Thursday 28 April 2011

Thor movie review


Just came back from watching "Thor"
Who would have thunk, that it's the that has nothing at all to do with vikings other than some borrowed names, but about these knights in an alien city flying around in colorful capes, wearing silly helmets and use massive weapons.. who was going to get a very firm structured three act shakesperian story piece, allowing it to just be a movie not pretending to be anything else.. a tale, something I have been looking for.. and some scenes indeed just smell of Shakesperian court intruqes and emotions, sometimes mixed up with some fighting. And who would have thought that... it all fits. It works! this movie is.. good. Really good.
It's not groundbreaking or anything, it doesn't give us something new, but it does give us something rare.
It's a movie not ashamed to admit.. that it's a movie and a fairytale, structured and told as such. having the fell of the good old days in the fourtish and how you would structure and adventure movie back then. It's unashamedly the kind of super-hero movie all other super-hero movies shy's a way from becoming.
It is.. fun. And unpretentious. Who would have thought that Shakespearian Kenneth Brannagh would be such a perfect fit for this? the only other major hollywood film his done.. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." is not a movie I fancy. but this one I enjoyed.
It's by no means flawless, but it's straightforward has a firm grounding in a three act plot and it's a lot of fun. I think the major flaw is that it never raises above any of this, it never even tries.. but on the other hand, that also turns into a strength and a nice change of pace.. also before the super duper awesome avengers movie comes out next year. It's nice just so sit back and relax the story.
Many worries have gone out that it's to complex.. not a problem, it's not even a tiny bit complex, it's straight forward. And it really is its own movie and not a set-up to the avengers. "SHEILD" place its own part in the movie, having an actual purpose and there is a one liner hint towards "Iron Man." and a one liner hints towards. "the Hulk." and that's it. small snacks for the nerds to feast on.
I have to admit.. I never ever liked the Marvel Thor.. as I said, it has nothing to do with the Norse mythology other than borrowing some names. But I liked the movie regardless.
Christ Hemworth who plays Thor.. is a keeper! I swear, he has the best smile in cinema history, it reaches all of his face and his eyes, he is just so likeable! and got a... really good body.. I am sort of in love..
He is perfect casted most differently, and he could without a problem carry the entire movie on his shoulders.
Now.. we all know what exactly is always the weak point in all of these superhero movies, without any exception.. the lady love. This time played by the lovely Nathalie Portman.. well, she is not annoying, she doesn't come off as a card board cut out and she is kind of likeable.. not that interesting, but just the mere fact that she doesn't annoy me instantly grant her "Above average leading lady in superhero movies." status. It's a shame though.. but honestly, I don't know either what to do to write strong female love interests. now that I write myself and am really getting into it.. you realize how hard this really is.. I got no solutions on this.
Loki... oh boy Loki.. again, this Loki never ever had anything to do with the original Norse mythology Loki.. and even if they didn't shared a name.. this Loki has always been my number one most hated arch nemesis of all time. Because all he seems to be is being the powerful god who never grew up and all of his motivations is "Daddy and big brother never appreciated me." emo issues.
And yeah.. that is also what he is in this movie.. yet strangely enough.. didn't come off as annoying as Loki usually is to me.. he is still a wining bastard but there is something more going on here. plus the actor is just perfect and very enjoyable.. I don't know if this is intentionally or not.. but I love the tale about how in the beginning of the movie Thor looks like someone who seriously needs to grow up and Loki is the voice of reason, differently looking like the grown up of the two. and by the end of the movie, Thor has grown up and suddenly Loki seems like the child who needs to grow up. That's clever structure, I like that.
All though, I don't see how Loki is ever going to make a comeback without appearing like a whiner :/

So as I said. I liked to movie, it isn't ground breaking and amazing, but it is fun and entertaining, it keeps a nice balance and a nice pace. Is a swell fantasy adventure not pretending to go out of scale, it's a great chance of pace.
Go give it a watch, it's cool.

4 comments:

  1. Might see this one over the weekend. Such a relief to discover it isn't taking the gritty route like other superhero movies trying to ride the success of Dark Knight.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll definitely see this when it comes out on dvd (our cinema is only showing a crappy 3d version). Sounds like great fun, unlike so many other movies I've seen recently.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually the 3-D in this is fine.

    It's not annoying or anything and compliments the picture nicely. It's by no means the main attraction, which I again find to be a good thing, it's just an exstra gadged in the background used to compliment the story.

    So no.. That's a silly reason for not seeing it, I however understand if you don't want to spend money on it when there is so many other movies going to be relased very soon worth checking out. This movie year is very exciting and offers a great many deal of movies just the type people like us like watching. Which is nice as last year was a downright crappy movie year with nothing coming out :/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh no, I didn't mean like that. Our tiny cinema has this awful 3d screen which doesn't work so well and we have to use these dirty recycled glasses but they still have the cheek to charge the full whack.

    If I were at home, I'd definitely have seen it :). It couldn't have been worse than Fast Five...

    ReplyDelete