Finally saw Thor

The third Thor movie was, to be blunt, fun. It wasn't high cinematic art, but it was good entertainment - and sometimes that's all you need.

I'm going to mostly do this by character. The plot was pretty predictable, but...

Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. How often does a woman get to be Han Solo? The only other example I can think of is in the abysmal Italian Star Wars rip off Star Crash (which is fun in a terrible way). To see a woman in the Solo arc was surprising and delightful. (Gamora also comes pretty close, but the difference is that Gamora was brainwashed to be a villain. Valkyrie ran away from her duties after a tragedy and comes back to be a hero). Thompson is a talented actor I hope to see more of.

Loki. Loki is different in this movie, much more like the actual Norse Loki. He's not declaring himself the fascist ruler of Earth - he's taking over Asgard and being benevolent and stuff. His betrayal of Thor seems almost a habit he can't break, and in the end...well, let's say somebody actually read a version of the Ragnarok prophecy.

Oh, and the romance between Valkyrie and the Hulk was entertaining (and might lay to rest the entire Bruce/Nat stupidity. Maybe. Sorry to those who actually sail that ship).

Then there's the villain.

I have seldom had more mixed feelings about a character. Cate Blanchett does evil beautifully. Irredeemable evil in the CCA mode (the rules used to be that villains had to be all villainous) yet with reasons and motivations. The movie gave us a villainess you loved to hate.

Unfortunately, she's supposed to be the Norse goddess Hela.

I haven't read enough Thor comics to know if she's as bad in the comics, but this is the worst thing Marvel has ever done to Norse mythology, the most offensive to modern worshippers of the pantheon...

...and utterly cool.

See. Mixed feelings.

I'm torn between wishing she didn't exist and wishing I had the craft chops to cosplay her and it sucks.

But if you haven't seen it yet, go ahead while you still can. It's not the best movie, or even the best superhero movie of the year, but the opening scene is worth the price of admission.

A fight scene set to "Immigrant Song."

In Muspelheim.

"We come from the land of the ice and snow"

I almost fell out of my theater seat.