Thor: Ragnarok
Look, I believe in trial and error.
It’s no secret that Marvel has always struggled with the Thor franchise. The studio’s convenient answer to that problem seems to be: when in doubt, turn it into a joke.
With comedy, timing is everything. What makes Marvel’s brand of humour work for the Guardians or even Spiderman:Homecoming is the balance between the drama and the comedy. Ragnarok, on the other hand, is so self-indulgent in its hilarity that it ends up hurting the story. With promises of universe-shattering events, there is a surprising lack of weight and momentum. Scenes are rolling by without any sense of emotional depth and importance.
The detrimental effect of retconning an entire franchise is that Ragnarok is robbed of any semblance of sincere emotions. The striking dissonance across the films only highlights the franchise’s awkward presence among its peers. How are we supposed to look back to the previous Thor films in retrospect? Or is Marvel just flat out telling us that none of this matter after its 2 minutes in the spotlight is up?
We are 17 films into this cinematic universe. Walking out of the theatre, I can’t help but ask: what difference does this make? Ragnarok marks the first year that the studio has released 3 films in the same year, and it’s never more apparent than right now that the studio is in a creative rut. My main frustration comes from Marvel’s refusal to learn from their mistakes, repackaging the same monotony without realising that their formula desperately needs a shift. It’s not that this formula is entirely bad. Sometimes they are able to churn out a film like Ant-Man that is surprisingly heartwarming despite its formulaic structure, but more often than not they are just inconsequential placeholders like Doctor Strange. It’s Marvel’s risk-averse approach that is truly holding back the potential of their properties, not even an auteur director like Taika Waititi could do much about it. It might be better on Marvel’s part to stop lying to themselves that this is in any way a departure from their repertoire.
But who am I kidding, my fingers are still crossed for Black Panther. Please let it be good.
(Originally posted on 1 Nov 2017 @projectunwrapped)
