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Finally sat down and watched the Thor: Ragnarok trailer. 

Pros: Visually the cinematography looks stunning. Hela in full helmet I am still astounded by how they not only made it comic accurate but could actually translate that comic design into something that functions well 3-dimensionally on screen. Norse myth buff got a huge thrill out of seeing Fenrir onscreen (Sutur cool too). Valkyries scene was that sort of epic art shots that I adore. Design-element wise it looks like the same galaxy that the GotG inhabit – Asgard fits into that zeerust-y 80s SF. Jokes weren’t terrible. Tessa’s Valkyrie looks like a character I’ll get attached to and pissed at how underused and marketed she’ll be- even if as a fan of Jane the idea of her as a replacement love interest I have mixed feelings. 

Cons: IRREVERENT. That was the tone throughout. So very MCU, especially how it’s stagnated. Telling the audience: don’t actually care about any of this. Laugh because you’re in on the joke with us that this is silliness. With the punchlines and the aesthetics and not letting any menace linger or feel real. When Guardians of the Galaxy came out, I loved it because it was like Lego Batman; it was lampooning (with some heart) the rest of its universe, pointing and laughing at the conventions and calling them out. But the MCU has become Shrek. All the films now, and I don’t know if it’s just more blatantly noticeable now that I have the DCEU as contrast, are constantly running this subtext of ‘Don’t worry about anything here, wink to the audience, we know it’s all silly and the heroes will win and the status quo will be reset so we can move onto the next film.’ Here’s Loki in a near exact repeat of The Dark World. I loved the Shakespearean/fantasy epic moments in the first Thor movie, the contrast with Jane and her crew on earth and the comedy of it, but also that it had pathos. Only a same part of the movie was satirical comedy. Now it’s all bathos. Maybe I’m still sour after GotG2 (which good lord, I did not laugh even once while watching it in theaters, which is pathetic because it was almost nothing but jokes the entire time but none were working. Nebula’s scenes were the only ones that felt like they meant anything, the only connection I could make with any of the characters in the first half was Gamorra’s sheer disgust with the crew because I was feeling the same disgust. Sad because I was watching these character arcs and development the movie was showing but the movie had lost me and the lines were so stupid. “-but he wasn’t your daddy.” WTF. Why on god’s green earth isn’t that ridiculous line and word choice not rightfully mocking twice as much as “Martha”. Concession- the mutiny with tossing the crew out the airlocks was also very well-done, touching emotions and fear). And everything design and setting wise looks like it belongs in GotG, no longer that Asgard of the first film. No longer jarring. But now firmly pulp SF. Is that a bad thing? Honestly, I’ve only read a little of the actual Thor comics. Mostly the Kid Loki run (Kieron Gillian’s Journey into Mystery).