I have been told again and again by people I know and movie reviewers whose opinions I value that Thor: Ragnarok is not only a good movie but a hilarious movie. Some regard it as the MCU’s funniest entry, which is surprising to an outsider when you consider how the Thor movies have been rather serious affairs up to this point. Thor was usually the straight man when it came to comedy in the MCU films, but this time, he was going to lead the charge, with the writer-director, Taika Waititi, of the film What We Do in the Shadows, guiding his journey. How could it go wrong?

A lot of blame is leveled against Joss Whedon for the humor of Marvel movies. Most point to the first Avengers movie as the Patient-0 for Marvel humor, but I’d argue Age of Ultron was more egregious with its use of quips, and Guardians of the Galaxy is much closer to the Marvel humor balance to which the world has become accustomed. Whedon’s ability to blend humor and solemnity, and the success of the first Avengers film, should not be blamed for what eventually devolved into callous sarcasm and a seemingly endless supply of “Well, that just happened” jokes. You could argue that his style was ripe for other filmmakers to copy, but even actually copying his style would have brought better results, in my opinion. I think the finger of blame should, instead, be directed more in James Gunn’s and Taika Waititi’s direction. Gunn continued the quick, witty humor that Whedon established, but Waititi was responsible for Thor: Ragnarok’s tone and humor, a film that was seen as the most successful attempt to finally make Thor fun outside an Avengers movie. Truly an amazing success!

If you can’t tell from my sarcasm, I’ll be more blunt. This movie did not do it for me.

Pros

Some jokes land
Effects and set design look good a lot of the time
Soundtrack has many iconic rock songs
Anthony Hopkins

Cons

Jokes get in the way of serious or meaningful moments
Thor is inconsistent with who he is in other MCU movies before and after this
Side characters are killed off without any fanfare and replaced by less interesting characters
Weak plot and writing prevent this movie from being meaningful
Valkyrie sucks
A taser incapacitates the god of thunder?

Plot & Thoughts

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns to Asgard after defeating a demon that would bring about Ragnarok—the world-ending event of Norse mythology—to find that his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is alive, but his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), is on death’s door. Odin’s death means doom for Asgard, as his very life essence was the force that was imprisoning his firstborn daughter, Hella (Cate Blanchett). Odin dies, and Hella immediately emerges from a portal to interrupt a scene that could have been very meaningful for both Thor and Loki to reflect on their father’s leadership and legacy, but we have to move on and get to the jokes. Hella wants to rule Asgard and start a new war campaign. Thor tries to stop her, but she destroys his hammer, Mjolnir, and she easily defeats the two brothers. In the battle, several prominent side characters from previous films are unceremoniously dispatched—to be replaced later by inferior characters—Thor and Loki are kicked off the Bifrost, and the brothers fly through space, only to arrive on the planet Sakaar, where society is run by a goofy tyrant known as the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum). Thor must defeat the Grandmaster’s gladiator champion and find a way back home to defeat Hella before she destroys Asgard and those living there.

Ragnarok was well-received when it came out, and its humor was praised by many audiences, including people I personally know. I had higher expectations going into Ragnarok (which was a mistake on my part), hoping for something that would make me laugh while still giving me an interesting Thor movie that would further build upon the character. I laughed for a little bit until I recognized the overall style of the movie.

Every opportunity for either a cool or meaningful character moment that also shared the opportunity for a joke—regardless of whether it would deflate the scene’s impact—the joke was chosen every time. Thor makes an impassioned speech to Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to get her on his side, then he throws a ball at a window that bounces back and hits him in the face, knocking him over. Hella recounts her tales of ruthless conquering campaigns to her new second-in-command, only to flub her story with a quip. Any time Thor begins to build himself up as a hero, he gets electrocuted and falls to the ground twitching due to a stupid, small plot device on his neck that should be a lot easier to remove than it is—the device ELECTROCUTES the god of thunder, by the way; the same god who produces lightning with his own body in big fight scenes. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) tells Valkyrie that he’s about to show her what he can do as he jumps out of a plane in the climactic battle on the rainbow bridge, and his limp body hits the ground before he transforms into the Hulk.

The jokes became painfully predictable as low-hanging-fruit jokes often do, and I quickly got bored. If everything is a joke, then there is nothing at stake. I can’t take anything seriously if every possible character interaction is on the verge of another punchline. Sure, there were some funny lines and moments in Ragnarok, but not enough of the humor was clever enough to warrant its existence. This is supposed to be the movie that destroys Asgard, a world that Thor and Loki have fought to either protect or rule multiple times. This is the movie in which Odin dies. This is the movie in which Hulk returns, and we set up the darkest opening of any Avengers movie. It’s such a significant movie in terms of how many important things happen, and I can’t care because everyone and everything is a joke. The Avengers had funny moments like Hulk smashing Loki into the floor, but it also had the scene in which Loki intimidated Black Widow with an intense and dark speech about how he was going to control her best friend, Hawkeye, make him tear her heart out, and only finally kill Hawkeye after he realizes what he’s done. There was no joke at the end of that scene to try to make the tone less serious again. The humor was most often used to break up the tension of a superhero movie in which the world was at stake. Waititi wanted to make a comedy, regardless of whether it meant changing established characters or skipping meaningful moments. Just jingle some keys with bright colors, recognizable music, simple one-liners, and Jeff Goldblum, and no one will notice that your story sucks.

Not to get too nerdy, but I also have to bring up the comic references. This movie uses the setting of Sakaar, the world on which Hulk crash-landed in the Planet Hulk comic series. Planet Hulk is often regarded as one of the best storylines for the green behemoth, and it is completely squandered here as a goofy planet run by an incompetent tyrant. It’d be a shame if Marvel were to squander anything else from this comic series…right?

I also feel like this is the first movie in the MCU to really start leaning into the tropes to appeal to the “modern audience.” There had already been entries in the MCU that made choices I disagreed with in terms of casting people for their skin color over actual acting ability, but there hadn’t been one so far that obviously tried to force its message and make you like a character without a reason or without denigrating another male character to do so. Valkyrie is lucky that Captain Marvel came out a few years later to make her look good, because she is extremely unlikable from start to finish in Ragnarok, yet she’s supposed to be someone special enough that Thor essentially makes her the leader. Tessa Thompson’s flat/lazy performance, and the film’s continuous attempts to build her up as something special, reminded me of how Awkwafina’s character was treated in Renfield—just keep saying that she’s amazing, and the audience will agree…eventually. She is just awful in this movie and can’t even act drunk when she’s supposed to. How am I supposed to like a character when I can’t even get past how bad the actress is at doing her job?

Are there any upsides to Ragnarok? A few jokes still made me laugh, so it managed to be funnier than Happy Gilmore 2, at least. Some of the special effects and the action scenes were visually entertaining. Thor finally understanding Loki enough that he is not caught off-guard by his treachery is a character improvement we’ve been waiting for. Makeup effects and set design were neat. That’s about it.

TL;DR

Thor: Ragnarok may be praised as a refreshing comedic entry in the Thor series of films in the Infinity Saga, but I found it to be the biggest disappointment thus far. The jokes were only funny for so long before they got in the way of the story and the characters. It clumsily tries to boost some new, uninteresting characters up while degrading better, established characters in the process. It’s not the worst the Infinity Saga has to offer, but it’s definitely low on my list.

Featured