Review: Thor: Ragnarok

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and wayward brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) learn their father Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) is dying. Unfortunately, this also allows their previously unheard of sister Hela (Cate Blanchett) to emerge from imprisonment and try to take charge of Asgard. Jeff Goldblum plays The Grandmaster, who imprisons Thor and Loki on his planet at one point, forcing the former to partake in gladiatorial combat with a familiar face. Tessa Thompson plays a character named Valkyrie, Idris Elba briefly returns as Heimdall, and Karl Urban plays an untrustworthy idiot Asgardian named Skurge.

I’m very, very much the wrong guy for this. I’ve not liked many of the MCU movies to date. Hell, I hated the first “Iron Man” movie. I didn’t like the first “Thor” much either. I did like “Thor: The Dark World”, but that makes me as much of an outcast as disliking the first film does. So now here we are with the seemingly very popular third instalment from 2017, directed by Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi (“What We Do in the Shadows”, “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”). Yeah…I didn’t like this one much, either. In fact, I think Waititi and his seemingly laidback, quirky comic sensibilities are the absolute wrong fit for what I want in a superhero film. I like a fairly light approach, but too much of that gives you the flippant, hard-to-care “Iron Man”, and again I think the approach fails the story in this one. Also, since this is the third film in the series, let alone an increasingly massive MCU, why are we all of a sudden greatly changing the tone to the point where it actually doesn’t much resemble anything else that has come before it in the franchise? Yeah, “Ant-Man” was funny at times, but not this kind of funny, and it’s a massive mistake to me. A lot of you love this film, that’s your right. I just prefer my superhero films without quirky Kiwi indie comedy sensibilities and CGI rock monsters voiced with very laidback stoner Kiwi accents that don’t in any way come across as convincing to the characters. Yeah, I’m that guy who thinks there’s a right- or at least wrong- voice and accent for fictional creatures. I have no logical argument for it, either. This film really rubbed me the wrong way, I’m afraid as it feels like the filmmakers weren’t actually interested in the basic idea of the film/franchise and decided to stand to the side and take the piss. As directed by Waititi and scripted by the trio of Eric Pearson (TV’s “Agent Carter” series), Craig Kyle (a veteran writer of Marvel adaptations for TV) and Christopher L. Yost (“Thor: The Dark World”), I think this is an undisciplined mess that shoots its story in both feet. It’s a shame, because I think the bare bones of the plot are perhaps the most interesting in a “Thor” film thus far. But the approach is counter-productive to it, overstuffing it with quirky Kiwi stoner nonsense and meta-movie irrelevance. If the intent was something along the lines of “Ant-Man” or “Guardians of the Galaxy”, the execution is botched.

I still have no idea why Thor, as enacted by Chris Hemsworth is a fantastical Norse god who speaks with a third-rate posh English accent. Even worse, in this film the usually very deadpan Thor is now apparently an amateur comedian. As I said, I like a light-hearted superhero film (I’ve never been a fan of the rather gloomy approach of the “Dark Knight” trilogy), but this is a jarringly comedic one. Still, I did like one thing early on: If any film needs Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ playing…well, every film does, but this film especially. It’s a brilliant song. Later we get a very funny use of the “Willy Wonka” classic ‘Pure Imagination’ which amuses without being jarring. It’s also a good-looking film, unquestionably. I also think Karl Urban does his only decent work since “Lord of the Rings” here in one of the few comedic elements that isn’t too jarring. We also get clever cameos by an unnamed big star and someone with a rather close connection to Mr. Hemsworth. However, it didn’t take long for this meta-movie shit to annoy me, and to feel like a tonal reboot of the series rather than the third instalment. Someone was messing with someone else’s toys and it felt wrong. It’s all over the place, with scenes on Earth with Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, the character and performance too good for this entire franchise), and Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) that had the film to me playing like unsanctioned fan-fiction. Aren’t these blockbuster MCU films supposed to be somewhat soulless, homogenised corporate stuff? I know, I shouldn’t be wishing for a Happy Meal version of a film, but if this is the alternative…no thanks. I love Jeff Goldblum being Jeff Goldblum, it’s his thing and he’s great at it. Here Jeff Goldblum being Jeff Goldblum is more unwelcome quirkiness for the sake of it. Like the rock monster with the Kiwi accent, he’s just a random distraction getting in the way of things. When I can’t even enjoy Jeff Freakin’ Goldblum in a movie, you know there’s something wrong with it.

Hemsworth is, as always, a heavy-hand at comedy, ruining almost every (lame) gag. He got a chuckle out of me here and there (his ‘friend from work’ line was good), but for the most part the gags land with a giant thud coming from him. Tom Hiddleston is a far better actor than Hemsworth and has better comedic timing too (ditto Hulk, by the way), but even he can’t lift this one out of the- at best- mediocrity. Nor can Cate Blanchett, though she comes closer than anyone. Just as I was beginning to think this film would be completely unbearable, along comes Blanchett to steal the film from her first moment. More crucially, her scenes are the least comedically inclined in the entire film. She’s not entirely spared from the flippant stoner comedy mentality, but she comes closer than anyone from escaping unscathed. Kneel before Zod? Zod is a pussy compared to Blanchett’s nefarious Hela. It takes a special kind of actor to make such a role and performance as Hela work, and Blanchett is that actor. Elsewhere, Scar Jo is once again incredibly unconvincing, but thankfully Black Widow is barely in the film. Also unconvincing is how the filmmakers explain where Bruce Banner/Hulk has been all this time.

A good Cate Blanchett performance and potentially interesting plot go begging in the service of off-putting quirk for its own sake. It feels like an ironic, fan-made meta statement on the MCU, and since this is meant to be the third “Thor” film, it’s counter-productive and jarring. No, I didn’t get this at all, it’s mostly a comedy and a poor one at that. Possibly the worst “Thor” film so far.

Rating: C-