Thor: Ragnarok Entertains, Fails to Distinguish Itself from the Marvel Machine

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Courtesy of Marvel Entertainment

At this point it’s pretty much ineffective to criticize the Marvel movies. They can’t be accused of pretending to be high art—they know what they are, there’s been, like, 25 of them in the last decade, and there’s at least 25 more already in production. They can’t be stopped. Maybe one day the Marvel machine will die, but for now, we have Thor: Ragnarok. It’s fun! It’s got good performances, lots of special effects and the characters are funny and they say funny things!

But man, what a missed opportunity. Helmed by New Zealand-based indie director Taika Waititi, the man behind a string of excellent low-budget comedies like Boy and What We Do in the Shadows, Ragnarok could have been an unqualified standout in the Marvel canon. It could have been a potentially radical departure from the standard formula: hero’s journey, followed by a big light show climax, accompanied by the melodrama that sustains this 50-part, multi-billion-dollar soap opera. Instead, it’s all of those beats again, albeit dressed up in an entertaining package.

Do you like Marvel movies? If you do, then this movie will do what you want it to do. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (ugh) is more or less the current gold standard for franchise storytelling, having built a cohesive world out of a bunch of comic book characters who have morphed from relative unknowns to mainstream icons. Ragnarok wants you to know that these characters are icons—any bit of interesting background detail is usually sacrificed for another close-up shoulder-height look at our heroes, while the editing in major fight scenes breaks constantly to re-pose the ensemble as if they were mere figurines. (Go buy the figurines!)

Marvel knows we’re here for the banter and the characters more than anything, and it delivers. Chris Hemsworth is better than he’s ever been as Thor, embracing the goofier, lazier, less heroic aspects of the character while still embodying the fundamental heroism required of the eponymous God of Thunder. Returners Tom Hiddleston and Mark Ruffalo were already excellent in earlier MCU offerings as Loki and the Hulk, but feel at least a bit more fully realized here than usual. The dynamic between Thor and Loki, in all of its bitterness, sabotage and muted brotherly affection, is easily the Thor series’ greatest strength, and Ragnarok is the best exploration of their eternal internal conflict. Waititi’s innate humanism transforms these modern day gods into relatable, realistic people, and for a while, Ragnarok works really well as a deconstruction of Thor’s character. Regardless, there must be a note attached to every incubating Marvel movie that says “make sure there’s at least as many characters in this one as The Avengers” because Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, and Karl Urban all get a chance to quip and cavort and, inevitably, shuffle off when they’re not needed. Rather than efficient, it feels callow to include so many new faces and do so little with them.

As is the case with most of these movies post-Avengers, Ragnarok has too many stories to tell. The most engaging occurs on the planet Sakaar, a makeshift haven of cannibal gangs and industrial waste, lorded over by a gloriously costumed and extra campy Jeff Goldblum. The worst stuff occurs on Asgard, which remains the least interesting of any of Marvel’s major settings. Goddess of Death Hela, in her conquest of Asgard, is the same revenge-seeking cliché that’s appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man 3 and Captain America, to name a few, but at least she’s played by Cate Blanchett, who, true to Marvel villain form, gets a lot of rich lines about hunting down space swords. The former plotline almost disastrously collapses into the latter, leaving behind the most fun and interesting parts of the film for the least developed. The two strands are also deeply incongruous; Sakaar’s neon 80’s arcade aesthetic clashes with Asgard’s too-serious, Lord of the Rings-lite atmosphere. At least Marvel’s constant need to literally dull everything behind ugly gray filters makes both settings consistently feel sleeker and generic than they should! Also the first twenty minutes function as an extended Doctor Strange cameo. I hated Doctor Strange, and his inclusion here is a reminder that Marvel movies are never stand-alone stories. That’s what makes them so addictive and, ultimately, so empty.

Thor: Ragnarok does sometimes valiantly struggle against the chains of the Marvel formula, but an overstuffed plot and underutilized ensemble eventually rein it back. Like all the rest, it’s fun and flighty and goes down easy. Just like all the rest. Sigh.



CAMERON FAIRCHILD | KXSU Arts Reporter

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