Review: Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Taiki Waititi

     The newest Thor movie, the third of its trilogy in the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, coming after what seems like no less than three hundred and eleven previous Marvel installments, is probably as good as we can hope to get at this point, and that is really not a terrible thing. It didn't reinvent the wheel. It didn't really try to do anything that Marvel hadn't done before. It still had dumb plot maguffins, shoed-in cameos to make us say OH HAI DR. STRANGE, I MEMBER YOU, and a pretty lame bad guy, but goddamn if it wasn't a pretty fun time with plenty of 80's style and charm to boot.

     The fact that the entire movie and its big jokes were intimately detailed in every trailer and still wasn't ruined while viewing is a testament to loose, improvisational style that director Taiki Waititi and the movie takes. It's probably the funniest Marvel movie, possibly only being outdone by the first Guardians (which owed a lot to the same looser, comedic tone that James Gunn very intelligently used). In fact, Thor: Ragnorak takes a lot of cues from its inter-dimensional space brother, and not just in humor. The junker, thunder-dome planet of Sicara, where all the best parts of the movie take place, has a bright, grimy, retro 1960s as future feel to it that goes side by side with Starlord listening to a mix tape on a Walkman while discovering extraterrestrial power sources.

     Jeff Goldblum at some of his Goldblumiest, the bright splashes of yellows, greens, and neon, and most importantly, the dystopian, 80s synth soundtrack (Turbo Boy with a 100 million dollar soundtrack, anyone?) definitely set this movie apart from Thor's previous installments (which, while basically everyone's least favorite, I kind of enjoy. The Dark World was just so stupid that I thought it worked). And almost the whole cast is fucking charming. Chris Hemsworth uses his veiny, biceppy, innate dumb-goodness for maximum likability, making the character welcomingly relatable for basically the first time. His scenes with Hulk (even though I swear to god we saw most of them in the trailers) are exactly what he needed to show some humorous range.

     But the MVP award goes to Tessa Thompson. She's a hard-drinking, tough-as-shit, former warrior princess who turned her back on her people (after I'm pretty sure her fellow female warrior/lover was killed, but phew, thank god they didn't say it for sure cuz IT'S ADAM AND EVE NOT THOR AND STEVE. Steve like...Steve Rogers...Get it? That's Captain America's name? Aaaah you get it!) and doesn't give a shit about nobody, until of course she changes her mind and decides to give a shit. But the script (or lackthereof) and Thompson's unbelievably charming performance make all these things about her character not suck at all. She actually appears to have strength and autonomy and she's a breath of fresh air. She reminded me of Osha from Game of Thrones if only she was an immortal badass warrior and wasn't lost for four seasons only to be immediately stabbed in the neck by Ramsay upon returning (SORRY SPOILERS).

     Cate Blanchett is there to chew up some scenery. It's...fine. There's a long punchy-fighty third act that doesn't quite nail it (Marvel movie Third acts...more like TURD ACTS, AMIRITE?!) There's a few “emotional” scenes with Anthony Hopkins as Odin that also kinda fart along, but thankfully those don't take up too much time. The things wrong with Thor are the same things that plague every halfway decent superhero movie. At this point there's no way to escape the cross promotion and vertical integration synergy jargon machine that is the MCU, but most of those evils are kept quirkily at bay by first time big-budget director Taiki Waititi, whose complete lack of experience in this type of blockbuster making was probably the movie's greatest asset.

     I'm pretty sure that, creatively at least, the MCU is teetering on its last legs, and even though I still see every one of these things in theatres, even I can't be sure how much longer this shit is going to be entertaining. But Thor: Ragnarok is plenty fucking entertaining. So whatever. Let's all pick up some snakes because we all know how much Thor loves snakes.

GRADE: 7 of 10 Smashed Magical Hammers

17 Dollars? More like FREE BECAUSE MOVIEPASS IS THE DUMBEST/BEST THING EVER. There's no way this is going to last long.

This is truly neither here nor there, but before I saw the movie I went to the taco truck across the street (Danny's, I think?) and ordered a Cubano torta. It had a hot dog on it. It had ham and some roast pork too, but it also. Had. A fucking. Hot. Dog. On it. It didn't even taste horrible, it was just an abomination against God. That's all. Just had to get that off my chest.