Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok

Directed by Taik Waititi

Written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, Cristopher Yost, based on the comics of Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

Going into my viewing of Thor: Ragnarok I had a few competing feelings on it. First and foremost I had heard people swear up and down that this was the best movie in the MCU thus far. I didn't put a lot of stock in these comments though because they came from the same circles that still argue that films like Batman vs Superman and Suicide Squad weren't that bad (Spoiler alert: yes they are). I also felt a lot of hesitation going in because I always felt that the Thor movies were the weakest leg of the MCU. I saw the first Thor movie sometime after the Avengers and I was underwhelmed. Thor himself was boring, the story was boring, everything was boring and when Thor: The Dark World came out I didn't hear anything about it which didn't bode well. Finally, I've had a growing dissatisfaction with superhero media as of late. While I enjoyed Captain America: Civil War, the DCEU and most of the Netflix shows Marvel has made there are a lot of problems I had with them that I could fill a whole post about.

I'm happy to report that while there are a lot of the typical clichés you see in these movies present in this one, the movie is self-aware enough that it doesn't bother me and more importantly it's a very entertaining popcorn flick.

The story picks up after Avengers: Age of Ultron (I think?) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is tracking down Surtur (voiced by the great Clancy Brown) who is supposed to destroy Asgard, Thor's home world. Thor defeats him and upon returning home he finds his father Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) has been exiled to Earth. Thor and Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston and who I didn't know had faked his death in one of the previous films) find him and he tells the brothers that once he dies it will unleash their sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett), who is the bad guy for this movie. When she returns mere seconds after Odin dies they fight and as they try to escape back to Asgard to rally the troops she knocks them onto a distant planet named Sicar (or is it Sikar?) and Thor is thrust into a gladiatorial arena by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). As Hela takes over Asgard Thor must find a way back and defeat her.

While the plot is filled with conveniences and holes it does it's best to be entertaining above all else and I think it succeeded. It isn't trying to be a smart or intelligent film but instead it wants to make you laugh and enjoy your time and I can appreciate that. The writing is generally pretty decent but even when it isn't it makes a valiant attempt and more often than not it got a laugh from me.

A big surprise for me was how funny the movie was. While I feel like at times it tries a bit too hard to be funny a lot of the humor lands. While not all of the jokes hit there aren't any real stinkers and it has almost a kind of Mel Brooks style where if one doesn't land there isn't a lot of time before they throw another one at you. A great source of laughs is Jeff Goldblum who I really enjoyed. I was expecting a big, grandiose performance but what I got reminded me a lot of  James Woods as Hades from the 1997 animated Hercules. He's an eccentric for sure but isn't loud or obnoxious, his final bit after the credits is very short but very funny and perfectly captures his character.

Almost all of the characters were very likeable and funny. I never saw The Dark World or Age of Ultron so I don't know if this is how he was in those movies but Thor was hilarious in this one. In almost every scene he made me laugh and it brought a lot of humor and likeability to a character that I had previously written off as dull. Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor and obviously has a lot of fun with the role. That seems to be the case with everyone in the cast, it looks like everyone is having a lot of fun and it shows.

I think the weakest part of the cast is Cate Blanchett as Hela. I think this is a problem with what she's been given. Hela is a pretty boring character, which is a pretty common thing for Marvel villains. She is evil because... movie? She was banished because she was so evil, they don't mention what she did during her banishment, or why she is the way she is. She's evil just because. Surtur too is a pretty lame villain. He's a big dumb fire monster who is supposed to destroy Asgard but he doesn't really have a motivation either. He is evil because... movie? The two main villains are just black holes; absorbing and destroying any enjoyment that gets drawn to them.

I'm happy to report this is not the case with the other two, Loki and the Grandmaster. I've already gone on at length about the Grandmaster but there's a lot of great stuff with Loki. He has a lot of character moments that deal with his relationship with Thor. The same humor that was present in his character in the Avengers is present here but it is combined with a genuinely likeable center that made his scenes great to watch. I really liked him in this movie. The other characters are good too but these were some of the standouts.

The action scenes are your typical superhero CGI extravaganza. As I watched I couldn't think of a single scene that didn't heavily use CGI. While it did look pretty good and certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been it was obvious, more so than I'd like. I guess I should come to expect this from superhero movies but the action scenes felt a bit lacking, they were obviously CGI and it didn't feel like anyone was in danger; it's hard to watch Hulk punt Thor half a mile across the stadium and not think "this isn't happening, it obviously isn't real." Maybe that's just my own fault but it did take me out of the movie, regardless of how fun it may have been to watch.

Really the word that surmises this movie is 'fun'. The filmmakers set out to make a hilarious and entertaining popcorn flick and they succeeded. There are a lot of things about the plot and effects that should bug me a lot more but the film is trying so hard to just entertain that the problems really don't bother me. I think that if you're just looking for a fun movie this is a great candidate