Thor: Ragnarok

It had been quite a while since I  last saw a movie in theaters, and apparently I only see ones about comic book characters now. Everything else will eventually be on Amazon Prime or Fios On-Demand for $5.99, so what’s the point, right?

Thor: Ragnarok is absolutely delightful. Chris Hemsworth looks really, really, REALLY good with short hair.

Oh, the actual movie…Ok. Thor and Loki are on the same side for once, teaming up against evil sister Hella (possibly my 2018 Halloween costume) they never knew they had. She’s come back to restore Asgard to its former glory from when she ran it with their father, who apparently used to be kind of evil. (I feel like that aspect of the mythology could have been explained a bit better.) Hella breaks Thor’s precious hammer and sends him off to an Ancient Rome-esque fighting pit run by Jeff Goldblum, and it’s there that he reconnects with former colleague Hulk. Hulk has been stuck as Hulk (as opposed to Bruce Banner) for quite some time, so Thor has to work through that while trying to get them out of there unscathed and back to Asgard to save the world(s). Apparently, all of this is going on during the same time frame as Captain America: Civil War, which is supposed to explain Thor’s and Hulk’s absence from said film.

I feel like this movie is quite a bit sillier than the last few Thor (or other Avenger) movies, and I feel like that’s because Deadpool truly set the new standard. Honestly, I prefer these movies to be on this level of silly, because the plots really are quite ridiculous, and it’s refreshing to see the directors/producers/writers not taking it too seriously. I think next up in the Marvel universe is the one with the Avengers AND Guardians of the Galaxy, and that will just blow my mind.

(Another reason I enjoy the Thor movies is I also enjoy the Magnus Chase books/learning about Norse mythology compared with Greek and Roman mythology. #Nerdalert!)