Yeah yeah, I know - I said that I would write a review for Blade Runner 2049 back when I wrote my review of It. Obviously, that plan didn't quite work out the way that I had intended. In my defense, though, I found myself more preoccupied with another, slightly more ambitious writing project that had been in development for months, a project which I was finally able to produce a completed draft of. That project has now moved on to the reviewing and editing phase and, depending on how subsequent drafts turn out after edits, it may actually see the light of day in the near future. At the very least, if I can’t get any publication to take interest in it, it will be another piece for the blog. But now that October has passed (somewhat uneventfully, as far as writing goes) and November is upon us, I once again look towards the movie calendar for the remainder of the year and am quickly reminded why November and December are typically my favorite months for movies - Thor: Ragnarok, Murder on the Orient Express, and Justice League (God help us) all come out this month, while the title that has piqued my personal interest the most, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is released in December. And so, after falling off of the airwaves for October, it's time to dive right back into the writing fray with Thor: Ragnarok.
Thor: Ragnarok is the third entry in the Thor series and the seventeenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a set of monumentally popular comic IPs, owned by Disney, that perhaps single-handedly made the superhero film genre what it is today. I confess myself somewhat ambivalent about the prolonged success of the MCU. On the one hand, I haven’t historically been the biggest fan of the superhero genre, as such films typically undermine a crucial element of science fiction and fantasy known as the “suspension of disbelief”, which in turn kills the overall level of immersion for the audience and has a tendency to render the films more silly than anything else. Still, on the other hand, it would be disingenuous of me not to point out that there have been a number of occasions where the MCU has actually presented us with very relatable characters and compelling story elements, what some may perhaps consider the two most important things in any work of fiction. We saw this in the presentation of Ant-Man’s Scott Lang as your “average Joe” kind of guy, down on his luck, trying to earn the affection of his daughter and ex-wife, who just happens to find himself in a situation where the world is at stake, or in Doctor Strange, where the Doc is forced to reign in his arrogance and over-devotion to science as the very fabric of the cosmos unravels before him in the pages of Indian mysticism. Perhaps this is a sign that the superhero genre is actually starting to mature and understand that many of the over-the-top elements that it could get away with in comic books are held up to a higher level of scrutiny when such series are translated into film and presented to a broader audience, compelling film studios to realize that there is the potential for actual art when these series are critiqued from the perspective of traditional fiction. Thor: Ragnarok seems to more or less be aware of this, having come a long way since the days of the very uninteresting run-of-the-mill stories that constituted the early installments of the MCU. While still having its share of blunders, Ragnarok takes liberties with the series that other installments of the MCU have not, such as presenting us with a formidable female villain among other characters that don't quite fit the dry archetypes you find in, say, any Warner Brothers superhero production.
Thor: Ragnarok presents us with the eponymous God of Thunder in search of the fabled Infinity Stones roughly two years after the events of Age of Ultron. His quest draws his attention away from his home of Asgard, where his mischievous brother Loki has masqueraded around as their father, Odin, and ruled over the kingdom with what can best be described as a laissez-faire approach to government. After defeating the great fire demon Surtur, Thor returns to Asgard, immediately recognizes Loki’s narcissistic vanity through the disguise and reveals him. Seeing the threat to Asgard in the absence of Odin, Thor demands that Loki take him to wherever he hid Odin. With the help of Doctor Strange, Thor and Loki find Odin on Earth, who reveals that he is dying and that his death will release his first-born child, Hela, the Goddess of Death, from her prison. After Odin dies and disintegrates into cosmic dust, almost as if on cue, Hela abruptly walks out of some kind of nether portal, defeats Loki and Thor, smashes Thor’s hammer, and casts them both off of the Bifrost bridge and into space as she launches an assault on Asgard. The remainder of film follows Thor’s quest to return to Asgard and save it from Hela. Along the way, Thor finds himself stranded on a mysterious planet, competing in some kind of gladiatorial event for the eccentric Grandmaster, crossing paths with the Hulk, and reluctantly enlisting his brother’s help in returning to Asgard and saving it from his evil sister.
When compared to Warner Brothers’ attempts at establishing a solid superhero franchise (Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman, and Wonder Woman), Thor: Ragnarok illustrates just how solid an understanding of the elements of fiction that Disney actually has. Ragnarok actually has characters with depth and personality, as opposed to the one-dimensional, superficial personas that constitute virtually every character in the aforementioned Warner Brothers films. Thor, for example, puts his bravado on full display in the first five minutes of the film when confronting Surtur, as he has no qualms telling a fiery demon lord to hold on a minute as he rotates in circles while dangling from a chain in the ceiling. This is in stark contrast to the blatantly scripted melodrama of, say, Batman vs. Superman, such as when Batman asks Superman if he bleeds while looking tough and menacing. Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster is easily one of the most complex and eccentric characters in the entirety of the MCU, a powerful being that presides as what can best be described as “Lord of the Trash Planet” who has orgies on spaceships, hosts battle arenas with space gladiators, wears a gold silk robe, and refuses to address any of his servants as slaves. Now, if one were to juxtapose this with, say, Wonder Woman, I would imagine that one would find the Grandmaster to be a much more interesting antagonist than the overused and boring evil Germans during World War I. And while we’re making Wonder Woman comparisons, it may also be worth pointing out that Ragnarok actually had the courage to have a profound female villain. Not only was Hela sadistic and brutal, but she actually proved to be a formidable foe for Thor and crew, having previously slaughtered the Valkyries and smashed Thor’s hammer. Hela was a far more dangerous antagonist to be reckoned with, as opposed to Wonder Woman’s Doctor Poison, a character that was quickly relegated to the role of sidekick and whose screen time consisted of a few brief moments of her throwing vials of toxic gas every so often.
I wouldn’t say Thor: Ragnarok was perfect, however. The two biggest things that I had a problem with are perhaps the two biggest criticisms I’ve leveled at almost every installment of the MCU since Age of Ultron: the over-reliance on CGI and the tendency of much of the action to devolve into one big, incoherent punch-up. I have, on numerous occasions, compared the superhero films of today to a drug addict sprawled out on a dirty mattress after having overdosed on CGI, and it’s clear that Ragnarok didn’t make any effort to sober up since The Dark World or Age of Ultron. I thought this was the most evident during the scene where Hela first arrives on Asgard and single-handedly destroys an entire battalion of Odin’s best soldiers without even breaking a sweat. There’s something very weird about watching a CGI version of Cate Blanchett spin around and do backflips with daggers while chaining together roundhouse kicks and conjuring an unending supply of weapons out of the aether - it’s like the very unbelievable CGI version of Christopher Lee in Revenge of the Sith, and it kills the suspension of disbelief. I’ve also found that one of the virtues that the MCU has over any Warner Brothers production is its slightly campy and light-hearted nature, as opposed to the poorly-executed doom and gloom of Batman vs. Superman, for example. But while the ending fight scene of Ragnarok can be applauded for its attempts at self-parody, it might have gone a little too overboard and crossed the line into utter silliness - Thor summons lightning bolts while the Hulk is fighting a giant wolf in the ocean while the Asgardian Skurge leaps from a spaceship dual-wielding M16s while Surtur is resurrected and destroys Odin’s palace while Hela is still doing backflips and roundhouse kicks while Loki is fighting skeletal zombie warriors. It’s a lot to take in to say the least, and is very reminiscent of the brawl at the end of Age of Ultron, which is to say that it might as well be illustrated with a cartoon-esque dust cloud and the occasional “KAPOW” flashing across it.
Still, the pros of Thor: Ragnarok outweigh its cons, and I think it’s safe to say that Disney and Marvel Studios have started to perfect their craft with regard to superhero films, something I saw traces of in Ant-Man and Doctor Strange. It’s going to be interesting to see just how well Justice League performs later this month, coming on the heels of Ragnarok and attempting to carry on the success of Wonder Woman. If it’s anything like Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman, or Wonder Woman, it’s not going to be very good, yet still get at least a moderate turn out, as the typical American movie-goer can be entertained by virtually anything these days. And, like Batman vs. Superman and Wonder Woman, I intend to write something about Justice League as well, likely comparing its performance to that of Ragnarok. But that is not for another few weeks, and I have Murder on the Orient Express to look forward to before that.
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