Thor: Ragnarok is even crazier and goofier than the film that had been Marvel’s biggest gamble to date, Guardians of the Galaxy, and I reckon the risk is going to pay off for them again. This movie is just so much fun, it’s a hilarious superhero romp and nigh impossible to watch without a grin on your face.
Just as in 2011’s Thor, the best fight scene is a kind of throwaway one at the start of the film – but unlike that first movie and definitely unlike 2013’s The Dark World, this new one makes no apologies for being a comedy first and anything else second. Yes, it’s a superhero movie and it does have action in it, but it’s almost as if that stuff gets in the way of the jokes.
It’s a Thor and Hulk buddy comedy supported by a range of colourful characters who are mostly wonderful, but none more so than Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster. It feels like the direction he was given was “Goldblum harder than you’ve ever Goldblummed before”. And he does. And lo, it is fucking great.
The relentless silliness that is generally so endearing is occasionally a little annoying, however. Having the Hulk sulk in his room like a grounded teen at times and function like an ’80s movie ape sidekick at others feels dangerously close to being sacrilegious. There’s also a Kiwi accent that pops up in outer space so jarringly Jango Fett himself would get a shock, but I loved that.
Taika Waititi has somehow pulled off making a film that fits seamlessly into both his own body of work and Marvel’s mammoth series. It’s not his best movie nor is it the best Marvel flick yet, but it sure is a delight.
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