Thor

Went to go see it this afternoon. It's a good movie, easily the 2nd best Marvel film since they got their own studio (best being Iron Man).

Casting for Thor and Loki was rock solid. Chris Hemsworth _is_ Thor, almost as much as Downey is Iron Man. Can't wait to see these guys together in The Avengers.

The Asgard scenes are really great. I've had a soft spot for Thor for a long time now, and if there's one thing I know about the character, it's that very few people seem to know what to do with him. For a good chunk of the movie early on, I was watching these scenes in Asgard, sitting there thinking, "Wow, they've really done it. This totally works." There's this huge battle against the frost giants that kicks ass, lots of classic Thor fighting moves.

And then he goes to Earth.

Here's where I sort of struggled. I don't think I'm spoiling anything for anyone who's seen the trailers, but he's banished to Earth without his hammer or powers, and pretty much a mortal man. It's pretty much a quest to be worthy of his hammer again, thus his powers, and he's got to learn some humility to do it. I guess that's kinda cool, but after being spoiled by the beginning of the movie, it felt a bit slow to me. There's a couple of cool references in this bit though, which if you know your Marvel stuff, you'll pick up on it. The movie gets awesome again towards the end with a pretty satisfying amount of action. When you think it's going to go for the traditional superhero flick ending, it sort of doesn't, which I respect. Oh, and stay after the credits, as there's [of course] a teaser at the end...not sure if it's for The Avengers or Captain America, but I imagine it will have Captain America fans pretty excited.

All in all, a good movie. It's impressive enough that they not only made a good Thor movie, but it's easily the bravest comic flick this side of Green Lantern when it comes to not shying away from it's more hard to believe comic book roots. Calling the hammer by name (Mjolnir) the World Tree, the Nine Worlds, the Odinsleep, the Rainbow Bridge, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, it's all there. When it's good, it's damn good and a ton of fun, but the slowdown in the middle keeps it from being great.

Come on now, using the ancient mythology of the Norse is a brave move? That stuff is a bedrock of our society, our very days are named for them, is it really a stretch?

I'm going to see it tomorrow. I have a lot of faith in Brannagh to bring it to life. I'm sure the marvel portions will be challenging but Im hoping the Asgard portions are faithful to the myths.

Warning: I'll try not to spoil much, but I'm not making any promises, so read at your own risk.

I'm not sure I really liked this one, to be honest. I left the theater thinking it was alright, but the more I think about it, the more I'm annoyed by some of the choices.

First, I figured this and the Captain America movie were being made for the sole purpose of easing the burden of dealing with everyone's origin story in the Avengers movie. However, the way this one ends, they will still need to explain how he gets back to Earth etc, making the movie feel kind of pointless outside of a characterization exercise. Starting with the end of the first Iron Man, he's already knee deep in SHIELD, so his segue into the Avengers will feel natural, not so much for Thor.

Second, there really wasn't that much action, and for a superhero movie, that kind of sucks. The end scenes with the Destroyer and his fight with Loki were pretty cool, but the opening with the Ice Giants had too many quick cuts, and while those are annoying in 2D, they were pretty much a jumbled mess in 3D. Also, the tacked on romantic interest thing was pretty lame. My girlfriend, who I'm assuming was the target audience for this, said it was easily her least favorite part of the movie.

Lastly, and this is probably just because the only comic I've ever read with Thor as a main character was The Ultimates, but I wish they'd shown less Asgard. I figured by the time he got to Earth and Loki started appearing to him but was invisible to everyone else, they'd sort of take the "is he a god, or just a crazy superhuman?" route, hinting that the opening scene could just be some sort of crazy ass dream or something. For one, that more easily fits into the sort of "real world" angle they're using for Iron Man by not straight up having deities and also, by not heading back to (and apparently being stuck in) Asgard at the end, it ties back to my first point of making this movie more easily segue into the Avengers.

Just some thoughts/rants. Like I said, never really read any Thor, so complaints like the last one are probably complete bullshit to Thor fans. But if you're not a Thor fan, I recommend waiting for the DVD on this one. Hopefully Captain America is better.

Great movie! 3D totally unnecessary

I must apologize to Josh, there was a ton of comicy stuff in Thor and I thought Branagh did an awesome job pulling it off. The hammer twirl, loki's horns, the outfits, so nerdy but so good. He definitely hit the right mix of humor and action. I would have liked a more populated city for the Destroyer to, well, destroy, but otherwise it was a great flick. Not so much mythology, but that is probably true to the comic.

ufe wrote: Second, there really wasn't that much action, and for a superhero movie, that kind of sucks.

Yeah, I needed to see at least two more Mighty Feats. The Destroyer battle at the end was a weak 4 seconds long. Overall, I thought it was good though. The guy who played Thor was great and that says a lot because I think those are hard boots to fill. Like I was saying to my bro who I went with, 20 years ago we never could have imagined seeing THOR in a movie theatre. So I'm not gonna nitpick on it too much.

Pretty average film I thought. I actually really enjoyed the bits on Earth, this is where the film was at its funniest and where the great cast really got to shine. The bits on Asgard were pretty crap though - the sets weren't particuarly good, the armour all looked like it was made of plastic and the action scenes were poor (full of really annoying choppy editing where you can't really see what's happening).

I feel like I really need to see it again as it wasn't the best viewing experience for me (too close to the screen in a cinema filled with morons). It felt very uneven, as though there were two movies that both worked in their own way and they weren't quite sure which one to focus on.

Still I thought it was the second best of the recent Marvel films (probably because I can't remember too much of The Incredible Hulk and Iron man 2 though I do remember enjoying them at the time). I really liked Chris Hemsworth and thought he did quite well with the role.

Here's my take in my latest column:


Next of Ken Vol. 6


I summarize it thusly: "Not a homerun, but a solid double."

Agreed. I saw this last night and all I kept thinking was "FUN!". It wasn't great, but it was fun. I guess I was really able to buy into Thor so it was fun watching him try to interact with humans. All in all, it was fun. Kind of like Daredevil, but way better.

The dude who plays Thor is a fucking monster. I'm afraid of him.

Enjoyable film, but I agree that the earth scenes dragged. I thought Natalie Portman et al were annoying, flat, undeveloped and puzzling (is Portman a grad student or something? what's with the house? she makes her own equipment? what's she researching? eh, nevermind.. i don't care). Thor's dialogue was a bit uneven on earth -- most times it was formal godspeak and well done, but sometimes some colloquialisms ("deal?") slipped in.

That said, I found Thor's development convincing. Great casting. Loki's character was cool, but I found his motivation a bit puzzling.

I'd say see it on DVD (unless you just want an excuse to sit in a mega loud surround sound super big screen experience, which I'm a sucker for).

I agree--Thor's development was convincing. Much of the movie worked on a story level, I think, b/c it had the director's Shakespearean themes woven into the fabric of the story. It worked as a tragedy in many ways.

I thought it was fun... I was it in 2D and in 3D (once with a friend) then in 3D with my son (only option in town). 3D was fun...but not necessary either.

I actually liked the earth scenes better than the Asgardian scenes.

Hatchling wrote: Thor's dialogue was a bit uneven on earth -- most times it was formal godspeak and well done, but sometimes some colloquialisms ("deal?") slipped in.

That said, I found Thor's development convincing. Great casting. Loki's character was cool, but I found his motivation a bit puzzling.

the 'deal' line was a repeat of a line Natalie Portman said earlier (ho! he's connecting with her!)

in general it was well done, like was said before not a homerun, but a solid hit.

and I agree about Loki, I understand it was all about being accepted as an equal with Thor/successful in Odin's eye, but it was still alittle twisted for a fairly straightforward super-hero movie.

I'm about to head out to see it again, since my wife wants to see it. I'll probably enjoy it even more this time around.

If I don't straight up love or hate a movie upon first viewing of it, over the following week, I tend to find myself liking it less, to point where I don't like it at all. By the time it hits DVD and I watch it again, I usually find out that I was right, I really didn't like the movie. But that's not happening with Thor. The more I think about it, the more I find that it's a pretty solid movie.

lj1983 wrote: the 'deal' line was a repeat of a line Natalie Portman said earlier (ho! he's connecting with her!)

Oh, I missed that. It makes sense now.