objective, and that manifests through the introduction of Blanchett’s Hela. Blanchett stalks every frame of the film with her jet-black hair and eyeliner. Blanchett is having a grand time in the role, and though she often feels underused before the third act, she dominates when the script gives her something. Her character’s motivations are intriguing, despite taking the form of daddy issues on a Biblical scale. In one of several gorgeously captured moments, a Renaissance-esque look at the deified men of Asgard only shows how marginalized Hela has felt. The audience might not agree with Hela’s desire for mass destruction, but there’s a serious attempt to give her motive. Villainy’s never looked this good, and it’s often hard to figure out why we’re supposed to support Thor. I mean, Cate Blanchett came to slay!
She’s contrasted on the female front with the phenomenal Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. Though Disney refused to acknowledge the character’s bisexual origins, Thompson is pure ferocity as the hard-drinking, swaggering hero whom Thor needs to help him save the day. Make no mistake, Thor: Ragnarok is all about how necessary women are to helping, whether it’s Valkyrie or Thor remembering Natasha’s technique to calm down Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) which sounds completely ridiculous coming out of Thor’s mouth, tacitly acknowledging how stupid it was in general.
Thor: Ragnarok’s meta qualities help in fleshing out characters who, too often, have felt inaccessible. Chris Hemsworth’s grin and abs only go so far, but here he takes that golden boy characterization and undermines it with the script’s barbs. His “that’s what heroes do” line never works as he plans, delaying his hammer or leaving him with a head injury. Thor never becomes stupid, just given a large dose of reality that his charm and good looks can’t overcome everything. This is even better exemplified with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. The angular actor gets a chance to ham it up opposite Hemsworth in a manner that feels fresh; they’re working together — their “get help” scene is hysterical — but only to achieve their own individual ends. It’d be great if the X-Men writers could figure out how to achieve this same effect with Magneto.
The strange thing is that Thor: Ragnarok has a main objective — save Asgard from Hela — but it often feels like the script is disinterested in that. At over two hours nearly 75% of the film involves Thor on the planet of Sakaar, forced into a gladiatorial match with Hulk at the behest of Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. Goldblum and his sidekick Topaz (played by scenestealing Rachel House) are fantastic in a befuddled wealthy person way. These moments also explore Hulk’s presence and team him up with Thor, but it completely overtakes the main narrative, leaving Hela to feel more like a speedbump than a serious obstacle. This is never detrimental to the overall enjoyment derived from Thor: Ragnarok, but does leave the stakes in the finale a bit overwhelming.
What’s ultimately the most refreshing takeaway from Thor: Ragnarok is how dominated it is by color. The film’s literal color palette invokes comparisons to 1980s fantasy features, with bright blues and pinks everywhere. The interplay of characters against vibrant backgrounds leads to some spellbinding cinematography, such as Thor being chased by a dragon. It’s also worth noting how much of the cast consists of non-white actors.
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If you thought Guardians of the Galaxy was too smarmy, you’ll find Thor: Ragnarok to be what that film wished it was. With lovable actors clearly enjoying their lines, plenty of color in both cinematography and set design and a director who literally reinvigorates the MCU, Thor: Ragnarok is the Marvel movie you’ve been waiting for.