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  • Of course I saw it.  It was Hulk-a-rrific! 

  • And Pa, Kevin Feige and Mark Ruffalo say  that Hulk will have a major arc starting here and continuing through Avengers 3 and 4 -- essentially, they say, a Hulk solo movie that does an end-around the Universal problem. That seems a semantical stretch, but does promise more Hulkishness!

    And this movie was almost a Defenders movie. You had Dr. Strange, Hulk and Valkyrie. Replace Thor with Namor, and there you go.

    And I loved it, of course. 

    Even if it does mean I have to add another word to the list of comic book names I've been pronouncing since childhood. Evidently it's HELL-uh, not HE-luh. 

    Hemsworth has great comedic chops, and managed the humor without sliding into camp. Great work. Ruffalo, too, always delivers, whether it's humor or drama.

    I liked Tessa Thompson a lot better here than in Westworld. She must be limited by the material in the latter. Weirdly, she spoke in a British accent, although she's from L.A.

    Other actors didn't bother to disguise their accents, notably Cate Blanchett (Australian) and director Taika Waititi (New Zealander), who voiced Korg. Even Hemsworth (Australian) let a "mate" slip out once.

    I'm amazed they managed to include both Planet Hulk AND Ragnarok in a single movie, and not make it seem rushed or over-packed. It felt entirely unforced.

    Loved this version of Ragnarok. We were missing some key elements -- Loki should be on the bad guys' side, the Jotun were absent, no Midgard Serpent. But you had Hela and an army of the dead (canon), Fenrir (canon) and Surtr (canon) burning Asgard to the ground. I believe Garm and Nidhoggr are also MIA, but they're not really major players.

    Loved the Hulk's disappointment at not fighting Surtr. "But ... big monster." Hulk always gets to fight the big monster! Also, he and Hela both had their Kirby/Simonson looks. Those could not be improved upon, and the filmmakers didn't even try.

    Loved Loki's reaction when Odin said he loved his sons, without qualification. (Especially since Loki had, essentially, just killed Odin.) In a similar fashion, Loki didn't seem to know what to do with Thor's unreserved compliments on a number of occasions. Good work by Hiddleston, as always, who is the coolest Loki I can imagine. 

    I was looking forward to Cate Blanchett, and I wasn't disappointed. She didn't chew the scenery, she devoured it and came back for seconds. My only complaint: She should have been wearing green lipstick (and maybe eye shadow). Or maybe a mix of black and green.

    Yes, her back story deviates considerably from the Norse myths. In the Eddas -- and I think in the comics -- she's Loki's daughter, not Odin's. In the comics, Thor does have a sister, Angela, but I don't know much about her since I didn't read her series. (She had some good moments in Guardians of the Galaxy, which I was reading when she guested there.) In the Eddas, Odin doesn't conquer the nine worlds, so Hela obviously didn't assist in that.

    She is the goddess of death in all media, but doesn't have the pull-swords-from-the-air trick anywhere except the movie. Instead, her touch is death in the comics, and I'm unaware of any attributes in the Eddas aside from ruling Hel, where the dishonored dead go. It's those dead that rise at Ragnarok, to battle the honored dead of Valhalla to mutual destruction.

    I don't mind the deviation at all, as touch-of-death is too quick and final, whereas her actual attributes in the movie made her battles with the Asgardian warriors, Thor and (especially) Surtr memorable. And her back story with Odin explains a lot. I loved the line, "where do you think all this gold came from?"

    I loved that Heimdall got to do so much. He's really one of the most powerful Asgardians, probably second only to Thor, and the way they used his see-far power here was remarkably imaginative. In fact, a lot of this movie was downright surprising in its novel ideas and objects.

    I will miss Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral -- and presumably Sif, who is a warrior and would have died in Hela's first attack, unless she was off-world for some reason.

    Oh, and the flashback to Hela's battle with the Valkyries was absolutely gorgeous.

    Also, Thor's visions of his father were appropriately shot. Very dream-like.

    Looking ahead, it's a literally crippled Thor who goes into Infinity War. Down an eye, down a hammer, down the Warriors Three. I'm glad they established his elemental power isn't tied to the hammer -- as Odin notes, "you're the God of Thunder, not the God of Hammers" -- but Thunder God who can't fly is seriously off his game.

    And then there's Loki. We all know what side he's on -- his own. Will these events change him? Or will he still be playing both sides all the time? And how welcome do you suppose he will be on Earth?

  • Nice assessment, Cap. 

    I would love for there to be a solo Hulk movie, but I don't think that is going to happen.  They killed that when they sold the rights to Universal and they made two bad movies. 

    I wonder if they are going to get Thor's hammer back to him in the Avengers next adventure? 

    Since this is movie three of Thor will they attempt a fourth?

  • Doesn't Universal have to eventually make another bad movie to keep the rights?

  • They considered a Lady Sif appearance, but Jaimie Alexander was unavailable during the shooting time. Officially, Sif remains alive somewhere.

    Some reports (I do not know their status) suggest Hemsworth doesn't want to play Thor beyond the Infinity Wars.

    The Hulk gets actual dialogue, rather than a few puny lines, and they could do a road trip buddy movie with these characters now and I'd watch it.

    I enjoyed the humorous Guardians-style approach. I could have done without a joke undercutting the destruction of Asgard.

  • We saw Thor: Ragnarok last weekend. I've avoided reviews and spoilers, but did see a headline that called it "Marvel's best comedy." That helped me sell it to my other half, who doesn't care for the violence, but as I frequently tell her, the Marvel movies leaven it with humor, whereas the DC movies are just bleak.

    So, here goes. As usual, I haven't read anyone else's comments yet, and will do so after I post:

    • It started off funnily enough with Thor hanging by a chain talking to Surtur and having to interrupt the conversation when he swung in the wrong direction. But there had to be a lot of exposition to explain how he got in that fix. But then again, I probably wouldn't have wanted to have seen how he got into that fix and it didn't matter much to this story, so it's just as well.
    • More funny business with Thor coming across the theater production that makes him out to be a doofus, and how he uncovers Loki.
    • Since I hadn't read any reviews or spoilers, I was well and truly surprised to see Doctor Strange. Doubly so since I (*ahem*) haven't seen his movie.
    • When Thor and Loki visit Odin, it was the first time it really hit me that Asgardians can die. Yeah, I know we saw the death of Frigga in a previous film, but this is comics (or movies, or comics movies); that's easily undone.
    • Heckuva family reunion with the sister we never knew we had, hey?
    • She did what with the hammer?
    • Wow -- Hela kills off all three of The Warriors Three? I suppose she'd also have killed Lady Sif if she was around ... and why wasn't she?
    • Interesting take on the Valkrie. I like it.
    • Interesting take on the Grandmaster.
    • Now, the presence of the green guy was no surprise, but it was still handled well. Better was meeting a befuddled Bruce Banner. Mark Ruffalo really conveyed his confusion and despair at being gone for two years. 
    • Nice plan to retrieve the Avengers quinjet to get off the planet, but the first thing I thought was: How do you know it's flightworthy? And full of fuel? 
    • Back to Asgard. I know some complained that there was no explanation for how the Rainbow Bridge got fixed, but really -- does anybody want to see a movie about workers rebuilding it? Go with it.
    • There is a special thrill sometimes when you watch a comic-book movie and you see a scene or a panel from the printed page come to life on the screen. I felt that thrill when I saw Skurge and his AR-15 rifles.
    • So, to sum up ... Odin's dead, the Warriors Three are dead, Thor's lost an eye, and the entire (remaining) population of Asgard is coming to Earth, a la Battlestar Galactica? Oh kay .... 
    • By the way ... does anybody doubt that Loki filched the Cosmic Cube Tesseract when he came across it?
  • No doubt in my mind that he filched the Tesseract. Since it's one of the infinity stones, that probably explains why the Sanctuary II appeared at the end. 

    As to Sif, the actress wasn't available due to other commitments. The producers have gone on to say that since Sif wasn't in Asgard, she's not dead, and if the stars align might appear in future installments.

    Critically, Thor doesn't have Mjolnir going forward. The loss of an eye doesn't bother me as much as the fact that he can no longer fly and has no range attack. Also, he doesn't have a weapon that comes when he summons it. The hammer was an irreplaceable weapon, and it's gone.

  • Anybody remember comedian Michael Winslow? He was the guy from the Police Academy movies who did the sound effects with his voice. One time I saw him doing stand-up on some comedy show, and he did a bit about Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song": He said Robert Plant wrote that opening scream after he slammed his hand in a car door. ("YaaaaaaaaAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAA!")

    Since then, I can never hear that song without thinking of that bit!

  • This was the best of the three Thor movies. Sadly, it was the worst of the Gardians movies to date.
  • I definitely think that Loki filched the Tesseract. This must have some tie-in to the next movie?  What is more amazing is that no one seems to have any clues of what Loki has done?  Also it seems very strange to have Thor exists without his hammer! I mean, this is like taking the Lone Ranger's horse Silver away from him or killing off Lois from Superman. I for one would like to see the Hammer (in a future movie) restored to Thor. I mean, I know the hammer is destroyed but someone forged and made it in the past so why not make a replacement? Hammer or no hammer this is a Great Movie!

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