I think it was just shoddily done this time. I had no problem watching Avatar in 3D, but this made my eyes ache.
Avatar was shot with the intention of being a 3D film. Thor had the 3D effect added after it was filmed - a process which usually results in a general degradation of the film’s quality. By all reports, the process was particularly bad in Thor.
I liked it overall. The plot was on the simple side, but it worked - it’s a pretty basic kind of epic tale about gods and mortals, good vs. evil, and so forth. The fight scenes definitely gave the impression that these were gods fighting.
Side note; when Odin told his children, immortals of royal blood, that they were “born to be kings”, was I the only person who expected the soundtrack to segue into Queen?
Interestingly, I know of at least one message board where Heimdall is seen as a breakout character, to the point of asking if he could support his own film.
I’ve always thought the character of Heimdall was kind of awesome. I don’t think he could support his own film, though, because mostly what he does is stare at Bifröst (or rather, what’s left of it) and out into the cosmos.
Count my wife and me in, by the way, as people who enjoyed Thor for what it was: a fun, summer popcorn movie.
That’s because Idris Elba is just that fucking cool. Heimdall isn’t exactly Stringer Bell, but you see him and get the feeling he’ll do something badass sooner or later. Hearing he was in this movie went a long way toward convincing me to see it.
I don’t have all that much to add here in that, yes, it was a predictable movie, but it was well done and very enjoyable. The Marvel movies in general have done a good job of establishing the personalities of the heroes, and I came to enjoy the fact that Thor is a simple guy: he’s a meathead, he lives to fight, likes a good feast, and is cheery at almost all times, and you’d probably like him if you got to know him (unless he’d just smashed all your stuff or flattened your entire town, but even then…). They did do very well in painting Loki as manipulative and he certainly had Thor eating out of his hand; I wish he’d been a bit less of a wuss from the beginning because it made him a little too obvious. The battle with the Frost giants was great, the cosmological effects were outstanding, and I liked the Destroyer. On the other hand I thought the scene with Thor drinking with Stellan Skarsgard was very enjoyable. As a negative, they appeared to be drawing a September 11th parallel with the frost giant incursion on the coronation day, and I thought that was unnecessary. I don’t object to it, I just don’t think the Thor movie has much to say about this (and it didn’t).
On the picayune side: did they really have to do the helmets-with-horns thing? I think most of us know at this point that Vikings didn’t dress like that and on most of them, it looked silly. I have to add that even though it’s the mythological name, I kept expecting someone to yodel every time they said “Jotunheim” (and my girlfriend kept thinking of Anaheim). And I, too, wondered about the English accents on the alien/Norse gods. Of course it would have undercut the movie’s seriousness if they’d all spoken with Swedish accents, although I would have enjoyed it- at least for a little while.
I fail to see how this could do anything other than enhance any movie. A little music from ABBA, some sexy Swedish accents … pure win.
BORK BORK BORK!
True, but it was clear that the costume designs were meant to be at least somewhat consistent with the look of the costumes in the comic, which meant helmets with horns or wings for many of the characters.
Also the Aesir weren’t Vikings, or even human at all really, so they can wear whatever the writers want without it being inaccurate.
I just saw this last night, and described it to somebody today as “good, clean fun”. Hemsworth’s portrayal of Thor resulted in one of the most refreshing and enjoyable heroes I’ve seen in quite some time — I’ve just had more than my fill of dark, brooding “badasses” who frequently come off as bigger jerks than the villains they fight. It was nice to have a hero who is so instantly likable.
I had to consult IMDB to figure out which character was played by Stellan Skarsgård, partly because I never caught his character’s name in the dialogue (so the end credits were no help), and partly because the only other thing I could recall seeing him in was King Arthur, where he had a dramatically different appearance. (I see he was also in a couple of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, though he was probably made up enough in those to be just as unrecognizable).
Am I the only one who thought there were a few instances where Loki looked remarkably like Brent Spiner as Lore, Data’s “evil twin” from ST:TNG? Particularly in the tag scene after the credits. Come to think of it, wasn’t Lore largely inspired by Loki to begin with? It would be cool if this was a deliberate nod to that.
Can’t really comment on the quality of the 3D, as this was my very first 3D movie.
Curious that the superhero movies I’ve enjoyed the most, Iron Man and Thor, have been the ones featuring characters I’m least familiar with. These two are among the few top-tier heroes whose comics I never collected or read with any regularity, buying them only when they were involved in crossovers with titles I did collect. Maybe my lack of familiarity simply left me “immune” to things in the movies that may have conflicted with what’s in the comics. It makes me think I should prepare myself to be severely disappointed/angered by Green Lantern, since he’s my all-time favorite.
Yup; he played Bootstrap Bill Turner (the father of Will (Orlando Bloom) Turner) in the second and third PotC movies. His make-up made him look rather covered with barnacles.
You might’ve also seen him in “Mamma Mia”; he played one of the three men who might’ve been the bride’s father.
I thought the same (well, resembling Data, anyway), particularly in a few scenes in Asgard. Probably a combination of the slicked-back dark hair and the golden-toned light in those scenes.
Yeah, I wasn’t even aware he was in those movies until I saw them on his IMDB listing (too busy drooling over Keira Knightley 
)
Never saw that one.
I noticed it mostly in the scenes where his eyes went red.
Re: Skaarsgard: I’ve always liked him, and hitting up IMDB reveals he’s been around, and quite prolific, for quite a while.
His kid is hot, too. Alexander Skarsgård - IMDb
(Erik Northman in True Blood)
I just wanted to agree with this as I’ve liked Stellan Skaarsgard for a quite awhile now myself and try to never miss an opportunity to sing his praises. The first time I remember taking notice of him was back in Ronin, an action film from 1998 with Robert Deniro and Jean Reno. He played the villain in that and did a hell of a job. He’s been in turns villainous, pompous, desperate and sympathetic and he’s 100% believable every time. One of my favorite character actors.
I took in a matinee showing of Thor today and thought it was an excellent movie. Chris Hemsworth was great in the lead. Very charming and perfectly cast as an old fashioned straight forward hero who, nonetheless, had a lesson to learn. That moment after he realizes he’s no longer worthy to wield his hammer and why was perfectly done. It was an epiphany and I totally bought his transformation afterward. He becomes not just a warrior but a hero.
I’ve seen reviews comparing his performance to Hugh Jackman’s in the original X-Men movie and I agree with that. This could be a star making turn for him.
And Skaarsgard was excellent as Natalie Portman’s mentor/father figure. 
I must’ve missed that seen. I remember Thor about to become king when the Frost Giants attacked, but I missed any 9/11 parallel. Whose coronation was on 9/11? Or was it just that someone’s ear was whispered into with bad news about something bad happening, which is very common in movies and real life? Methinks you are trying to hard to make connections when none are there.
I never read Hogun as Asian in the comics. I don’t mind them casting an Asian actor for him in the movie, but I didn’t really like that particular actor’s portrayal of him. Hogun is supposed to be grim and imposing; the guy they got was just sort of there.
I have to echo the praise for Chris Hemmsworth. He was unbelievably charming, and captured the exact elements that make Thor an appealing comic book character.
I don’t know how likely this is, but I would love if a future Thor movie brought in Hercules for Thor to interact with. The first Thor/Hercules fight is one of my favorite comics ever.
I don’t understand the 9/11 comment either.
The only connection I can think of was that 9/11/2001 was the scheduled date of the New York mayoral primaries (elections which would select who would run to replace Rudy Giuliani as mayor). The primaries were rescheduled for 2 weeks later.
Even so, I think trying to draw the parallel is a huge reach.
Yeah, the only thing I can see in common between 9/11 and the coronation attack is that both were unexpected attacks. Which is broad enough that if you eliminated it, there wouldn’t be much left to action movies.
The parallel was in the discussion Odin and Thor had about how to respond to the Frost Giant incursion. Thor advocates going to Jotunheim and decimating the Frost Giants (an overwhelming military response), while Odin says the attack was unsuccessful and Asgard will fix the flaws in its security. Perhaps I should say I felt that was intended to be a commentary on responses to terrorism in general. And no, this was not something I was looking for. It was something that came to mind when I watched the scene. I felt that was intentional, but I don’t know if anyone has commented on that interpretation of the scene.
For what it’s worth, that is not how I interpreted that scene. I think it was just meant to illustrate that Thor is hot-headed and to set up the events of his expulsion from Asgard.