Film Review - Thor: Ragnarok (12A)

Point me in the direction of whoever's ass I have to kick.

If you recall Captain America: Civil War, you'll remember that the Avengers assembled with two notable exceptions. Thor (Son of Odin, God of Thunder) and Bruce Banner, aka Hulk, were both conspicuous by their absence. Well in Thor: Ragnarok we discover what the boys were getting up to in the interim. And it's nothing if not eventful.

Thor, courtesy of Chris Hemsworth, has become one of the most likeable Marvel movie characters due to the self-deprecating humour that undercuts his godly stature. Such humour is present in great sackfuls from the start here, as the hammer-wielding hero has a jaunty dust-up with underworld demon Surtur and investigates what his step-brother Loki has been getting up to. (No surprise - it's mischief.) 

But these encounters are only a prelude to the arrival of the film's main antagonist - Hella, Goddess of Death, played by a slinky serpentine Cate Blanchett, who's possibly having the most sheer enjoyment of her acting career. In a few swift moves she dismantles Thor's power and sets about doing the same to Asgard - and it's then that the fun really begins.

If all this suggests a plot moving at break-neck pace, then that's Ragnarok. And even considering that strange word is basically Asgardian for 'Armageddon', the movie's other defining feature is comedy. While humour was always a feature of the Thor stories, here director Taika Waititi dials it up several levels. Thor's interactions with Hulk/Banner (the always endearing Mark Ruffalo) are priceless and it's lovely to see these two Avengers given proper screen time together; however a handful of other characters make an equally memorable impact. Tessa Thompson is a boozy swaggering Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum the absurdly laconic 'Grandmaster' of the galaxy's ultimate gladiator show and director Waititi a hilariously polite and understated rock-monster called Korg, complete with polite Kiwi accent. Oh, and Tom Hiddleston has his usual blast playing Loki, the Marvel Universe's favourite anti-hero.

The film's visuals match its vast storytelling scope and sense of comic delight. The underworld is a stunning lava-lake nightmare, while Asgard past and present is like a series of epic landscape paintings brought to awe-inspiring life. Most impressive, however, is a key planet named Sakaar with its towering architecture, trash-dumps and gargantuan gladiatorial arena, all of it realised in eyeball-blistering psychedelic colour. In terms of setting, this movie is a multi-course banquet for the eye.

The film, it should be said, is not without its problems. My main issue (as with Spiderman: Homecoming) is that the story references numerous other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so that fans are laughing along gleefully, while casual viewers sit in bewildered silence. My casual-viewer companions assured me that they were able to filter out the fan stuff nonetheless and enjoy everything else. There's also the fact that the story is getting so much mileage out of Thor's evolving new team of associates that it rather neglects Cate Blanchett's antagonist. She's suited and booted impressively and could do with more scenes, but loses out to all the crazy stuff going on elsewhere.

If Waikiki's brief is anarchic space-opera fun, then he succeeds. Ragnarok plunges established Avengers characters into Guardians of the Galaxy silliness, and the result is outrageous, audacious and more than a little daft. Thor brings the gravitas when he needs to, but make no mistake - this is a comedy action spectacular, emphasis firmly on the comedy.

Gut Reaction: Regular laughter, a little pain on behalf of those not in on all the jokes, and a moment of pure despair when Chris Hemsworth took his shirt off.

Ed's Verdict: Hemsworth raises his comic game to match all the colourful characters surrounding him. Marvel's self-indulgence can be forgiven, due to the film's sheer creative joy.