Amph Thor: Love and Thunder

I watched Thor: Ragnarok for a second time over the Thanksgiving weekend and I was more satisfied with the second viewing as I picked up on alot more nuances of the characters and elements of the film.

Without hesitation, Thor: Ragnarok is my favorite comic book movie of the year (that's including Logan).

It's a difficult balancing act to commit to the humorous elements of the film without falling into the campiness of something like Batman and Robin or Green Lantern. The humor really enhances the quality of the film and adds layers to characters like Thor, Hulk and Hela to name a few.

I love how Cate Blanchett's took on the role of Hela. It was very Disney "evil Queen" like, that reminded me of Angelina Jolie's performance in Maleficent, with a touch of Deadpool-like self-awareness. Meaning, she gave the character gravitas with alot of tongue-and-cheek. I mean, Blanchett gives the character of Hela grace and power in posture and subtle movements.





And Jeff Goldblum...


In short, there are great and memorable performances by the actors in this film where they're able to put their stamp and personas on the characters they portray.

And ending was different from most comic book films where the hero doesn't...

Spoiler

punch his way to victory. The hero actually take a huge loss for the greater good.

And as such, with the first post credit scene, I can't safely assume the people of Asgard made it to earth. I'm also curious of Loki owes a debt to Thanos with the failed invasion of earth in the first Avengers film.

 

with all the weird time loop stuff that marvel does, is there a chance that thor actually is a young odin? seems like something they might do. losing the same eye should probably at least have some significance.

 

Seems like a cool idea, but given Odin's new backstory provided in Ragnarok, I don't think if Thor gets stuck in the past he'll name his eldest daughter Hela and try to conquer the cosmos before coming to his senses.

 

Yeah, it's more like a Luke and Vader situation rather than Odinson actually being Odin himself.

It actually reminded me of Jason Aaron's "Godbomb" story arc.

And with Thor: Ragnarok, for me, it becomes the MCU's second best trilogy behind Captain America.

 

The boys asked me to see Thor 3 this weekend. Now I've seen it twice, which I guess is probably better than having seen Justice League once, though I don't know that for certain.

Anyway. Hela draws her strength from Asgard. I assume Thor draws his thundergod powers from Asgard as well. Surtur's prophesied destiny is to destroy Asgard. Yet we're told that Asgard is its people, not the place. Why should destroying Asgard the place make Hela vulnerable? Why would Surtur be destined to destroy the place at all if its existence is unessential to the nature of Asgard? And why isn't Thor as vulnerable to the destruction of the place as Hela is? Death is at least as place-transcendent as thunder.

 

No

 

Asgard is both a place and of people. Much like a bloodline, the spirit and essence of Asgard with live on with the people born from it.

Hela may have drawn her power in killing and conquering in the name of Asgard. I mean, she is the Goddess of Death. So, death becomes her.

The prophecy of Ragnarok, like many prophecies are meant to fulfilled, but in many instances, not they way people perceived it to be. Surtur fulfilled his part in the prophecy, and now a rebirth can take place. Which is why Thor 3's ending is different from the current crop of superhero films.

Spoiler

It's not certain that Hela is dead. It's only assumed.

Hela probably killed more Asgardians than Surtur. There's a part in the film where Hela is sitting on her throne, IIRC and there is mention of a revolt. Hela send her army of the dead to wipe them out. Afterwards, she sends her army to hunt and kill any insurrections, which we see as Heimdall rescues as many as he can.

 

The TOS statue of limitations of two weeks for Movie Spoilers has expired, so we're no longer required to use Spoiler Tags.





So, for anyone that haven't seen the movie yet spoilers ahead for Ragnarok and Infinity War trailer.

I'm sure you know this already, but for record keeping purposes, the first Infinity War trailer answers/confirms this:

 

i don't think those shots are from the same scene/location, though we are clearly meant to assume they are.

 

It looks like a wrecked ship and Loki is definitely handing over the Tesseract.

And then we get this at the end of the Infinity War trailer:







It all could be a misdirect or not even make it to the final cut of the film, but from the narrative of the trailer, the fate of the Asgardians is not good.

 

Yeah, I think Thanos is arriving on Earth, and he already has the Space Stone/Tesseract.

 

The leaked WhateverCon trailer had the Guardians pick up Thor. I assume Thanos did the same thing with Loki.

 

I thought the clip of Thor on the Guardians' windshield was from the end of Guardians 2, wasn't it? I thought I saw it at the cinema. Was there more in the WhateverCon trailer?

 

Nope, that’s not one of the maaaany GOTG2 after-credits scenes. You might have seen the leaked video before it was taken down.

 

Nope. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 had like 4-5 post credit scenes but none of the had Thor hitting a windshield.

The leaded trailer was from either D-23 or SDCC 2017, which looked like it was film from someone's shirt pocket.

 

Wow, my memory sucks. Alzheimer's, here I come.

 

My guess is:

1) That's Thanos' ship from the T:R mid-credits.
2) He'll demand the Tessesract, which is on the ship (cue looks at Loki).
3) Thor will attempt to fight for it and will be knocked "into next week" (i.e. basically a couple of sectors away)
4) Loki will bargain the Tesseract for the Asgardians' lives.
5) Thor will end up on the GOTG ship's windshield.

 

'Thor: Ragnarok' Mid-Credits Scene Explained by Head of Marvel Studios

It's been confirmed to be Thanos' ship. It's called "Sanctuary II."

 

Well ... I think I'm turning into a Marvel Curmudgeon.

I saw Thor. I thought it was okay. I do not understand the lavish praise it is getting. I thought there were some high notes, but there were an awful lot of low notes, and a lot of incredibly mediocre notes. I thought the film spent too much time trying to be a Marvel movie, rather than allowing itself to be, and forced too many jokes. The jokes that were forced really fell flat for me, and took away from the jokes that worked. I rather enjoyed Ruffalo, in both Hulk form and Banner form, though I liked the Banner form better. I rather liked the character of Valkyrie. I enjoyed Hela - not that she was done well as a villain, but that she was done well as a Marvel villain, which is an important distinction to make.

I left the theater with no desire to re-watch, happy only that "if it's referenced in Infinity War, I won't be lost". Which, to be honest, is how I've come to feel about a great many Marvel movies of late (and speaks volumes to their marketing campaign and connected Universe). About the only Marvel movies I find myself willing to re-watch are Iron Man (1 only), Both Avengers, All Three Captain Americas, and the first GOTG. The rest of it is Filler so Avengers makes more sense.

 

Bout 2 weeks ago I saw the last showing of Thor: Ragnarok in theatres in my area of town. And I do mean the last cuz they had Downsizing playing in that same screen later that night. Pretty fun second watch cuz the gags move so fast you can pick up on some bits moreso. Almost half-full theatre too for a 4:20 on a Thursday afternoon, guess there were some Marvel geeks who wanted to see it before it went away.