Movie Review: "Thor" - Goldilocks and the three little Warriors
The movie critic at work:
I've always been a Marvel girl. Blame that passion on my oldest brother, who handed all his old comics to me.
My favourite Marvel title was The Avengers. I was and still am a huge fan of Captain America (that comes as a surprise, doesn't it!), adored Hawkeye (we'll get to that later) and shipped Vision/Scarlet Witch before I even knew what shipping was. I spent hours at home drawing horrible, horrible comic strips. No, really horrible. There's a reason why I'm writing rather than drawing.
I also read "Thor". I was interested in Norse mythology at that time, and reading about dysfunctional families makes your own look normal. And Odin sure made Al Bundy look like the father of the year! I didn't like Thor, though. Guys with long blond hair are really not my type (unless it's Orlando Bloom in a wig); he had far too many muscles for my taste and I loathed his pompous speeches. Blabla Mighty God of Thunder here, blabla lengthy Asgardian naval gazing there.
Luckily for Marvel's sales, there was Loki. Ah, Loki, let me count the ways how I loved thee. I always felt sorry for him; being a smart guy with a brother like Thor isn't easy, and having to deal with Thor's moronic friends can drive a man to desperation. Loki was cunning, smart and had the cooler costume. I was sold. And when I heard that there would be a "Thor" movie, my first thought was: "What about Loki? No Loki, no party!"
Let me just say that Tom Hiddleston makes the perfect Loki. He's evil - then again he's not. He looks almost fragile next to The Hulk Chris Hemsworth's Thor, yet he's anything but. There's a vulnerable side to him, and Hiddleston portrays an androgynous Loki as a conflicting character fighting for the respect and love of his father.
That aside, he's also very mild on the eyes.
The true villain in this story is Odin, the almighty All Father, though the movie tries to sell him as a benevolent being who only has the best interest of his sons in mind and wants Thor to become a wise and noble king. AHAHAHA! Odin? Wise? Noble? Yeah, sure, Odin Babystealer is just the guy who'd know aaaall about it! Seriously, if you watch a movie and find yourself rooting for the bad guys all the time, something must be seriously wrong with the good guys.
So what is the movie all about? Thor, God of Thunder, son of Odin, is an arrogant brat. He ignores his father's orders and attacks Jotunheim, starting a war with the Frost Giants. To punish him, Odin takes away Thor's powers and his hammer Mjölnir, and bannishes him to Earth, where he meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), an astrophysicist. Loki finds out that Odin isn't really his father but abducted him as a baby (he's actually the son of the king of the Frost Giants, yo!), there's some father-son kerfluffle and Odin sinks dramatically into a healing "Odin Sleep".
Loki uses daddy's catnap and the absence of Thor to get on the throne, sends a Destroyer (big robot thingy shooting fire) to have Thor killed and Earth destroyed. By giving his life to save Earth, Thor redeems himself, gets his hammer back, returns to Asgard, confronts Loki, there's some fighting, Odin awakes, there's more fighting, the rainbrow bridge Bifröst gets destroyed and Loki disappears. We see the hero pining for Jane, Jane pining for Thor, and we know that the script for Thor II is already sitting on somebody's desk.
And now about Jane, the astrophysicist. Jane Foster is a nurse! What the hell is bad about being a nurse?! It's a great job! It's a tough job! It's an important job! So why an astrophysicist, for crying out loud?! If the idea behind this job switch was to give the masses a "strong, successful female character" (clearly an idea by somebody who doesn't know any nurses), then why the hell did she spend most of the movie making moo-eyes at Thor, giggling and blushing like somebody in the first row of a Justin Bieber concert? And why did she have to be such an unlikeable character? "Yeah, I don't care if we all die here, I want my data! Oh, I ran over a guy with my car - oh well, he's still breathing, hospital can wait, so let's continue our research here!" Thor deserves punishment, no doubt, but that's just too cruel.
Speaking of whom, Chris Hemsworth makes a convincing God of Thunder. He sure looks the part, and he makes Thor far more likeable and charming than he actually is. The culture clashes between his world and ours provide some nice comedy moments, but all things considered, he adapts far too quickly to our world, and I'd think that even a God would need more for a character change than moo-eyes by Natalie Portman and a drink at the bar.
Unfortunately, Thor's annoying little warriors (aka his friends) also appeared in the movie. It could have done without them; I can't see what their purpose was. I'd far prefered to see just Sif, who could have been a great female character, adding some tension to the bubblegum romance between Thor and Jane. But nooo, we got Volstagg (hohoho, the big guy is always eating, hahaha), Fandral and a Hogun who neither looked nor acted like Hogun.
Idris Elba as Heimdall was great; he looked fantastic and was a real presence. He made a very believable guardian of Bifröst, the rainbow bridge, and the character had a refreshingly dry humour. I wish he'd had more scenes.
The Frost Giants looked amazing and their world was fascinating. The same goes for Asgard, though it looked a little too sterile and technical for the home of Nordic Gods. The Borg might have felt right at home, though.
What about the rest? Sir Anthony Hopkins plays a decent Odin, which is part of the problem, because the character is actually indecent. What drove Stellan Skarsgård to accept this small and pointless part in this movie is beyond me. I guess it was the number on the cheque. (Or maybe the prospect of being in The Avengers?)
My personal little "squeee!" moment was the cameo of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye; I so can't wait for the Avengers movie! Hawkeye was my favourite Avengers character, and I'm very happy they casted Jeremy Renner. He'll be perfect!
By the way, if you mourn Loki's disappearance as much as I do... codeword: Avengers!
Despite its flaws, I can recommend the movie. It's never boring, and Chris Hemsworth is very charming. Loki, howevever, is the more interesting character, and if I'd go and watch "Thor" again, then it would definitely be for him.
Rating: *** of *****
Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/319802.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.
I've always been a Marvel girl. Blame that passion on my oldest brother, who handed all his old comics to me.
My favourite Marvel title was The Avengers. I was and still am a huge fan of Captain America (that comes as a surprise, doesn't it!), adored Hawkeye (we'll get to that later) and shipped Vision/Scarlet Witch before I even knew what shipping was. I spent hours at home drawing horrible, horrible comic strips. No, really horrible. There's a reason why I'm writing rather than drawing.
I also read "Thor". I was interested in Norse mythology at that time, and reading about dysfunctional families makes your own look normal. And Odin sure made Al Bundy look like the father of the year! I didn't like Thor, though. Guys with long blond hair are really not my type (unless it's Orlando Bloom in a wig); he had far too many muscles for my taste and I loathed his pompous speeches. Blabla Mighty God of Thunder here, blabla lengthy Asgardian naval gazing there.
Luckily for Marvel's sales, there was Loki. Ah, Loki, let me count the ways how I loved thee. I always felt sorry for him; being a smart guy with a brother like Thor isn't easy, and having to deal with Thor's moronic friends can drive a man to desperation. Loki was cunning, smart and had the cooler costume. I was sold. And when I heard that there would be a "Thor" movie, my first thought was: "What about Loki? No Loki, no party!"
Let me just say that Tom Hiddleston makes the perfect Loki. He's evil - then again he's not. He looks almost fragile next to The Hulk Chris Hemsworth's Thor, yet he's anything but. There's a vulnerable side to him, and Hiddleston portrays an androgynous Loki as a conflicting character fighting for the respect and love of his father.
That aside, he's also very mild on the eyes.
The true villain in this story is Odin, the almighty All Father, though the movie tries to sell him as a benevolent being who only has the best interest of his sons in mind and wants Thor to become a wise and noble king. AHAHAHA! Odin? Wise? Noble? Yeah, sure, Odin Babystealer is just the guy who'd know aaaall about it! Seriously, if you watch a movie and find yourself rooting for the bad guys all the time, something must be seriously wrong with the good guys.
So what is the movie all about? Thor, God of Thunder, son of Odin, is an arrogant brat. He ignores his father's orders and attacks Jotunheim, starting a war with the Frost Giants. To punish him, Odin takes away Thor's powers and his hammer Mjölnir, and bannishes him to Earth, where he meets Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), an astrophysicist. Loki finds out that Odin isn't really his father but abducted him as a baby (he's actually the son of the king of the Frost Giants, yo!), there's some father-son kerfluffle and Odin sinks dramatically into a healing "Odin Sleep".
Loki uses daddy's catnap and the absence of Thor to get on the throne, sends a Destroyer (big robot thingy shooting fire) to have Thor killed and Earth destroyed. By giving his life to save Earth, Thor redeems himself, gets his hammer back, returns to Asgard, confronts Loki, there's some fighting, Odin awakes, there's more fighting, the rainbrow bridge Bifröst gets destroyed and Loki disappears. We see the hero pining for Jane, Jane pining for Thor, and we know that the script for Thor II is already sitting on somebody's desk.
And now about Jane, the astrophysicist. Jane Foster is a nurse! What the hell is bad about being a nurse?! It's a great job! It's a tough job! It's an important job! So why an astrophysicist, for crying out loud?! If the idea behind this job switch was to give the masses a "strong, successful female character" (clearly an idea by somebody who doesn't know any nurses), then why the hell did she spend most of the movie making moo-eyes at Thor, giggling and blushing like somebody in the first row of a Justin Bieber concert? And why did she have to be such an unlikeable character? "Yeah, I don't care if we all die here, I want my data! Oh, I ran over a guy with my car - oh well, he's still breathing, hospital can wait, so let's continue our research here!" Thor deserves punishment, no doubt, but that's just too cruel.
Speaking of whom, Chris Hemsworth makes a convincing God of Thunder. He sure looks the part, and he makes Thor far more likeable and charming than he actually is. The culture clashes between his world and ours provide some nice comedy moments, but all things considered, he adapts far too quickly to our world, and I'd think that even a God would need more for a character change than moo-eyes by Natalie Portman and a drink at the bar.
Unfortunately, Thor's annoying little warriors (aka his friends) also appeared in the movie. It could have done without them; I can't see what their purpose was. I'd far prefered to see just Sif, who could have been a great female character, adding some tension to the bubblegum romance between Thor and Jane. But nooo, we got Volstagg (hohoho, the big guy is always eating, hahaha), Fandral and a Hogun who neither looked nor acted like Hogun.
Idris Elba as Heimdall was great; he looked fantastic and was a real presence. He made a very believable guardian of Bifröst, the rainbow bridge, and the character had a refreshingly dry humour. I wish he'd had more scenes.
The Frost Giants looked amazing and their world was fascinating. The same goes for Asgard, though it looked a little too sterile and technical for the home of Nordic Gods. The Borg might have felt right at home, though.
What about the rest? Sir Anthony Hopkins plays a decent Odin, which is part of the problem, because the character is actually indecent. What drove Stellan Skarsgård to accept this small and pointless part in this movie is beyond me. I guess it was the number on the cheque. (Or maybe the prospect of being in The Avengers?)
My personal little "squeee!" moment was the cameo of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye; I so can't wait for the Avengers movie! Hawkeye was my favourite Avengers character, and I'm very happy they casted Jeremy Renner. He'll be perfect!
By the way, if you mourn Loki's disappearance as much as I do... codeword: Avengers!
Despite its flaws, I can recommend the movie. It's never boring, and Chris Hemsworth is very charming. Loki, howevever, is the more interesting character, and if I'd go and watch "Thor" again, then it would definitely be for him.
Rating: *** of *****
Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/319802.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.