I never thought I would get to this point but I think I’m
starting to get burnt out on all these Marvel movies. I’ve mentioned before how
much I love superhero and comic book inspired films, and I still stand by all
of that, but as more time passes, I’m beginning to realize that my zeal to see
these films in the cinema has severely diminished. Yeah, I’ve still seen all of
the MCU to date, but I ended up getting to some of them like Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming far later than I would have expected.
Whether it’s down to the sheer volume of releases per year, the fact that all
of them are interconnected so that they all need to be seen to get the full
experience, or just down to me discovering other sub-genres that interest me
more, some part of my subconscious is hesitant to keep seeing these. Not that
it should be; I mean, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is still an astounding
work, Homecoming gave us the first real
Spider-Man movie and even Doctor Strange has some of the greatest effects work
I’ve ever seen full stop.
So, yeah, maybe it’s less that I’m losing my love for
these films and more that they are starting to feel more like work. No change
there then, honestly. Anyway, enough waffle; time to get into this latest MCU
offering that seems to be taking the franchise in a different direction. A very
weird direction.
The plot: The goddess of death Hela (Cate Blanchett) has returned
to Asgard, set to fulfill the prophecy of Ragnarok and destroy everything in
her way. Unfortunately, a newly-reunited Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom
Hiddleston) are stuck on the trash planet Sakaar, with Thor being forced to
participate in gladiatorial matches set up by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum).
Thor has to make it back to Asgard, hopefully with Loki and a few old friends
in tow, and stop Ragnarok.
I don’t think Chris Hemsworth as Thor has ever been as
engaging as he is here. Wearing cocky pride like a champion, he really gets a
chance to show off his comedic timing here and it makes for a damn effective
lead role. Hiddleston is much the same, rounding off what could be considered
his character’s arc to bring him warmly into the Marvel fold in terms of
antiheroes. Tessa Thompson is made of awesome here as Valkyrie, the hard-drinking,
taketh no shits, giveth no fucks warrior. Not only is this damn refreshing to
see in a female lead, her dialogue with Thor highlights the real power behind
equal representation for action leads; it succeeds and shows why others should
as well.
Blanchett as Hela is Hela good, having all the fun on screen as this
incredibly chaotic villain. Goldblum brings the kind of bizarre magnetism older
audiences have come to expect from the guy, Idris Elba gets to flex some serious
badassery as the leader of the resistance against Hela, Karl Urban gives us
hilarity and stone-cold bravado with equal efficiency, Mark Ruffalo reminds
everyone what we’ve been missing over the last couple years without his turn as the Hulk and
Stan Lee as a crazed hairdresser… honestly, do I need to elaborate on that?
Of course, there’s a couple of weird
spots in the cast, all for the good though: Clancy Brown fits perfectly as
the fire demon Surtur, Rachel House makes a return from Hunt For The Wilderpeople as essentially the same
brand of watchably malicious as the Grandmaster's chief of security, Sam Neill, Luke Hemsworth and Matt “I shit you not”
Damon get a very funny sequence all to themselves that seems to mock everything
Thor has done in his last two films, and director Taika Waititi appears in a
strangely effective role as a gladiator that Thor befriends in the barracks.
And speaking of Waititi, between this and Wilderpeople, I am
growing increasingly convinced that the man can do wrong. Holy hell, does this
film look incredible. Waititi and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Blue
Jasmine, Goosebumps, The Promise) give this wide and expansive feel to what
we’re seeing, from the ancient halls of Asgard to the trash planet situated
below The Devil’s Anus (oh, we’ll get to that in a second), complete with some
very inventive camerawork in the fight scenes. The CGI can get obvious a few
too many times, but with how fluid the pacing is both in narrative and action,
it becomes something that only becomes noticeable if you’re actively looking
for it. You can see why I picked up on it.
Frankly, it’s way more interesting
to see the garish sets, especially when the locales are explicitly used for
both comedy and tragedy to this extent. However, real respect is due for the
soundtrack by Mark Mothersbaugh, easily the most Devo he’s sounded in a
long-ass time. The deliciously retro synths add to the highly stylised visuals
to create a natural continuation to the 80’s nostalgia of Guardians Of The
Galaxy Vol. 2. Except here, somehow, it's even goofier.
Between the involvement of the reigning king of social
cringe in Waititi and the aforementioned Devil’s Anus, it should be clear that
this is going to be a bit of a departure from the MCU norm. It’s a departure
for the better, though, as this is without a doubt the funniest film Marvel has
produced to date. The comedy here deals in Waititi’s wheelhouse of embarrassing
conversations, only it’s expanded to the nth degree. Some of the humour is
motivated by the setting, like Thor’s introductory conversation with Surtur
while tied up in chains or the colour scheme of the Grandmaster’s housing,
while some of it is generated by the events, like Dr. Banner seeing how much
Sakaar loves the Hulk.
But the huge
bulk of it comes from the characters and their relationships with each other.
Every character pairing generates ample joke material, pretty much all of which
is taken advantage of, and it even dips into the series’ history in a few
sequences. I’ll put it this way: This is the first time Loki and the Hulk have
seen each other since the Hulk laid the mother of all smackdowns on Loki back
in the first Avengers film. Hiddleston sells that tension perfectly and it’s the biggest belly laugh I’ve gotten out of any
superhero film in years.
Not that it’s all smiles and laughs, though; along with a
fresh take on overall direction in terms of comedy, it also heads into new
territory dramatically. Now, initially, the film’s two main plots feel way out
of whack with each other. On one hand, Hela is priming to destroy all of Asgard
and likely spread out from there. On the other hand, you have Thor and the Hulk
fighting in an alien arena. It definitely feels off, almost like the writers
had one too many ideas for the story… and then, they both come together in a
seriously impressive way.
And it all starts with Led Zeppelin, a key feature of
the sizzle reel that got Waititi the director’s chair here in the first place.
Their song from the trailer is used to bookend the film, used in the two major
fight scenes, and while I would get annoyed at it being used this liberally,
that would detract from how much of the main conceit of the film it conveys. For
a start, the song is about Vikings; it makes too much sense that it’s being
used here at all. As the Asgard story continues, and we get more of an idea of
just how malicious Odin was when first establishing his kingdom, it becomes
clear that the old ways are over. Odin went all New Testament and Hela won’t
let anyone forget both his and her actions in creating Asgard as it stands in
the story. Without dipping too deep into spoilers, let’s just say that that Led
Zeppelin song ‘Immigrant Song’ takes on a whole new meaning as everything comes
together, our main characters rediscover their true essences, and the future of
Asgard takes form.
All in all… I’m really starting to regret saying that I was
getting burnt out on these films. Ragnarok is an insanely funny ride, full of
new and returning actors all on their A game, a superhuman understanding of how
every aspect of production can lend itself to humour, and an overall story about
shedding the old ways and pressing forward to new horizons with bits of colonial commentary; between this and
the game-changing moments of Spider-Man: Homecoming, it seriously looks like
the MCU is shifting around for the better. Here’s hoping Infinity War lives up
to this level of build-up.
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