Comic fans and cinephiles alike are counting down the days until the hammer falls and Thor: Ragnarok hits the movies. Expectations for a gangbusters weekend are higher than Dr. Strange’s first multiverse trip and with good reason…
Despite the popular opinion that Marvel Studios is running orbital circles around Warner’s DC movies, the battleground has been evenly split when it comes to pulling in the crowds. Earlier this year DC spent some time in the limelight with responses to Wonder Woman pulverizing glass ceilings. Now the pendulum has swung back to Marvel’s side of the board; Thor’s grabbed a hold of it and he ain’t lettin’ go.
If you can measure fun by the trailer, then Ragnarok promises to be one hell of a ride. Taking on the aesthetic of a 1970’s space-age romp, it’s a little bit Star Wars, a little bit Gladiator, a little bit Ghostbusters, and a whole lot of ‘fuck yeah!’ The story may be a quest narrative about preventing the end of the world, but the film is obviously steering clear of anything remotely serious. A synth-pop soundtrack accompanies snippets of classic banter, insane CGI, and enough testosterone-fuelled action to put a bun in the oven!
Just as Wonder Woman proved that the superhero genre is as much for women as it is for men, Ragnarok is proving that it doesn’t need to be taken so seriously. The last handful of Marvel movies have adopted a more casual approach to the genre to counter Warner’s gritty Nolan-filter, but with comedic director Taika Waititi (Hunt For the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows) at the helm, Thor promises the be the film that hammers home that point. Even negative critiques of the film are losing their oomph. Peter Debruge of Variety said,
Thor: Ragnarok is easily the best of the three Thor movies – or maybe I just think so because its screenwriters and I finally seem to agree on one thing: the Thor movies are preposterous.
Check out how the director himself responded to naysayers on IGN!
If all this doesn’t get you excited for when the movie hits on Thursday, see your GP: you may be clinically dead!