Despite the portentously apocalyptic title, Thor: Ragnarok sounds like it’s going to be a little more light-hearted than its predecessors. After a week of fresh media showcasing the film’s vibrant color palette (and Jeff Goldblum looking cool as hell as The Grandmaster), director Taiki Waititi has let slip another nugget of interesting information: he’s inspired by John Carpenter’s Big Trouble In Little China.
In an interview with EW, the What We Do In the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople director explains:
“Knowing that it was Bruce Banner and Thor on kind of a road trip journey, that lends itself to a tone because those guys are both really funny. I was like you gotta exploit Chris’ comic abilities. He’s so good and underutilized in that department. He’s legitimately one of the funniest things in this film.”
The Thor films have been the most skippable in the Marvel line-up, with neither the wit of the Iron Man movies nor the political prescience of the Captain America films. That said, Chris Hemsworth has been pretty damn funny in every big screen outing he’s been in for the studio, playing the God of thunder as a goofy coffee-cup smashing fish-out-of-water (if you somehow didn’t see the ‘what Thor was doing during Civil War‘ clip check it out right this second). So it’s not surprising that Carpenter’s film has provided Waititi with a tonal aim.
“Big Trouble in Little China was one of those films where Jack Burton is a buffoon but he’s lovable and you’re with him the entire way. I thought Thor has got to be the one you want to be with in every scene.”
If Waititi can make the most of Hemsworth’s comic talents, he’s onto a winner. Right now, Thor: Ragnarok looks set to eclipse what came before, boasting a team-up with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and a face-off against Cate Blanchett’s Hela, goddess of death. A full trailer can’t be too far away now and as soon as it drops, we’ll have it for you right here.