Review of Thor: Ragnarok (2017) by Chantal B — 14 Feb 2018

Yes. YES. YEEEESSSSSSSS!!

I have been waiting for this film since 2011, when I fell in love with Branagh's magnificent and heartfelt THOR. While the first sequel featured a film-saving performance from Tom Hiddleston as the incomparable Loki, his limited screen time and the film's complete mishandling of the original's themes made it a frustrating experience. Waititi, however, has wisely picked up on the undercurrent of darkness in Asgard's heart, and knows that it is not from Loki, but flows from Odin and the past he has continually been caught misrepresenting throughout the trilogy. The humour, the best in any MCU film, driven by character instead of mere quips, is both part and parcel of the emotional and thematically resonant ideas, instead of mere distraction. Plenty will go to the theatre and claim it was a hilarious time, and not much else, but to the discerning, observant viewer, far more brews beneath the surface, much like the first THOR.

While that film was on its surface a family drama, it touched on themes of distorted history by the victors, arrogant war-mongering as an expression of machismo, assimilation and the danger of dehumanizing the 'Other', and internalized prejudice. It remains one of the most interesting and thoughtful films Marvel's ever produced. Ragnarok grabbed hold of what was suggested by that film and tears it open, exposing a modern allegory for our society, built as it is with the stolen wealth of empire. Throw in a little propaganda play from the affection-starved Loki, Hela swanning around in a Make Asgard Great Again hat with gaudy antlers, and the chintzy Goldblum as a bread-and-circuses fascistic leader in need of a good revolution, and you have yourself the most bitingly political Marvel film ever made. (I'm sorry, but the Winter Soldier pays only lip service to the idea and suggests nothing as radical as Ragnarok does with its solution to Asgard's issues).

Chris Hemsworth delivers the Thor performance of a lifetime, the one I always hoped to see from him. It's clear that at last he has the confidence to throw off the fanboys who wanted a brooding, serious Thor, and instead embraces the goofy charm that made him so endearing in his first film. Hiddleston deserves special props for again preserving the heart of Loki as he moves into yet another new role in the story. It is from his character that the most poignant and emotional moments emanate, and often it is with a single glance or reaction. That he often delivers the funniest moments of the film the same way is commendable, as is his excellent chemistry with Hemsworth. The double performance of Ruffalo as Hulk and Banner has never been better, with the Hulk an actual character this time, a pouty toddler who is also the star quarterback. Banner's comedic expressions and general daze bring a lightness to every scene he's in, and he proves a wonderful component to the film while not stealing the spotlight from its principal characters. Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie is much like the other female characters the MCU has given us - a bad-ass with a dark past in boob armour. But she's also the first to work, as she's allowed to be a hardbitten, smug and shameless anti-hero rather than a stick-in-the-mud den mother, as Natasha Romanoff and Gamora have long been. She's Jessica Jones in space, and though she may ride a flying horse from the wrong mythology, she's everything I needed from a Valkyrie. All four characters have great arcs that tie in enormously well with both the overall story and the themes, and bounce so well of each other you often wish the film was just them sitting in a room talking.

Cate Blanchette delivers the Disney Villain Disney stopped making decades ago with Hela, a vamping, violent force who nonetheless proves most interesting in her allegory. Hela is the past made flesh, but unlike previous Thor villains, she is not an invader, an outsider, or Other - she is Asgard at its most Asgard, a mirror of what Thor could have become had he continued to be conquering brute of the first film, and a dark future vision of loneliness for Loki if he continued to seek out power as a replacement for self-worth. She's among the best villains I've seen in any film, let alone the lacklustre rogue's gallery the MCU's accumulated. For that matter, so is Goldblum's Grandmaster, who plays Caeser Flickerman if he was really Caeser - in space!

Marvel has proven itself willing to embrace the visions of its directors, and though I may be a hopeless Branagh fan, I honestly think there was no better man than Waititi to finish the trilogy, with the story the way it is - it had to pass from man of the land of the colonizer to the man of the land colonized. It's only a matter of time until this Thor film and the trilogy overall is again underrated and unfairly dismissed, but for now, I'm glad to see something as strange and weird as this exist at all. I mean - it's Flash Gordon, Jack Kirby, King Lear, Henry V, Norse Mythology, Coming of Age story, Fish out of Water, The Tempest, Heavy Metal Album Cover, Buddy Road Trip Comedy, Princess Bridian Space Opera. What a bizarre set of ingredients - what a phenomenally eclectic and delicious series. If Marvel's brought me this, I can't really hold a grudge against it, nor feel so much as a pang of 'superhero fatigue'.