I am a huge nerd, there is no doubting that. But of all the different kinds of nerdy hobbies I have, reading and collecting comic books is not one of them. Well, at least not in the same scale as other comic book hobbyists. I have a few comic books....two from Star Wars Expanded Universe, one Alien vs Predator, and one of the new Hellraiser comic. I've never read any of the Spiderman, Superman, Captain America, or any other superhero comic series. So, much like going into see Your Highness, I didn't have to worry about making any comparisons to the source material. I did however have high expectations of director Kenneth Branagh, who is better known as an actor. Branagh has done a range of things, from Shakespeare to playing a teacher in one of the Harry Potter films. I wondered how someone who is best known for doing Shakespeare would handle making a movie about a comic book series. I can honestly say.....it turned out very, very good.
The basic premise is partially ripped from the mythology of the Norse, who worshiped a pantheon of gods known collectively as the Asgard. The Asgard were ruled by Odin (played in the movie by Anthony Hopkins), the god of war and death. Odin had many sons, though in the Marvel Universe Thor movie, he only has two: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleton), both slightly based off of their Norse mythology counterparts. While humanity has mostly forgotten about the Asgardians, at one time, Earth was saved by the Odin and his army. The frost trolls of Jotunheim had a magic maguffin that could freeze everything, and invaded Earth to start a campaign to conquer the Nine Realms, the worlds of Norse mythology. The Asgardians stopped them, invaded Jotunheim, the maguffin was captured and locked away, and Odin forged a truce with the frost troll king Laufey ( Colm Feore). On the day of Thors induction into kinghood of the Asgard, three frost trolls break in and try and take the maguffin. The trolls are stopped, and Thor takes it upon himself to go to Jotunheim, and confront Laufey. A battle ensures, and Thor and his party are rescued by Odin. Odin then strips Thor of his powers, and sends him to Earth to prove he is worthy of being an Asgardian. Thor is dropped in New Mexico, where he encounters scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). I'll leave the rest of the plot alone, so I don't spoil it for those that actually want to go see it.
Thor is overall a good movie. The pacing and flow is wonderful, the acting isn't hammy or half-hearted, the dialogue isn't too stupid (with one exception, see below), and the effects were pretty good (some of it didn't look entirely natural even though it looked like they were trying to make it seem that way). Kenneth Branagh did a really good job, and this made me want to check out his other directing work. I was initially very doubtful about Chris Hemsworth, since I had never heard of him as an actor. He really shined in Thor, and hopefully, he will be making more movies in the future that aren't Avengers related.
One of my major complaints was the character of Darcy Lewis, played by Kat Dennings. She existed as comic relief, and she failed miserably at it; the character was just a pure annoyance and added nothing to the movie.
Thor was on par with the first Iron Man movie, and even if you don't know any Norse mythology (I know some) or anything about the comics (like me), still go see it, it's worth watching.
Make sure to stay after the credits!
No comments:
Post a Comment