Thor dances to Taika’s tune
Thor: Ragnarok (M)
130 mins ★★★1⁄2
While the recent DC comic book movies have ventured down increasingly dark paths of backstory and mid-life existential crisis, it’s the Marvel gang who often seem like the ones having all the fun, and Thor: Ragnarok takes this light-heartedness to new extremes.
The reason (and something to marvel at) is that the budget-holders of Hollywood entrusted the reins of their latest $100 million flick to a lad from the East Coast of Aotearoa – and they let him inject his own special brand of hilarity into a franchise that used to represent the epitome of American pop culture.
Taika Waititi is certainly a local lad made good – but to be fair he’d already proved himself to New Zealand audiences with break-out hit Boy, before his brilliantly witty vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows split human sides from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Then last year’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople brought Sam Neill back home, introduced bright young thing Julian Dennison, and made a big splash overseas.
Perhaps it was inevitable that Hollywood – whose pulse-feeling finger has long since moved across the waters to foreign lands in search of talent – would come a-calling.
And so Waititi appears to have grasped the poisoned chalice, kept his feet on the ground, and most importantly, stayed true to what he loves to do: create movies he’d want to watch, soundtracked to music he loves, with jokes that feel as fresh and natural as Waititi seems in every interview.
Thor: Ragnarok does a heap of things well, foremost being its maintenance of the Taika brand of humour, and the way he seems to have inveigled his very impressive cast (regulars Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are joined by Cate Blanchett, Jeff Goldblum and Westworld‘s wonderful Tessa Thompson) and an exciting surprise of cameos (not to be spoilered) into reading their lines just like Taika would.
The result is one of the happiest, most delightful and effortlessly charming blockbusters you’ve seen in ages. Whether this is down to parochial pride or that special buzz you get from hearing a Kiwi accent on the silver screen, it’s impossible to say – but if the foreign critics and audiences ‘‘get it’’, then Waititi will indeed be well on his way to even greater things.
Where Ragnarok falls back into line with most of its forebears is in its storytelling – the least interesting aspect of the whole spectacle, which is much better in its rainbow-coloured production design and synthsoundtracked madness than its plot.
Waititi didn’t write this story, though his inflection is in every line of dialogue. Perhaps this is the one area where his hands were (understandably) tied. The result is not, therefore, quite a glorious sum of its very special parts – but it’s a fun night out nonetheless. - Sarah Watt