Stuck in the Middle With Thor

Conditions: Stifling

Film Review: Thor Ragnarok

Well, it seems the third Thor film is something of a massive reaction to the muted appeal of the last film. So where Dark World was somber and heavy, Ragnarok is pretty much a laugh a minute. Gags wildly fly out at the audience unpredictably, and any time something serious is about to happen there's always a wink or a nudge somewhere to take the edge off.  This is odd, because if you squint a bit there's actually some pretty major events happening in the world of Thor, and hence the Marvel universe.

For a start, Odin dies, but it's handled so quickly and subtly you might miss it if you're still eating something.  Loki consigned him to Earth apparently and it seems Odin was content enough to just sit around and wait.  So the kingdom of Asgard isn't in terrific shape before the film even really gets going.  See, when Odin dies it unleashes his first born, Hela (played by Cate Blanchett) - and it turns out she was his enforcer in the time he was conquering everything.  So now she's back and wants the kingdom.  Thor tries to stop her but he and Loki get knocked into a side movie, where we all get stuck with them for almost the rest of the film.

It's odd, but most of this film takes place on a wildly colourful planet overseen by Jeff Goldblum who keeps people entertained with Gladiator style games, featuring his pet The Hulk.  This is all a fun diversion, but it is just that, and as Thor tries to get back to Asgard to defend it from Hela you get the feeling the movie is actually working against him.  And all this is wrapped in a relentless sense of humour, with various and very funny gags popping up all over.  So by the time it's finally over you know you've had a good time, it was a lot of fun, but also some fairly important things just happened, which will affect other Marvel films in the future.  It all feels a little dismissive, though, as if Asgard isn't really all that important, so we can mess all that up for some fun.  I admit, I thought the whole Thor thing in general was a bit weird, but to see it treated like this is even odder.  Still, we had some laughs.  Three genocides out of five.

- Peace out