Monday, November 6, 2017

THOR: RAGNAROK - Big Trouble in Little Asgard

I'll be honest - if I'd seen this movie as a 10-year-old, it would be my favorite thing ever.




The Thor movies have occupied something of an awkward space in the collection of (as far as these things go) stand-alone films in the MARVEL Cinematic Universe, neither having been breakout favorites like the first Iron Man or Guardians of the Galaxy, or receiving the post-Avengers boost in popularity and acclaim as Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This has left the movies starring the God of Thunder, in spite of being reliable money-makers and featuring a genuine treasure in Chris Hemsworth, being relegated to also-ran territory in the MCU. Even as someone who has a good deal of fondness for the previous two films (including the second, which most people tend to happily ignore completely), I have to admit that there needed to be a serious shaking up in order to keep up with the continually climbing quality of the MCU.

Enter Taika Waititi, director behind off-beat comedy fare like What We Do in the Shadows as well as last year's genuinely brilliant Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Waititi reportedly got the gig after wowing the MARVEL bosses with a sizzle reel for his concept of the film, one which included footage from John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. And, as it happens, turning Thor into Space Jack Burton was exactly what the series needed.

After receiving visions of the increasingly troublesome Infinity Stones and the end of Asgard in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor has been searching the Nine Realms for answers. When he returns to his home, he finds Loki on the throne and Odin missing, leading to an adventure across the cosmos to stop Hela, the Goddess of Death. During the course of the film, Thor gets tossed around, stranded and captured, stripped of everything he once used to define himself, forced to fight a fellow Avenger, and all in a way that never stops feeling like a rollicking comedy. Hemsworth has always had a gift for comedic timing, specifically used to great effect to take the wind out of the character's self-inflated ego sails in the first film, and here he leans into it with a palpable glee. The joke of Jack Burton being less effective than his ostensible "sidekicks" works incredibly well when used here, but it's also combined with genuine emotional growth and a pointed theme.

Not only has Thor cemented himself as having one of the most expansive arcs in the MCU (go back and watch the first film - he's a totally different character now), but through Hela and her revalations about and designs for Asgard, Thor: Ragnarok re-positions Asgard as a colonialist empire who's gold edifices obscure the blood spilled to conquer. The central story question then becomes less about "saving the world" and more about what does or does not make worlds worth saving. And all this is accompanied by brilliant supporting characters like Jeff Goldblum's delightfully Nero-esque Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson's scene-stealing Valkyrie, Karl Urban telling a character's entire story through a handful of facial expressions, a certain lovable big green monster, and Cate Blanchett as the aforementioned Hela.

Who. Is. AMAZING. If Hela isn't the best villain of the MCU, she's certainly in the conversation, and Blanchett plays her with a potent combination of scenery-chewing metal queen glee as well as genuinely understandable rage, and as easy as it is to joke about "Dark Galadriel," it's also undeniable that this is an actress who can visibly drink in the power of a role on-camera.

It's hard not to feel greedy for more when the cosmic comedy is this infectious, and at 130 minutes the film never feels like it's bogged down in explaining new locales or characters or breezing past important beats (though there are a couple things that occur on Asgard that it feels Thor really should have seen or at least been told about). Waititi keeps the action for fist-pumping punctuation over bloated set pieces, and jokes that have even better jokes buried within. It feels like a Thor film and like a fun piece of the MCU puzzle and like a Taika Waititi film, through and through.

It Ragna-ROCKS.

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