Right then first things first, I know nothing of Thor! Yes I love comic book movies (mostly) and yes if you asked most people they’d say I had a pretty good knowledge of comic books but frankly Thor is well out of my league, other than the fact I knew he had a hammer and was the god of thunder and one of the first Avengers I know nothing of this Marvel hero and you don’t even need to read comics to know two out of those three facts anyway!!
Before I continue this is a bit of a warning………I’m going to potential spoil things in this mess of words so please if you want to know nothing just press the little cross in the upper corner of your web browser now!
Right now they’ve gone we can get to the nitty gritty of Thor. The first thing that struck me as I sat waiting for Thor to start was that I felt alienated by the idea I didn’t know anything; unlike a Batman or a Spidey flick where I have a relative (but novice) understanding of the lead character and their expanded universe with Thor I was clueless and that made me a little uneasy partly because I wouldn’t be able to identify if they got things right or not, when I watched Batman and Robin in 1997 I knew it was all wrong and I was 10 but my 24 year old self got hung up on the fact I potentially wouldn’t notice if Thor got Schumachered because I wouldn’t of known any better.
Well let me tell you the first 20 minutes or so I held strongly to this self doubt and perhaps allowed that fear of the unknown to negatively effect what I was seeing on screen. The film starts on earth with scientist Jane Foster and her assistant as well as her mentor witnessing an astrological phenomena which results in them running Thor over; rewind to 965A.D Asgard the home world of Thor and one of the Nine Worlds that make up the cosmos (Earth being another and Jotunheim being another). Thor’s father and king of Asgard Odin (the god of thunder) is a mighty warrior who defeats the Frost giants of Jotunheim to bring peace to the nine worlds and relinquish them of their power. This is a famous story now told to the children of Asgard including Thor and Loki (Thor’s brother) of which one will one day be king. Jump back to present day Asgard Thor has now been chosen as the next King but during his ceremony frost giants break in to Asgard to get back what Odin took, whist unsuccessful Thor enraged at their arrogance and disrespect wishes to take the fight to Jotunheim like his father before him but Odin forbids it knowing only war will come of it. Thor obviously disobeys and rounds up his brother Loki best friend Sif and the warriors three (yeah I didn’t know of any of them either) and take it to Jotunheim. Now up to this point I got everything that was going on which for someone who is clueless to this whole section of the Marvel-verse was pretty good. This is also the first time we get to see Thor smash stuff with that awesome hammer which very much distracted me from any niggles I had about my knowledge. It was a great scene but was a bit dark and the action was a bit choppy, I’ve been finding this with a lot of films lately maybe its just me but it is a little off putting but when Thor takes things down they stay down and that felt real satisfying to watch.
Ultimately Thor’s actions piss off everybody the frost giants his brother his friends and worst of all Odin. Thor is there by banished and cast down to earth to live with mere mortals as a mere mortal being stripped of all his powers and his hammer which is too cast down to earth (if you’ve seen Iron Man 2 post credits you already know that bit) only to be picked up by one worthy of its power. This is where the first third or so of the film comes full circle back to the very being with scientist Jane and co running him over in their truck.
Now that seems a lot to cram into what I thought would take up a much bigger section of the films time but for me it did seem to work. One thing that bugs me with hero films or at least the first in the series is all the explaining and getting to the bit where the transformation to hero happens ala Spider-Man but with Thor you get the hero straight away then have to follow Thor on a journey to earn his power back. This consists of him ultimately becoming worthy to once again wield his mighty hammer and defeat those who betrayed him which is achieved by Thor learning the meaning of humility and putting others before his own wants. Cheesy I know but still great life lessons. My main bug to bear with the plot is its villains or lack there of. Loki is ultimately responsible for Thor being cast out and whist Loki does send a giant death Harbinger of doom to earth (better known as the Destroyer) I felt like more could of been done to show Thor off a little even the final battle with Loki whilst by no means bad did feel a little lacking but I still enjoyed the action in Thor it just wasn’t as epic as I hoped. I am curious as to what the Avengers will have to face as it has got to be at least an 11 on the epic scale to have Thor, Ironman, Captain America and the Hulk reeling although I think the strong rumour of the Hulk being the bad guy still seem pretty likely just not as epic.
As for the cast other than Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) and Anthony Hopkins (Odin) I wasn’t too familiar with any of the main cast. Let me say right now me and a friend have a long running joke about Portman having used all her talent up in Leon but she wasn’t bad in Thor but then again she didn’t have a lot to do so who’s to say (wait till I’ve seen Black Swan I think) but Hopkins was a surprise he was a bit scary in fact belting out godlike orders and delivering more heartfelt moments the next the old boy still has it, as a supporting character at least. However Hemsworth is a great Thor he is a big physical looking guy for one and he delivers his Norse speech without hamming it up ……too much but bare in mind it’s a comic book film its supposed to be a bit hammy and he seems to strike a good balance between hammy Norse god and thundery force to be reckoned with. The one cast member other than Hemsworth who really impressed is Clark Gregg who has played Agent Coulson in now in Thor and both Ironman films as the guy who seems to pull most of the strings where S.H.I.E.L.D ARE INVOLVED even if he himself is working for a higher power (Sammy L. Jackson’s Nick Fury) I know it seems odd to mention and his performance isn’t mind blowing or worthy of any awards but its his slightly smug “I know more than I’m letting on” delivery of his lines I love because he does and it feels like a massive tease in of itself.
Some would argue that Thor actually follows a very common formula that many films have done before; hero is young and reckless does something stupid gets betrayed learns a lesson and kicks the bad guys asses and you’d be right but Thor does it very well and whilst predictable in places in particular with the twist with the character Loki I did really enjoy Thor a lot more than I expected my main hesitation was my lack of knowledge of Thor going in but I have nothing to really reference the film to so I can’t honestly say if they got it right but what I can say is I enjoyed it for what it was a stepping stone much like hulk and both Ironman films and like them Thor may suffer a little from references missed by the non-hard-core fans (this time myself included) but unlike Iron man 2 which seemed to crowbar them in left, right and centre Thor seems more focused on itself and less worried about later films (for the most part at least) and the way the film ends Thor isn’t exactly where he wants to be and I have to wait for the Avengers (2012) to find out how the mighty god of thunder gets there.
See You SpaceCowboys…………….
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