Originally published April 21, 2019

Thor: Ragnarök FINALLY MADE THOR FUNNY!!!

This is unquestionably the best Thor movie. It’s also one of the best Marvel films overall. There are changes to the fundamental DNA of the Thor series that help this film surpass its predecessors. The tone, aesthetic, and narrative all benefit from a rather drastic overhaul. The shift is dramatic, but it is almost entirely for the better.

Thor Reinvented

You can see the tonal and stylistic changes to the series almost immediately. Taika Watiti has arrived, and he’s here to reinvent the idea of the Thor movie. The past two films opened with recaps of Asgard’s history set to bold orchestral music. This movie opens with Thor fighting a dragon and some fire demons set to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.

Tonally, Thor: Ragnarök is a comedy. There are dramatic elements, but this film leans on humor more than possibly any other MCU flick (and yes, I’m counting the Guardians of the Galaxy films). This is mostly a good thing, though I will note that a couple of jokes are inserted into scenes that would probably be better served by sticking to drama.

The main way the humor is added is by making just about the entire cast roughly 20% dumber. I mean that in the best sense possible. In lieu of Thor 1 and 2’s Shakespearean pathos, Thor: Ragnarök embraces the absurdity of its characters. The characters are dumb, and petty, and lacking in self-reflective tendencies. When they DO embrace heroic ideals, it’s due to a tangible character arc, not narrative necessity.

Thor and Loki: Gods of Comedic Timing

Chris Hemsworth has finally found his groove as Thor. He’s held onto the inherent cockiness and nobility of the character, but supplemented it with a wonderful sense of comedic timing. This version of Thor is frequently incompetent. He fails and looks foolish. Hemsworth turns that into a strength. He gets beaten down, but he always gets back up again, usually with a smile.

Loki has completed his development into the God of Mischief at this point. To borrow some parlance from Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s an a-hole, but he’s not 100% a dick. Loki is constantly looking out for himself, but he also clearly loves his brother. It’s a fitting culmination of the sometimes inconsistent characterization Loki has received throughout his appearances.

Thor and Loki’s relationship is a big highlight of the film. The mix of filial love and bad blood between them has always been there, but this is the first film where they actually feel like brothers. Their bickering is too real for anyone who has a sibling, even if the stakes are a wee bit higher.

Cast

Bruce Banner and the Hulk are also in this. Mark Ruffalo is still great as both. Banner is fine, but this is more the Hulk’s show. This is the first time the Hulk has really gotten dedicated character exploration as his own, separate entity in the MCU. He’s angry, but there’s also a childlike innocence to the performance.

Special kudos should also go to Anthony Hopkins. He only has one short scene as Odin, which is certainly good. However, the real magic is the scene where he plays Loki pretending to be Odin. Hopkins has to emulate Tom Hiddleston’s mannerism in his performance of Loki, but as if Hiddleston was trying to emulate Hopkins’ performance of Odin while in-character as Loki. It’s nuanced but it’s perfect.

Idris Elba continues his trend of getting minor but important roles as Heimdall. It’s really a shame that such a talented actor has been underutilized in three straight films (four if you count his brief appearance in Age of Ultron). Idris deserves better.

You’ll note that I don’t mention the rest of the supporting cast from the first two Thor films. That’s because Thor: Ragnarök is basically a soft reboot. None of the human characters appear at all, not even Jane Foster. Sif is also absent. The rest of the previous cast gets killed off unceremoniously within the first half hour of the film. There’s a very clean slate for the franchise moving forward.

The New Guys

I want to mention the brief Doctor Strange appearance. This is a way more interesting and comics-accurate depiction of Strange than the one found in his own movie. Part of that is because time has elapsed and the character has become more confident and comfortable in his role as the Sorceror Supreme. However, Benedict Cumberbatch has also settled into the role a bit more. His exasperation at having to deal with Asgardian nonsense makes for one of the film’s best scenes.

New Villains

Besides changes to established players, the film is helped along by the introduction of several new characters, most of them being antagonists. Cate Blanchett is clearly having a blast as Hela. She has a flair that really sells a character that could so easily be a generic villain.

Jeff Goldblum is also (as expected) having a blast hamming it up as Jeff Goldblum. He’s playing a character called the Grandmaster, but he’s essentially just channeling himself if he was an alien despot. But let’s be honest, that’s not a bad thing at all.

New Heroes

But the MVP is definitely Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie. Valkyrie shoulders equal parts of the comedic and dramatic burden. She’s just a lot of fun all around, and Thompson kills it as the boozy badass. That said, all I want is more Valkyrie. Every subsequent film she’s not in makes me sad. Also, can we talk about how precious it is that Thor wanted to be a Valkyrie when he grew up? Because it is very, very precious. I’m sure somebody has made a comic about that. If not, the internet really needs to get on that.

Taika Watiti, the director, also appears as soft-spoken rock man Korg. Korg gets some of the best jokes in the film. His peculiar cadence and revolutionary tendencies are a winning combination.

A New Direction

The aesthetic of the film is also just fantastic. It combines designs pulled straight from Jack Kirby’s work with a neon glow and synth-heavy soundtrack straight out of the ’80s. There’s some very clear inspiration from James Gunn’s work with the Guardians, but Taika brings his own sensibilities to bear as well. Notably, the scene with the Valkyries attacking Hela is gorgeous. The lighting rig they used for that scene must be insane.

The only real problem area is the fight choreography. There are a several exceptional sequences, such as the opening battle in Muspelheim, Hela’s destruction of the armies of Asgard, and Thor’s fight with the Hulk. However, several scenes, including the big final battle, represent a major weak spot. In these problem scenes, there’s a lack of weight to the combat. Thor’s lightning lacks that difficult to describe oomph that I’m looking for. Maybe it’s just a personal preference, I don’t know.

Consequences

Finally, we come to the narrative direction of the film. Ragnarök does something that few Marvel films have done in that it enforces consequences. Major consequences, in fact. Outside of the Captain America sub-series, I can’t think of an MCU film that alters the status quo in such a major way. Asgard burns to the ground, most of the Asgardians die, Mjolnir gets destroyed, and Thor is left as a space refugee with his remaining people. Ragnarök reshapes the world and changes its characters irrevocably, and the film is better for it.

Retcons

Thor: Ragnarök also re-writes the history of Thor and Asgard fairly dramatically. It reveals things we did not know, and shows that some of what we did know is not actually true. There’s always been some subtext about the nature of the Nine Realms, with some implicitly colonial subtext. Here, that’s just the text. Odin conquered his way across the Nine Realms, then tried to cover it up. He wrote a whitewashed history of Asgard that painted the gods as heroes. It really paints the central conflict in Thor 1 in a new light.

The film also rewrites the past of Thor and Loki. Previously, Loki had been portrayed as relatively noble prior to his villainous turn in the first Thor film. This film makes it clear he was always a bit of a jerk, but also that Thor was a bit of a jerk right back. Some of the funniest scenes include glimpses into their unfortunate childhood bond.

Duality

Thematically, the central theme of the film is duality. Each is divided into the hidden versus the seen. Which is real? Are the Asgardians conquerors or heroes? Is Asgard a place or a people? Is Valkyrie a drunk or a legend, and is Loki a villain or a hero? Who is more real, Banner or Hulk? The answer is generally that there’s a choice. Nobody gets to decide their history, but they do get to choose what part of their history to pattern themselves after.

Conclusion

Thor: Ragnarök is absolutely fantastic. It’s worth watching on its own merits, independent of the grander MCU. It is also, however, one of the most critical films to revisit in advance of Endgame as it leads into Infinity War more directly than any other film in the franchise. If you haven’t seen it, fix that. If you have seen it, see it again. It’s that good.

If my gushing praise didn’t clue you in, this one is going straight to the top. It’s spectacular in every sense. I love it. And I hope you love it too.

PS- If you read this piece and you liked what you saw, consider donating to my Patreon! Donations from readers like you make this site possible.

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