I had first watched the bulk of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (hereon ‘MCU,’ a common fan nickname) back in February and March of this year and enjoyed the experience well enough to a) justify the amount of money I spent on it and b) consider myself a Marvel fan after the whole thing.

It scratched my geeky itch and exposed me to the creations of Lee and Kirby and Ditko and many, many others. As such, I was quite interested in seeing 2017’s offerings in this expansive universe.

A few weeks before, though, I had watched an odd movie from New Zealand called What We Do in the Shadows during a Quizbowl team movie night. It’s a quirky horror-comedy about vampires living in metropolitan Wellington who have invited a camera crew into their home to show the world what being a vampire is ‘really’ like, with the intention of dispelling negative stereotypes. Suffice to say, it is an odd romp of a movie.

And at the end, I noticed the star and director of this strange Kiwi movie was none other than Taika Waititi, the director for the latest MCU film, Thor: Ragnarok. I was already excited; now, I was even more so, given the comedic brilliance I had witnessed. And so, on opening day, I went with my ballroom club little to see Ragnarok at the cinema in the upscale business part of Williamsburg.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I found it to be a wild ride. Waititi had brought his own signature style to another franchise film (a franchise I happen to like but a franchise film nevertheless) and turned it into something rather unique, not unlike Christopher Nolan and the Dark Knight Trilogy, honoring what came before and yet giving a particular directorial touch that makes it all his own.

The music, for one, is not your standard blockbuster fare. I was quite interested when I saw that Mark Mothersbaugh, member of DEVO (the band who was parodied to create Weird Al’s Dare to be Stupid) was to be the composer. He was a clear choice when I actually got around to watching it; it provides this strange sense of adventure, like something out of the tacky, consumerist, Reagan-lead era of the 80s, but in the best of ways. It feels different from today’s superhero movies, and indeed today’s big blockbusters. And it’s all the better for it.

Waititi had said that this new film of his was a comedy, which was strange for Thor as his character has not been interpreted in a particularly comedic manner. Nevertheless, it worked, taking cues from James Gunn and his Guardians of the Galaxy films. Once more I will not say much, but I will say that the new characterization of Thor works, and works well, as does Korg, the alien being portrayed by Waititi himself. It’s not quite Gunn-style but it doesn’t need to be; Waititi does it well on his own.