There is a moment in this movie that sums up the experience of watching it perfectly. Suddenly sucked through a dimensional portal in space to the lair of a genocidal DJ-ing despot, our hero experiences a cosmic version of the notorious, kiddie-scaring chocolate river boat ride from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As a scene, it is garishly colourful, thrillingly scary and very funny indeed. By the time you realise the music swelling up behind it on the soundtrack is that classic Wonka ditty ‘Pure Imagination’ by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, your mind is melting at the sheer chutzpah of the joyous thing that is Thor: Ragnarok. The best part? You know that another scene like this will be along very shortly.
It’s fair to say that Thor hasn’t had the smoothest parade around the Marvel cinematic paddock compared to his Avenging colleagues. Kenneth Branagh’s successful, if (ahem) low-key first chapter in 2011 was a tonally mixed bag that established Chris Hemsworth as an excellent Thor but never quite found a comfort zone between comedy and action. Things were not helped by leading lady Natalie Portman giving off the distinct aura of someone who’d walked onto the movie by mistake and was sticking around just to be polite. She looked even less impressed to be in Thor: The Dark World, Alan Taylor’s 2013 sequel which wasn’t half bad but lacked Branagh’s lightness of touch. By the standards of the MCU, it was pretty ordinary, which is hardly a description the vigorous, party-loving, beer-swilling Thor should ever be associated with.
So, welcome to the party he deserves. The new film begins with Thor escaping the jaws of death via a Led Zep-backed battle sequence that concludes with Marvel’s greatest-ever main title reveal. Arriving back on Asgard, he finds his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) living the high-life, having packed their old dad Odin (Anthony Hopkins) off to an old people’s home in New York, like the good son he is. Travelling to Earth, the estranged brothers find their Dad’s care home has been demolished, so enlist the assistance of some Sorcerer bloke they come across to track the old duffer down. When they do, he tips them off to defend Asgard against the outrageously powerful Hela who, in the form of Cate Blanchett, is quite possibly the most kick-ass lady the MCU has ever seen. En route to stop her, things get serious, then seriously funny, when the brothers Odinson find themselves in the disco-stadium court of the Grandmaster (Goldblum, in stealth Goldblum mode). There, Thor gets a haircut and is enslaved to do show-battle with is old mate the Hulk, who has been having so much fun on the cosmic WWE circuit, he’s lost interest in turning back into Bruce Banner. Thor does not have any sort of coherent plan to deal with any of this. But, by thunder – he does!
Thor: Ragnarok (a tragically Portman-free zone, she garners not a mention) delivers on the promise of its ‘Team Thor’ teasers and recent trailers to be a full-blown riot. New Zealander Taika Waititi is an inspired choice of director, ensuring we’re never far away from the next dramatic drop-kick, spot-on punchline or moment of visual splendour. He has a willing partner in Chris Hemsworth, who is clearly having the time of his life with a script that nails the sheer, unbridled exuberance of his character. Hemsworth’s buddy-act with the wisecracking CGI Hulk is sublime and having Mark Ruffalo’s frazzled Banner (once Hulk changes back) in the mix is every bit as brilliant an idea as you hoped it would be. But in a film of show-stopping, laugh-out-loud performances (including some gobsmacking cameos we won’t spoil), even an on-fire Jeff Goldblum is out-funnied by director Waititi himself, who brings the house down as chilled-out rock monster and would-be sidekick Korg. His line about his mate Doug is the greatest deadpan of the year. You’ll know it when you hear it.
Thor: Ragnarok is an awesomely entertaining premier league win for Thor that fizzes with inventive energy. Nine years and 17 movies into the MCU, that’s got to be worth some serious flagons of ale.
THOR: RAGNAROK / CERT: 12A / DIRECTOR: TAIKA WAITITI / SCREENPLAY: ERIC PEARSON, CRAIG KYLE, CHRISTOPHER YOST/ STARRING: CHRIS HEMSWORTH, MARK RUFFALO, TOM HIDDLESTON, JEFF GOLDBLUM/ RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 27TH
Expected Rating: 8 out of 10
Actual Rating:
