Thor: Ragnarok

I didn’t see the latest Thor in the cinema and was under the impression it was a disappointment. Some friends told me it tried too hard to be funny all the way through. Some reviewers said it was too much spacefaring nonsense, not enough Norse epic. I even read a few times that it was a mess because it tried too hard to please prevailing tastes of the leftist media – though I think that was just from people scared that having black and Asian people playing fantastical alien beings who were meant to have inspired Norse mythology somehow gets in the way of America being Great Again.

Whatever the potential criticisms, once I actually went to see Thor: Ragnarok and I can happily say that it was not a disappointment. It was a pleasure. Yes, it was silly and there was humour throughout, but it worked. It was goofy and self-deprecating, but in the same way as Guardians of the Galaxy – lots of bathos, lots of undercutting of the pompous, lots of people being awkward and uncomfortable. Though similar to Whedonesque humour, it’s not quite the same. It’s not about tearing down genre conventions or being smug about how much cleverer you are than the similar movies that have come before you – it’s just about taking familiar plots and situations but having silly people comment on them. It rings much truer and for me is very enjoyable. I loved Thor and Loki’s reminiscences of their childhoods (the story with the snake it told in brilliantly underwhelming fashion), director Taika Waititi’s character Korg is hilariously matter-of-fact about everything, and Loki’s self-congratulatory play (with remarkable cameo actors) unfolds at just the right pace timed against Thor’s reaction.

As an actual story it’s pretty simple stuff. Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins in notable phoning-it-in 

mode) can no longer hold back the power of his first-born child Hela (played with hammy joy by Cate Blanchett, and with a different backstory from the comics or mythology) so she comes back to take over Asgard and indirectly trigger Ragnarok. While trying to combat her, Thor and Loki are thrown off the Bifrost and end up in sci-fi tournament-land Sakaar. Thor has to fight his way out of a tournament in a tower decorated by the faces of the likes of Ares and what looks like Beta Ray Bill, reuniting with old faces and, just maybe, another Asgardian in hiding. It’s all a bit anime but that doesn’t stop it being fun and a refreshing change of pace from the other Thor movies.

There are many highlights here – the question of who is the strongest avenger; Jeff Goldblum undercutting everything at a vast scale; amazing use of Led Zeppelin; Skurge actually getting a time to shine; good use of the Hulk, always a difficult character to write; and Idris Elba being far cooler as Heimdall in guerrilla vigilante mode than weird polished doorkeeper guy.

After a few indifferent movies, this one – as well as Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – got me fired up for the continuing MCU, and I’m really looking forward to Avengers: Infinity War and what may come after that. The news that X-men might get incorporated is welcome, too, and there have even been rumours that a Power Pack movie is in the works. Now that would make me happy, especially if it brought the kids to a wider audience and they were taken seriously.

Long may this golden age of comic book movies continue!