Hey, ever wonder why Thor and The Incredible Hulk were the
only Avengers who didn’t show up for Captain
America: Civil War? Well here’s an explanation.
Of all the individual heroes in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, Thor’s stand-alone ventures have always been the least interesting to
me. Which is a real shame since it’s based around Norse mythology, something I
always found intriguing, and is the origin of some of the MCU’s coolest
aspects. The first Thor was a fun
fish-out-of-water story, and Thor: The
Dark World is easily the worst Marvel movie by far, but Thor: Ragnarok is a different beast from
those two altogether. What makes this the best Thor movie by a country mile is that it’s the first one where he is
actually in his element. The tone is more goofy and lighthearted, but it isn’t
silly for the sake of silliness. It’s the product of confident filmmaking and
the realization of what Thor could’ve been all along.
Our story sees Thor (Chris Hemsworth), God of Thunder,
facing his greatest challenge yet: staving off Ragnarok, the prophesized end of
destruction of his home world of Asgard. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is dead, Loki
(Tom Hiddleston) has returned, and his sister Hela (Cate Blanchett), the
Goddess of Death, has broken out of her imprisonment, taken over Asgard, and
destroyed his magic hammer. To make matters worse, he’s been exiled to a planet
on the other side of the universe where he’s forced to compete in a gladiatorial
tournament against another Avenger, The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Along
with a drunken exiled Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), they band together to break
out and make it back to Asgard before it’s too late.
One problem that Thor has had in his solo movies is that
they’ve tried to push them as the serious movies in the MCU canon, going so far
as to hire directors known for Shakespeare adaptations and HBO shows. It wasn’t
nearly as dire as DC’s attempts at seriousness and realism, but it still didn’t
to click with audiences that well, they decided to junk that approach and go in
the diametric opposite direction by making it a comedy. Make no mistake; Thor: Ragnarok is a straight-up comedy.
Not an action-comedy, not a superhero comedy, just comedy. A lot of this has to
do with the direction of Taika Watiti, a New Zealand director best known for
indie comedies like What We Do in The
Shadows and Hunt for The Wilderpeople,
who packs the script to bursting with so many jokes that you’d think it would
bog down the story, and yet somehow, they don’t.
But a comedy is only as good as its actors and their
chemistry. Another strength that the Thor solo movies never took full advantage
of was his interactions with other characters, and this time he’s given
multiple foils to bounce off of. Hemsworth already did the impossible by making
a literal god into an underdog, but he couldn’t do it alone. His dynamic with
Loki is that of brothers who never got along, his interactions with Tessa
Thompson are golden, but the biggest gut buster is the synergy he has with
Bruce Banner, who’s been stuck in Hulk mode ever since his disappearance in Age of Ultron, and is given an expanded
vocabulary and a more defined personality, in this case, that of petulant man-child.
Hulk is perfectly content smashing warriors on the junkyard planet where
everyone adores him, and feels justified in not wanting to go back to Earth,
which is why one of Thor’s biggest challenges is getting Bruce back in charge so
he can help him return to Asgard. (And Loki’s reaction to seeing him and
remembering the last time they met had the whole theater in stitches.) Even the
villain gets a chance to take a few cracks. Cate Blanchett takes the
opportunity to ham things up as Hela, channeling Maleficent as she sashes
around in a black suit and enormous antlers, her every line of dialogue
dripping with contempt. Unfortunately, like most Marvel villains, she isn’t
nearly as interesting as she could’ve been, but she serves her purpose of
laying waste to Asgard until the heroes arrive for the big climax.
Even then, it’s still a Marvel movie at the end of the day,
with all its trappings in tow. This is the seventeenth film in the series now,
so audiences know what to expect: magic Macguffins, continuity nods, a gratuitous
Stan Lee cameo, an overlong, CG heavy final showdown, and post-credit scenes
galore. At this point it feels like they’re going through the motions, except
with a much change in scenery. Ragnarok,
along with Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, is slowly
but surely expanding the scope of the MCU beyond the traditional locations into
weirder, more colorful places heavily inspired by Jack Kirby’s artwork. This is
reflected in the cinematography, especially in the fight sequences, which evoke
not just comic splash pages, but heavy metal album cover. You’d think that
having someone leap into a hoard of enemies slow-motion set to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant
Song” would seem less badass the second time, but it doesn’t.
Bottom line, Thor:
Ragnarok was fun from start to finish. Waititi is a fantastic director, and
this film benefits greatly from his vision and irreverent sense of humor,
giving Thor a welcome boost of vitality. Easily the best Thor movie, easily a contender for top ten Marvel movies ever, and just
the shot in the arm that the red-headed stepchild of the MCU needed.
8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment