Year: 2017
Director: Taika Waititi
Those becoming tired of the MCU might just find themselves a tonic in the shape of the third Thor film, Ragnarok. Directed by Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do In The Shadows), this is by far and away the best of the three Thor movies and, in my humble opinion, the best Marvel since the first Guardians of The Galaxy movie.
Waititi brings his own brand of Kiwi humour to the franchise, with some laugh out loud interactions between the main protagonists and a scene stealing turn by the director himself, voicing the rock monster gladiator, Korg. The script is full of quotable lines, and Hemsworth and Ruffalo are a great double act as Thor and The Hulk.
There’s a great cast here with Jeff Goldblum having fun as the Grand Master, Cate Blanchett vamping it up as Hela, Goddess of Death and a star turn from Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie. For once Marvel has some strong female characters on screen. But such is the pull of Marvel now that you can spot some big names popping up for a two minute cameo (look out for the “play” in Asgard). The look of the film is great too, utilising a much brighter colour palette and set design that owes an obvious debt to the artwork of Jack Kirby, all circles and geometric designs.
The action is deftly handled and although the movie runs over two hours it never drags. Thor diving into action at the climax to Led Zep’s Immigrant Song is quite magnificent.
The only negatives are a bit of a nothing part for Karl Urban and Idris Elba yet again being wasted as Heimdall.
Marvel continue to be on a roll and the ending sets up Infinity War nicely. DC must be grinding their teeth.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
The other Marvel movies, especially Guardians.
It’s an absolute blast! Loved it.
Utterly superb, this film. The funniest Marvel to date, and possibly the best.
I’m looking forward to this. I’m very glad to see the recent Marvel films being more colorful (Guardians Vol 2, Spider Man homecoming) and Kirbyesque. I was getting tired of washed-out, dark superhero films. The Dark Knight Rises was the worst offender for me, a horrible film.
DC have no idea how to make anyone’s evening out any fun. Literally no films worthy to shine Marvel’s shoes between Batman Begins and Wonder Woman (and even the much-praised WW isn’t *that* good. While she’s great, and in terms of gender representation there’s lots to like about it, it’s extremely generic in terms of story and look).
I can never quite decide whether Man of Steel or Suicide Squad is the worst high-profile blockbuster I’ve ever seen.
It wasn’t my personal cuppa, but The Dark Knight rises grossed over a billion dollar and has a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Someone had a good time!
My top ten superhero movies to date:
1. Superman
2. Batman Returns
3. Thor – Ragnarok
4. Batman
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
6. Logan
7. Superman II
8. Batman Begins
9. Spider-Man 2
10. Man of Steel (blows raspberries)
I think TDK benefited from the Cobain effect around Ledger’s death. Unless I’m misremembering the timeline. It’s alright but god it’s no fun.
I usually have absolutely zero interest in superhero movies, but I thought Heath Ledger’s performance in that was something special. One of those cases where an individual performance raises the whole quality of a film. I recently watched the recent documentary I Am Heath Ledger. It’s certainly a very flattering documentary, featuring friends, family and colleagues who clearly adored him, but it must be said he did come across as extremely likeable and charismatic, full of artistic energy.
Definitely a really good performance, but in a deeply OK film.
@bingo-little I can watch TDKR quite contendedly, actually. It’s fine – they’re all fine – but the best of DC is still nowhere near most Marvel at this point, IMO.
I’m not actually that keen on Ledger’s performance, to be honest. It’s one of my least favourite aspects of that movie (that and the succession of tiresome dilemmas in the final half hour).
There have been some god awful DC films (including the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern flick which seemed to sour them on comedy, and BvS, which was the nadir to date – although brace yourself for Justice League), but for my money Marvel get an easy ride of it.
They’ve made a handful of really, really good movies (the first Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ragnarok) and get a lot of praise for others that are deeply, deeply mediocre (all the other Iron Man and Thor movies, all the Captain Americas, Guardians 2, the sleep inducing Age of Ultron, the god-awful Dr Strange). There’s way too much formula and design by committee going on for my taste.
I’m quite looking forward to Black Panther though – another director I really like. I think that’s the secret to these films: stop being so fussy about tone and let talented directors give us their vision. I never bought comics wanting them all to look the same; the different styles and approaches were precisely what made them fun.
It’ll be interesting to see where the DC movies go now that they’re about to move on from the prevailing ruinous Snyderism. James Wan directing Aquaman should be interesting.
Oh my god, Justice League looks appalling.
We’ll have to disagree on the Cap movies, all of which I really like – Winter Soldier and Civil War in particular. I also enjoyed Doctor Strange. Daft as a brush and a bit of a mess, but I really liked it.
Have to take issue with you on Iron Man 3. I avoided it for ages thinking it was bad, but watched it on Netflix and it’s hilarious. Ben Kingsley is very funny and there are some nice self-deprecating touches throughout.
The Captain America movies are all great, if a tad too long and manage to walk that fine line between humour, pathos and action.
Agree that Age of Ultron was dire. Dr Strange was bonkers fun in an Inception-lite kinda way.
Agree with you on both points, Wheldrake. I’d really been put off Iron Man 3 by comments about it being a lot of noisy action but really rather enjoyed it.
And Dr Strange, despite a fairly flimsy plot, was great fun thanks to those stunning visual effects combined with Cumberbatch’s performance making sure we kept our feet on the ground.
And you are being too harsh on Guardians 2, Bingo. OK, it was a re-serving of the same dish as the first movie but there were quite enough laughs, thrills and fine songs on the mixtape to keep KFD Junior and myself more than happy.
Superhero films are not my thing, but again and again, Marvel Studios have given me much delight.
Deeply mediocre? I endured My Little Pony – The Movie on Sunday afternoon. Nuff said.
People bought blank cassettes because Heath Ledger died? Strange tribute, but to each his own.
It’s never been my cuppa, but it arguably has the biggest cultural footprint of any of the superhero movies to date – still sells bucketloads every time there’s a new format release, Still used to benchmark other movies and has the distinction of being stupid people’s most quoted movie in each year since it first came out.
I recently rewatched The Dark Knight Rises for the first time in a while and enjoyed it more than expected. It has at least a couple of jokes in it, benefits from reduced expectations and all the masses against the elites stuff feels eerily prescient now.
Eerily prescient? Of what? The direction of DC movies or the direction of society?
Terrific movie, almost a perverse left-turn from the previous Thor films, and all the better for it, making it one of the most bonkers mainstream blockbusters I can remember. Great chemistry amongst the whole cast (Cate Blanchett, camp as you like, has a ball), a clutch of laugh-out-loud lines, great production design (a virtual love letter to Jack Kirby), and a shout-out too for Mark (Devo) Mothersbaugh’s soundtrack, an 80’s video-game soundtrack in extremis…
That Marvel were prepared to go in this direction is a sign of their collective ever-growing confidence in their grand universe, and what’s especially struck me with the past few years of Marvel movies is how much fun they are, and how regularly they remind this 53 year-old of how it actually felt to read these comics (gulp) 40-odd years ago, not for dark, existential dread, but for thrills, excitement, laughs, and seeing something I’d never seen before, and Thor: Ragnarok has plenty of that to go ’round…
I have my regular Marvel criticism that far too much was shown in the trailer, and I have concerns that the comedy aspects of the MCU might clash with the drama needed for the Infinity War epic(s) to come, otherwise this is the most fun you’ll have with your clothes on at the cinema this year…
I think comedy is what MCU is turning out to do best. The laughs in the first Avengers film were the best thing about it (and it’s already a terrific film), so I don’t actually want Infinity War to be too serious or “dark”. When they lose their lightness of touch, you end up with Age of Ultron, and nobody wants that.
I do think superhero films need to find a way to break out of their plot clichés. I’m getting pretty tired of The Final Epic Showdown, and even in T:R, the battle for Asgard was the least interesting thing about it.
I’ve been won around to Ragnarok by the comments here – I must try and catch it now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of comic movies taking themselves too seriously (and can’t stand DC’s darkness), but from the trailers T:R appeared to have gone so far in the other direction it looked like 60s Batman with a budget.
Well, okay then. But I know where you all live (here), and if this is just another stinking rubberhead movie made for the eternal thirteen year-old twat in all of us, I shall smite as you have never been smited before.
You say “eternal thirteen year old twat” like it’s a bad thing.
HP, I have news for you. I was sucked in by the positive reviews here and I went to see this tonight. It’s a stinking rubberhead movie for thirteen year olds. Sorry folks.
There are some nice jokes, and some luscious, breezy design work. The influence of Jack Kirby has been mentioned. To me it felt like a cross between Flash Gordon (the 1980 one) and Ulysses 31 – right down to the cheesy electronic music. That’s all the good stuff. Oh, and Jeff Goldblum is good.
The bad stuff is the usual stuff that weighs down any of these lumpen superhero movies. The sense of geography and direction is all over the place, the CGI effects are grey porridge, the plotting is wayward (relying on coincidence, serendipity and sudden solutions appearing out of nowhere) and the peril is feeble.
Asgard is the DULLEST place, and appears to have a population of about 300 people yet an army of thousands. There’s some guff about a sword that Idris Elba steals, then tries to take back to where he stole it from, for some reason… and everyone gathers on a big rainbow bridge thing to fight… for some reason…. it’s truly all over the place.
Thanks, Art. I suspected as much, and you’ve saved me the post-movie remorse and self-loathing. Apparently much of the “script” was improvised, which given the standard of most scripts getting made into movies is not necessarily a bad thing.
Rubberhead movies are the Saturday morning cartoons of the movie world. Which would be okay if Saturday morning didn’t now last seven days a week. What desalinates my cracker is that this crap is now accepted by adults as legitimate movie art, real movies. They’re not. Going to the movies can and should deliver more than just thrills n’laffs, especially when those thrills n’laffs aren’t really exciting or funny at all, but just signal themselves that way. Knowingly ironic superhero meta-line = funny. Big CGI battle with explosions = exciting.
I don’t think I’m as cynical as you (who is?) but I definitely felt that deflation and remorse coming out of this.
I do think daft action hero movies can be high art when done well. That’s the frustration of it. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Flash Gordon. Speed Racer. Tron.
I don’t think it’s cynicism. I think it’s a healthy dose of realism.
One of the things that set off my alarm was the line from one of those links above that — let’s be accurate — “95% of the movie was improvised.” It’s improv taking over from actual comedy, a regrettable trend in movies, Look at the “gag” reel of most comedies made in the last decade, it’s like Whose Line Is It Anway but with an extra helping of smug. Look at the actual reel of any Iron Man movie, or any movie with the name Whedon attached.
I will save this movie for the night long flight I’m on, I think.
I don’t think I’m being cynical when I say that rubberhead movies are now the lifeblood of the studios – look at the box office. This has happened at the expense of (wait for the groan) adult movies. As in movies for grown-ups. And although they may appear to be made and marketed for thirteen year-old boys, they’re carefully designed to appeal to a much wider demographic. In-jokes and hip references pander to the cinema-goer who’d feel awkward seeing a “straight” super-hero movie. The enclosed “universe” (never was a word so misused) of “franchises” (aaaaargh!) crossing over into each other is the antithesis of creativity. None of this would matter if the art of cinema had not been compromised. If Taxi Drivers and 2001s and Chinatowns were still being made, if great scripts were being picked up because they were great, if going to the movies was still a cathartic and moving and surprising experience, then all this caped crusader (capes? really?) nonsense would be a pleasant diversion for some, and ignorable for others. But every new rubberhead movie gets major reviews, written by adults for adults. Even horrifying exercises in toy marketing like “The Lego Movie” – sweet Jesus fucking Christ – get coverage and praise from adults who adopt a stance of come on, it’s just a fun movie! and a damn good one! It doesn’t take itself seriously! Again, perfectly okay if in the wider context of a thriving and creative movie industry.
The studios are simply going where the market leads them. Partly, that’s to do with box office numbers, but it’s also to do with a distribution model that increasingly means that only big event movies with massive marketing budgets can drag people away from their streaming services and 60 inch TVs. Hollywood is selling time these days, as much as anything else – see it now, while it’s hot and people are talking about it. It’s not a model likely to generate many Chinatowns.
That said, all the content you’re bemoaning the absence of is still out there (although you make it sound as if the studios once churned out 2001s, which was never the case), it’s just spread out more. A visionary director is just as likely these days to work in TV, or make an Amazon exclusive as they are to head to, say, Universal. There’s simply more content and more pipes to get it to the consumer.
Personally, as someone who spends half his life in movie theatres, I think this has been a really good year, and I don’t recognise the bleak picture you paint above. A Ghost Story, The Beguiled, Get Out, Okja, the quite magnificent Personal Shopper, Wind River, Luc Besson’s barmy but fun Valerian, Manchester By The Sea, Nolan’s tremendous Dunkirk (and if we’re look for the self styled heir of Kubrick, there he is), and that’s before we even come on to the real bubblegum stuff. I’ve had as good a time at the movies in 2017 as I have for a good long while.
Obviously, you’ll probably disagree, to which I’ll point out that you don’t actually pay for movies, so maybe you should just shut yer yap and enjoy what you’re given.
I think it’s been a crap year for cinema so far. Mind you, I’ve not seen most of the films you mensh. ‘Cepting Manchester By The Sea (totes brill), Get Out (not bad, woulda made a good episode of Black Mirror) and The Beguiled (awful, dull-as-halibut remake of a much, much better original).
Thanks for your contribution, Gary. Maybe just stand in the back there and look beautiful.
Rightio.
Not saying adult movies made by adults for adults don’t get made any more, just that they’re overwhelmed by the rubberhead franchises (for reasons you state). I did enjoy Personal Shopper a great deal, found Get Out a major, major disappointment, look forward to Dunkirk (etc.), but Marvel/DC movies get more attention than they deserve on the Afterword and on major review sites.
Still, everything changes, not least the Motion Picture Industry, and just as the studios once churned out a 2001 (one was miraculous enough, Binge), it may yet regain the status of the greatest popular art it once enjoyed. I’m not talking about “art house” movies, by the way. They’ve always been made and will continue to be made.
In the mean time, there’s always the Prince Charles, showing classic movies (including 2001) in 70mm.
You make a fair point re: the share of Afterword real estate commanded by superhero flicks. It is a lot easier to write about blockbusterz though.
Another vote for Valerian. I had mixed expectations but it turned out to be a very entertaining romp. And visually spectacular. A perfect summer holiday pic for a rainy day.
Sometimes I can really enjoy a bit of rubber,
I don’t know what to do now.
Amazing that loads of people comment saying they love the movie, yet one “oh it’s shit” activates the confirmation bias. Oh well…each to their own.
I was joking.
Surely any superhero movie is “for thirteen year olds”? That’s specifically the demographic they’re aimed at. I would have thought.
Waititi’s Boy is one of the most enjoyable movies I have seen for a while.
It shares that wonderful, downbeat, dry Kiwi humour evident in The Flight of the Conchords (he directed several episodes) and his own Eagle vs Shark which stars Jermaine Clement.
Can’t wait to see what he does with the God of Thunder.
Just in case you haven’t seen this….
I’m sure people will have seen it, but this is also rather lovely…
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/thor-teaser-trailer-make-a-wish_us_598338c4e4b00f0084ae5f9f
I’d just about given up on the MCU films. I’ve found them increasingly long and thrill-free (lots of CGI just becomes visual noise, and there is an extreme lack of jeopardy in the action when superheroes can fight their way through an army of “CGI extras”). The trailer and reviews lured me in to Thor: Ragnarok, and I’m so glad they did.
The humour was essential, and was really helped by having the understated Waititi humour folded in. I haven’t laughed so much in a mainstream comedy, let alone an action blockbuster, for years. Hopefully they’ve realised that you can’t play this stuff remotely seriously. Even the jeopardy-free leaping between spaceships stuff became entertaining, which is saying something.
Taika wants you to see this.