THOR: RAGNAROK (& Roll)
Taika Waititi knows that when we saw that scene in LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) we'd be asking "What kind of dark queen would Cate Blanchett make? Really." The answer: beautiful and droll. It’s also an apt description of Marvel Studio's latest release THOR: RAGNAROCK.
The casting of Cate Blanchett as Hela, the Norse goddess of death is not Waititi's only meta-casting coup. In casting Karl Urban as an excellent Skurge the Executioner Waititi signals, early on, that he understands audiences prefer hobbits to giant apes from Kiwi directors. He is more than willing to provide. Norse mythology is rich with the images one comes to expect from epic fantasy and after tacking elves in THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013) and ice giants before that, fire giants and jet powered dragons are just the warm-up act for undead Vikings and the most-dire-of-wolves.
In Norse myth Ragnarock is the twilight of the gods, a Viking-style apocalypse which comes not so much as a final war but the inevitable collapse of a once great civilization. As this is a MARVEL movie and Waititi is known mostly for comedies (first EAGLE VS. SHARK (2007) and more recently HUNT FOR THE WILDER PEOPLE (2016)) the fall of Asgard is handled with a wink and fond remembrance for the eponymous story line from the 80's THOR comics. But one should remember Marvel's gods are space gods, so Waititi cross-fades epic fantasy with space opera while continually dropping the buddy comedy beat to hilarious effect – a remarkable feat for a movie based largely on a seconds-long gag from THE AVENGERS (2012).
Its use of a retro soundtrack seems much more thought out than in SUICIDE SQUAD (2017). It lets Thor party in the glam-rock corner of the Marvel universe where Jeff Goldblum, as The Grandmaster, is the best he's been in a long while. If one could look at GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014 & 2017) and see Marvel comics in the 70's then THOR: RAGNAROK is Marvel's 80's airbrushed concept album.
The call backs to eighties comics come fast and quick, from the story's Contest of the Champions to the utterly toy-etic nature of every crowd scene. One can see the loving attention a young Taika may have devoted to the action figures and playsets of his childhood. Every other Marvel movie seems to raise the bar for Marvel Studios and this one does for costume design what DOCTOR STRANGE (2016) did for visual FX, though its set design is also to be adored.
Despite the laser rifles and spaceship battles, there is, of course, plenty of combat to be enjoyed by those with an eye for it. Tom Hiddleston shows he's been keeping in shape with his double daggers. But the main event remains the Hulk vs. Thor royal rumble! Both get plenty of hammer time before moving on to fisticuffs and that other Hulk gag from The Avengers.
Out drinking and fighting them all is Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie who contends with WONDER WOMAN (2017) for the top of this season's sword hottie list. Swaggering onto the screen with an extra 15 pounds on muscle on her 5' 4" frame, she's formidable. As with Idris Elba reprising his role as Heimdall, it's a forward-thinking move to fill such roles with colossally talented actors who are not the typically envisioned blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
Behind the Hammers, Swords & CGI
Beyond the CGI thunder hammers and flying swords, the real work that was done to make those weapons look formidable was done by stunt man and martial artist Jon Valera. Starting Karate training at age eight, Jon also trained in Taekwondo, Aikido, Kempo and Kickboxing. Dominating the junior division in forms, weapons and sparring, he’s competed at and won many NASKA and WAKO championships before moving on to stunt work in the 90's. In that time he's done stunt work in TV shows like MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS and MORTAL KOMBAT: CONQUEST before working on stunts in such movies as THE SCORPION KING (2002), ULTRAVIOLET (2006), 300 (2006), PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (2007) and BALLS OF FURY (2007) before his first gig as co-fight choreographer in STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHIN-LI (2009). Since then, his contributions to fight coordinating and choreography include NINJA ASSASSIN (2009), THE EXPENDABLES (2010), THE BORNE LEGACY (2012), MAN OF TAI CHI (2013), THE WOLVERINE (2013), JOHN WICK (2014), HITMAN: AGENT 47 (2015), XXX: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE (2017) and ATOMIC BLONDE (2017).
Jon generously took some time away from his busy schedule, most recently as fight coordinator for AQUAMAN (2018), and answered a few questions exclusively for readers of KungFuMagazine.com
PLUGO: What was it like working as fight coordinator for such a special effects heavy movie?
Jon Valera: Well anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be special effects heavy. I had designed fights for other super hero movies so it wasn’t too foreign for me. With that being said, Thor had already an established fighting style and I wasn’t really trying to reinvent him… just add to his fighting style. There are several new characters in THOR: RAGNAROK so with the vision of the Director, Taika Waititi, I was able to have a play and come up with new concepts for the other characters. Even though the fights are enhanced by special FX… I put together a stunt vis of all the fights practically. Which means all the characters fought each other and interacted with real people that turned out to be CG characters in the finished product. All the wire reactions and tricks were done practically with the help of the wire team. NO CG take over in my stunt vis.
PLUGO: As a Martial Artist, how would you compare coordinating fights in THOR given that it's so special FX driven versus the single-take fight scenes from ATOMIC BLONDE or JOHN WICK?
Jon Valera: With THOR, it was more about designing ideas and concepts that would help compliment the FX. For example, when THOR hits someone with his hammer or fists, what can we do different as far as a wire reaction. Hela, has the ability to form weapons from her limbs and fight or throw them at any time. So her movement was based more on Wushu movements.
On ATOMIC BLONDE and JOHN WICK, we designed the fights based on a specific style. Styles that everyday people can relate to. For me, ATOMIC BLONDE and JOHN WICK took more time to concept because me and the stunt team actually trained Judo and Jiu jitsu and with guns, knives, etc. just to see what really works and how we can transition it over to be more cinematic.
PLUGO: Do you have a preference between those two styles of fight scene?
Jon Valera: I prefer the realism of ATOMIC BLONDE and JOHN WICK, but super hero movies are fun because anything goes…you can stretch the boundaries.
PLUGO: How about the movie's rating, R vs. PG-13 - is that a factor for you?
Jon Valera: Yes definitely. For action, I feel if a movie is rated R, you have to be creative in a sadistic way and for PG-13, you have to be creative in a fun comical way.
PLUGO: What was your process for coordinating fights with characters of inhuman proportions like the Hulk?
Jon Valera: With Hulk, the creators already had ideas for him and actually pre-vizzed his action. Our director wanted me and our stunt coordinator, Ben Cooke, to spice it up a little. Although his character is a monster, he still moves with great agility so, we had our biggest stuntman on the team, who was in mo-cap for the Hulk, move more like a smaller guy. Hulk doesn’t really have a style except for smashing so we had our stuntman throw more combos like a heavyweight boxer. We didn’t want Hulk just to throw the same things so his combos came from different angles and once the VFX team put their finishing touches on it, you get to see a different Hulk.
PLUGO: What Martial arts style do you think most suits THOR?
Jon Valera: Well talking to Chris Hemsworth, who is THOR, he loves Kickboxing and Muay Thai… so two very strong styles which could be very fitting for Thor.
PLUGO: What about Hulk and Valkyrie?
Jon Valera: Hulk I see as a boxer/wrestler type. Valkyrie I see as a mix of styles…a bit of Kali, Jeet Kune Do mixed with Muay Thai and Kyokushin.
PLUGO: Any particular Martial Artists you'd like to work with on a future project?
Jon Valera: Well I’ve been fortunate and honored to work with iconic Martial Artist such as Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada and Yuen Woo Ping. So would love to complete it by working with Sammo Hung and of course Jackie Chan.
For me this list of greats paved the way for martial arts cinema and fight choreographers such as myself and plenty of others.
PLUGO: Thanks Jon. Check out more of the work by Jon and his stunt crew 87 Eleven Action Design at 87eleven.net.
Meeting Walter Simonson writer/artist (THOR 1983 - 1987)
Personal aside: In the suburbs of New York there was a hole-in-the-wall comic book shop (before their ubiquity) called The Bat Cave. It was across the parking lot from the nearest mall, one town over. As father considered the hobby of comics collecting an occasional diversion grown into a waste of time and money. Thus my sojourns to The Bat Cave were usually surreptitious and hurried, taking place while the parents shopped for cloths or appliances at the above mentioned mall's JC Penny's or Sears, respectively. My younger sister and I would casually drift to the toy department then make for an exit and dash across the parking lot. Occasionally our comic book shopping lasted long enough to find the family car begrudgingly pulling up the sidewalk out front.
The only exception to this stalemate was on the occasion of an actual artist visiting the store. As a young aspiring artist, I could, on those rare Saturday afternoons, dispense with the usual chores to gather samples of my comic art. I would go out with a handful of friends to meet a real artist. In this case, it was the comics artist Walter Simonson who was on the verge of taking over the writing and illustration of the then nearly-canceled comic titled Thor. He was generously tearing out pages from his sketchbook to provide drawings for those who came to see him. I however, happened to have a piece of pink "oaktag" paper in my makeshift portfolio so I asked that he draw a character on it with the purple magic marker I had in hand. At the time, he promised he would never forget such a request. To this day I find myself wondering if remembers that drawing.
