Thor (open spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Has anyone else seen this yet? I looked for a thread but couldn’t find it.

I thought it was completely delightful, and even my husband (who doesn’t tend to like superhero/action films) had a good time.

The standout actor was clearly Loki, who I have seen in theatre (he was an excellent Cassio in the Chiwetel Ejiofor/Ewan McGregor Othello at the Donmar a few years ago) but not in films. I don’t know if he knew Kenneth Branagh from the London theatre scene, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

My husband pointed out afterwards that there wasn’t a single moment where he didn’t know what was going to happen next, and I agree with that. But oddly enough, even so it didn’t seem like a flaw when I was watching it. There weren’t any surprises in plot (although I was expecting/hoping them to make Loki a bit more ambiguous of an antihero, rather than just the Bad Guy With Daddy Issues), but there were lots of great little surprises in tone and comic timing.

My favourite comic bit might have been the moment where Thor’s Asgard university friends (or whatever) landed on Earth, found him and starting waving enthusiastically…and he waved enthusiastically right back! There was no tedious “What are you doing here? Don’t you realise how dangerous is is blah blah blah”, just “Hey! My friends are here! Excellent, I love these guys! Hi!” I also liked little light scenes like the New Mexicans (including Stan Lee, whose character I noticed was credited as “Stan the Man”) drinking beer and having a BBQ while trying to pull Thor’s hammer out of the rock. The best scenes were definitely Thor being a fish-out-of-water on Earth, and learning how to temper his enthusiastic kind of arrogance.

Natalie Portman’s character and her geeky sidekick were really enjoyable - even though Natalie was one of those amazingly beautiful astrophysicists you see running around in action films all the time, I appreciated that her character dressed and acted like my hard sciences grad school friends, wearing jeans and a few layers of grubby T-shirts/jackets/cardigans, shoving dirty dishes in the cereal cupboard because she can’t be bothered to do the washing up, etc.

Except for Loki, the scenes in Asgard were a bit tedious - they didn’t give Rene Russo anything to do - and I was extremely disappointed it didn’t make more use of Idris Elba. I didn’t understand the motivations of the frost giants at all and why they were invading worlds (did they need something on Earth to survive?), but the big blue cable box was a perfectly adequate McGuffin.

What did everyone else think? How does it match up to the comics (which I have no knowledge of at all)?

2

My reaction was pretty much the same as yours - the plot was nothing to write home about, and the script seemed unfocused at times, but the characters, dialog, images and just the general mod were terrific.

You know who Hemsworth’s Thor reminded me a bit of? Captain Carrot, from the Discworld books. He had the same casual self-confidence, the same complete lack of guile and self-consciousness, and the same bags of krisma. The only difference (admittedly, a major one) was his lack of regard for law and order and chains of command.

3

Serviceable plot, which did its job of not confusing my wife, but I would have liked a bit more intrigue.

Action scenes were… ok, but the big fight with the destroyer and Loki were meh, compared to the fight scenes in the beginning with the frost giants.
Lots of beefcake for the ladies, tho. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

Yes, that’s a good connection! I liked the little moment when the geeky sidekick held up her cameraphone and said something like “Oh, smile, this is going on my Facebook”, and he instinctively did so without a second thought.

I think the unselfconsciousness is what sold it and made him likeable rather than grating and smug - he isn’t trying to impress anyone, tall and strong and handsome is just what he is.

I also saw a bit of a connection with the character Branagh chose to make his first film about, Prince Hal/Henry V. The story of an immature prince going off slumming to learn how to be a good king before he can earn the throne is a classic, and I thought it was to the screenwriters’ credit that both the immature casually arrogant Thor and the more mature, empathetic Thor were both likeable and believable, and his growth wasn’t underlined too obviously.

Also, yes, total babe. He reminded me a bit of Brad Pitt in Troy.

5

Just got back from seeing it myself, and thoroughly enjoyed it (as did my wife, slightly to my surprise). I did think I’d maybe have liked to have seen a little less of Asgard and a little more of Thor on Earth, but I suppose we’ll be getting plenty of that next year.

The humour seemed to hit just the right note, mostly, though having the hypodermic gag right after essentially the same thing with the taser struck me as a mistake. One or the other, but not both.

Tom Hiddleston? This is what he said in an interview:

Oh, yes, very good. Very Carroty indeed.

Just what my wife said, too.

6

I saw it today, and it was exactly what I needed. I loved being transported away to the beautiful world of Asgard and when the credits began I actually found myself wishing that I could experience a little more of it.

I was VERY impressed with how they handled Loki. Hiddleston, first of all, is amazing and he has such a sweet look to him. I was afraid that they were going to make him too obviously kitten-eating evil, but no, you totally understand why his family loves him. Marvel Comics Loki is already a very developed character, and I appreciate that they allowed his movie counterpart to share in some of that. Loki is perhaps the most complex villain in any Marvel movie, alongside Magneto. Also, whoa, he has one foeyay moment with Thor in their big fight that kinda shocked me, when Loki realizes that Thor’s in love with Jane and threatens to kill her – apparently out of sheer jealousy, as Jane is hardly any threat to Loki or his plans. Wow, obsessive over your brother much, Loki?

Hemsworth is ridiculously gorgeous, but at the same time, as others have said, he’s so earnestly natural and affable that you fall in love with him. Also, when he kisses Jane’s hand before returning to Asgard… so romantic!

The Warriors Three, Sif, and the other Asgardians were just grand. I particularly like that Sif is there as a warrior and although you could read her as being quietly in love with Thor, it’s not blatant and in fact you could just see their relationship as ‘bromantic’, so to speak.

The dialogue is snappy without being too Whedonesquely self-aware and quippy, and the gags are genuinely funny. I also loved the action sequences and in particular the final battle with Loki – and how brilliant is the scene where Thor simply lays Mjolnir on Loki’s chest to pin him down, knowing Loki cannot lift it to strike back at him?

My one complaint is that the CGI Jotuns (Frost Giants) looked a little fakey, but I thought the actors in makeup looked fine. *Thor *seems to take place in a universe that’s a little more brightly-colored and up-tempo than ours, and I adored the energy of the movie.

7

I wasn’t too impressed, but I didn’t really expect to be; I saw the movie because my girlfriend is a huge fan of Marvel (and, now, Chris Hemsworth). I know this is a comic book movie, but I found it nonsensical even by comic book movie standards. For example…

The story begins with the Asgardians fighting the Frost Giants on Earth about a thousand years ago. Fine, I’ll accept that. Then, some time after that war is over, we see Thor and Loki as children. So how the hell are these two even included in the Marvel Universe’s Norse mythology, as adults no less? Shouldn’t the Norsemen have only known about the Asgardians who were around during that war?

And if Asgard has presumably had no contact with Earth for hundreds of years, how is Thor immediately able to speak modern English? Is that another one of his super powers?

8

I noticed that too, but there’s a clear and obvious answer. A retcon did it. :smiley:

Hell, who cares? It’s fun, and I actually like the idea that the great stories of earth foretold Thor and Loki’s adventures.

9

I enjoyed the ride, and I think I will add this one to my collection when the time comes for it on DVD.

One slight annoyance for me, did Thor not listen to his father? The hammer can break (or destroy, I forget the exact wording used) and it can build.

BUILD you idiot! Use it to build the bridge to get back to Jane! Sheesh. Of course that has to happen somehow for him to be in the avengers, but ok. I’ll wait for it.

10

One bit of unintentional humor I liked was during Thor’s big “coronation” scene in the beginning.

Odin: “I now pronounce you-Frost Giants!” I half-expected Falstaff to mutter “I am NOT a Frost Giant.”

And for any Marvel comic geeks, did you notice the Eye of Agamotto in the weapons vault?

11

Of course we noticed it. :cool: Although I thought it looked more like the Emerald Eye of Ekron, but why quibble.

Fun ride if you don’t take it seriously, but I was a little let down by the battle with the Destroyer.

12

Is there any significance to the guy waiting to take Thor out with a bow shoot at the Mjolnir site? Why a bow? I assume this has some role in the canon that went over my head.

13

It’s the implication that the man is Hakeye, withlout really showing the actor and therefore allowing that to come up later in the AVengers movie. Although I think Hawkeye would be a cool character on his own. He’s a bit like Batman, but a lot less weighty.

14

Yes, they even call him “Agent Barton”. Hard to pull your weight on the Avengers being a normal guy, though.

15

Regarding the scene after the credits…

Hah ha! We finally get to know what was in the briefcase of Marcellus Wallace!!

:slight_smile:

I think it was a nice touch to have Samuel L. Jackson open the case and to show:
The Cosmic Cube.

16

I’m guessing the movie universe will present Hawkeye in a similar way that it presented Black Widow. With S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Barton being on a similar level of “superhero-ness” as S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Natasha Romanoff.

17

That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking!

18

Ha! I didn’t quite “get” that. I wonder if Kenneth Branaugh was thinking that himself. Would make an awful lot of sense, though…

19

We just saw it tonight at a special screening at Paramount. Is it playing in regular theaters in 3-D? Seeing it in 3-D is really awesome!

We absolutely loved every minute of it. Jane’s assistant had some of the funniest lines! “The took my IPod, too. . . And I had just downloaded 35 new songs!”

Loved, loved, loved Heimdall! He had some great lines, too.

Also loved the shout out to Iron Man, when the Destroyer showed up and the federal agent asked if he was one of Stark’s. LOL

Did anyone else catch that when Odin rode in to rescue Thor and the gang from the Frost Giants, that his horse had 8 legs? I missed it, but my husband caught it, but being Danish, he’s much more up on Norse Mythology than I am, so would know to look for a detail like that.

Thoroughly enjoyable movie. Can’t wait for the sequel.

20

Despite the predictible plot, I really enjoyed this movie. I know nothing about the comics but I knew a bit of Norse mythology going in. It was really cool seeing their take on the Their idea of what the bifrost looked like was way different than the one in my mind, for example, but I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. All of the CGI Asgard was awesome.
The movie was simple and straightforward and I’m glad. Not too many characters introducted (a la X-Men 3, Spiderman 3) and there was some character development (unlike Ironman 2.) I had low expectations going in but I’m definitely glad that I saw the movie. It has me pumped for Captain America!