Taiki Waititi is a mad talented dude. He acts. He writes. He directs and is very good at giving comedies a dramatic tinge to them - check out his Hunt for The Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows for laughs.
So Kevin Feige, the head honcho at Marvel, went with him to inject more comedy into Ragnarok. Does it work? Let's dig in...
So let's start with what works. The new Thor movie really moves at a fast pace - blink and you may even miss Dr Strange's appearance (minus the American accent, which is a great move) or references to Donald Blake's persona (Thor's human disabled alter ego when he is not sparkling lighting from his fingers) or Firelord Surtur... the film is packed with lots of goodies and Easter eggs for movie and comic book fans.
Some of the goodies include the famous Jack Kirby design seen especially in the sets and costume of the guys on Planet Sarkaar that we spend most of the movie on. Jack Kirby's trippy designs fit in well with this world.
For the uninitiated, Jack Kirby was the pencil behind most of the iconic characters Stan Lee came up with and helped create Batman in DC and many other characters.
Lots has been said about the 80% improvised dialogue and humour in Ragnarok. There are some really good laugh-out-loud moments and some clever cameos that bring the laughs rolling.
Yet, unlike Iron Man 1 and Civil War, where there are points that the movie dials down on the humour and quips for 3 to 4 beats to add more drama, Thor just keeps undercutting the drama with wittiness that became off putting for me.
Characters like Korg (the rock dude) and Meek (insect dude) are shortchanged, they have a more interesting dramatic role in the "Planet Hulk" story from the comics, which the film overlooks.
Thor's arc is very tragic in this but is treated entirely for laughs, except for the last half of the movie which tries to correct a little by upsetting expectations and bringing in some real stakes and drama.
Since we have Firelord Surtur, Hela, Loki and the Grandmaster all playing some level of the baddie in the movie, I felt the plot was halted a little so that each can have their little plots and moments.
That said, plotwise, Thor is 10 times better than Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and the soundtrack works better. It's nice when the music from the trailers actually features prominently in the actual movie.
Taiki Waititi may have delivered a comedy but unlike what he did with the Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the depth is kinda lacking and the 3rd act kinda saves the dramatic aspect of the movie.
Yet once the hype dies, some questions are bound to be asked about how the tone undercuts most of the dramatic moments and how Hela's progression was halted due to plot machinisation instead of story needs.Plus you can't have Hela lay waste to the 9 realms before Thanos,can you?
It must be noted that the after-credit trailers are not worth waiting up for... and there are two if you are still interested.this is the third movie in a row from Marvel where the after credits scenes were a let down.
This is looking at you Spiderman homecoming, Guardians of the galaxy 2 and you too Thor Ragnarok, if we are to stay for 5 minutes watching credits.At least make it worthwhile like they did in civil war,winter sodlier and Doctor Strange.
Rating
**1/2
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Index
* Rubbish **Meh ***Good ****Now we are cooking *****Classic