Monday, May 9, 2011
Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!
First of all, Wikipedia, Thor cannot be classified as a superhero because Thor is a god, not a superhero. I don't know why stuff like that bugs me so much. Anyway, the whole cast and premise of this movie seemed very weird to me until I realized that Kenneth Branagh was the director, which is also weird, but impressive. At first it seemed like this movie was actually taking itself completely seriously, and during an interminable scene of Asgardian warriors visiting the realm of the Frost Giants, I considered taking an extended break to visit the snack bar. Things pick up once Thor is exiled to Earth, where Chris Hemsworth and occasionally Kat Dennings bring charm and humor. Natalie Portman's acting and her character were both weird and out of place, though it was a nice surprise to have the female love interest completely clothed throughout while the man spends some time shirtless. Not enough time, though. Hemsworth is best when playing the charmer, not the angry fighter. Winking at Sir Anthony Hopkins, demanding a horse from a pet store, and smashing his coffee mug against the ground. The movie is basically constructed using plot holes as a building material, but it was enjoyably fun overall. The visuals of Asgard were impressive, drawing into stark contrast how crappy the effects in The Green Lantern's trailer look. I'd worried that Hemsworth would be a graduate of the Sam Worthington school of covering up one's Australian accent (school motto: "Don't."), but was relieved to see that he stuck to the "ancient people have English accents except for that one Asian guy" rule instead.
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2 comments:
I love Marvel's Thor character, and was willing to let the flaws slide. My biggest problem was that it seemed like the studio thought audiences would struggle with Viking mythology as opposed to the vague character motivations and gaping plot holes. They did a great job of bringing the images of the comic book series to the big screen, but missed an opportunity to get Iron Man's spark by taking character motivation/exploration seriously. This movie did accomplish the difficult task of making Jack Kirby's fantasy/sci-fi make sense (frost Giants were aliens from sector 9 duh!), but then stopped short of simple things like creating scenes for Jane and Thor to connect or explain why Odin needs to sleep. I'm not asking Marvel to be all Mad Men on their PG-13, under 25 male targeted brand, but what separates Marvel from DC in the comic world is their attention to story, continuity and interesting character motivations
See, I don't know very much about comics, but that is interesting about the difference between Marvel and DC. The Odinsleep confused me, and I definitely think more time on the Thor/Jane relationship was needed instead of Jotunheim screen time.
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