Thor 3D

[miss_s_b]

So whenever matgb and I go in a comic shop, I have to explain to them that 1, it'll probably be me who buys something, so they'd better not do the TalkingToTheBloke thing, and 2, he's a Marvel and I'm a DC. It's a product of chance - I got into DC via Judge Dredd and the Judgement on Gotham Crossover; Mat got into Marvel from reading Transformers comics as a kid. But I'll happily go see Marvel movies. I liked Spiderman. I liked Iron Man. I even liked Fantastic Four.

Thor, though?

Thor was something else.

The bits I didn't like first: as usual, the 3D wasn't worth it for most of the movie. The end credits are the most impressive bit of 3D, and I'm not just saying that flippantly, they were gorgeous, but... Would have been nice to have that gorgeousness throughout the film. Loki... Loki should not be angst-ridden. Yes, he and Thor should fight, but he should be a prankster, not a tortured soul. And the usual gripe about too many boys and not enough girls applies; although this film does pass the Bechdel test with two girls talking to each other about particle physics, so it's nowhere near as bad in this regard as most of Hollywood's output. And... that's it. Those are the only holes I can find to pick.

The script was fun, but hung together pretty well - the humour didn't detract from the story and the story didn't detract from the humour. There was The Arthur C Clarke Quote. There was proper character progression, and characters who were characters and not just ciphers. Yes, in a SUPERHERO MOVIE, there were proper characters. The actors were brilliant, in particular Idris Elba, who should get heaped with awards, Kat Dennings, who Mat and I both fancied as Jane's geeky friend, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Jaimie Alexander as Sif and Rene Russo as Frigga, who was... well, I didn't realise it was her, that's how good SHE was. And the beefcake male lead was appropriately beefcakey, and the Danish mentor-of-Jane guy kept reminding me of Jon Voight.

The costumes were AMAZING, as were the make-up and character effects. The ice giants were very well done. The cinematography was GORGEOUS. Brannagh has done a really good job of the direction, and it was the right film for him to direct, I think, and I hope like hell he does more Marvel movies; in fact, I go so far as to say he's the anti-Sam Raimi. Sam Raimi's Spiderman I was excited about having seen Evil Deads (obviously) and Darkman and such, and I didn't think that Spiderman had a Sam Raimi stamp on it at all (suspect there was some hand-tying, there, but...) whereas this? I was expecting pretty generic for some reason, but Brannagh's fingerprints were all over it.

So, all in all, on the whole Oh yeah, he's a Marvel and I'm a DC thing?

Might be starting to waver.

I mean, it's still not Batman, but...

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Comments

[andrewhickey.info]

Marvel do have the better films, but DC have the better *characters*. I'd put any random Bat-villain (without even going into the rest of DC's output) against all the whingers in the whole of Marvel put together.

[miss_s_b]

What, even the Condiment King?

[(Anonymous)]

A villain who no-one takes seriously, who doesn't even realise he's a villain himself and who makes bad jokes, but who's secretly under the control of the Joker and the Mad Hatter? I think that's a character you could do something with ;)

[andrewhickey.info]

that anonymous was me....

[miss_s_b]

I figured LOL

But yeah, I get what you mean. I always thought DC had better villains. Which reminds me, I need to ask Terri about Secret Six...

[missdiane.livejournal.com]

When they were first talking about making Thor, I shrugged it off but after seeing the trailers, I'm pondering checking it out since I liked the looks of it. Seems to be getting good friend reviews which also helps immensely

[miss_s_b]

It is gorgeous eye candy. The plot's not Shakespeare or anything, but at least it has one, and as I say, the acting is pretty damn good. I would recommend it.

[andrewducker]

I went with my girlfriend, and we both enjoyed it. I'd second that Loki isn't really evil or playful enough (it seems rather like an origin story for him), but other than that it's thoroughly good fun, and Asgard looks amazing.

[ggreig.livejournal.com]

(As someone not very familiar with the comics) I felt they spent too much time in Asgard and the sudden resolution to Thor's mortality situation felt too easy.

Otherwise, I'd agree, and the comedy helped to establish sympathy for an upbeat, overconfident hero who could have been insufferable if handled differently.

[bagpuss]

It was very pretty and a good movie, I think as superhero movies go Nolan's Batman series is in a league of its own and it's a little unfair to compare other superhero movies to it.

The year The Dark Knight came out I always said it was the better film but Ironman was the better superhero movie

I liked in this the fact that they built the town and blew it up and that they didn't have Thor and his friends drop into American word usage as soon as they were in the US

I am still looking forward to Captain America which I suspect is less likely to pass the Bechdel test but does from the trailers look to have at least one competent female in it and it will be intriguing to see where they go with the Avengers movie

[nadriel]

I enjoyed it- the 3D was a tad unnecessary, but I didn't particularly mind it. And it was fun!

[bagpuss]

Unfortunately most 3d is unnecesary but they still do it

[lizw]

I really want to see this, and I don't like Marvel or DC. I just love the source mythology, especially Thor. He was my fulltruí (patron, approximately) when I was Asatru.

Loki should not be angst-ridden. Yes, he and Thor should fight, but he should be a prankster, not a tortured soul.

I don't know; I'd argue that the foreshadowing of his binding and torture and his role in Ragnarok are stronger themes in the myths than his tricksterhood. The pranks that do figure in the surviving tales often seem to be motivated by fear, envy or anxiety related to his outsider status.

[(Anonymous)]

The only bits where the 3Dness jumped out at me were, bizarrely, the shots of the tops of the beer bottles during the scene when Selwig and Thor were drinking together.

One of the two people I saw the film with said the same thing.

Vivid beer bottles... it's not exactly a compelling reason to buy a 3DTV is it?

(Alawston - in case that wasn't obvious)