Thor is kind of an
anomaly in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or at least it was until it came out
and was a big hit much like the rest of the set up films of
The Avengers. Out of all the set up films,
Thor was probably the biggest risk due
to Thor himself not having been very heavily featured before. Sure, he’d been in some of the animated films
and had guest spots on several of the animated series (as well as being sort of
featured in
The Incredible Hulk Returns,
but we tend to forget that). So,
needless to say, there was a lot of risk here.
So, how did Marvel handle this?
Well, chiefly, they got a charismatic and relatively
then-unknown Australian actor by the name of Chris Hemsworth for the title
role. This has worked out ridiculously well for them.
Rounding at the cast with some strong choices for Loki (Tom
Hiddleston), Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), and Odin (Anthony “with some fava
beans” Hopkins) also contributes to this going well. And while I would get into Heimdall (Idris
Elba), Sif (Jaimie Alexander), and the Warriors Three (Joshua Dallas, Tadanobu
Asano, and Ray Stevenson), they…don’t really do too much in this film. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t bad by any
stretch – particularly Heimdall – but the film doesn’t really give them much of
anything to do.
But as for the plot, like the other entries into Phase One
of the Marvel Cinematic universe, it’s an origin story. Odin narrates about the defeat of the Frost
Giants, a force from one of the Nine Realms that was a great destructive force
in the universe in the distant past – even going so far as to invade Earth and
lay waste until Odin and the forces of Asgard curbstomped them and took the
Casket of Infinite Winters. Many, many
years later – Odin is preparing to pass on his crown to his eldest son, Thor. Thor is a cocky, arrogant, war-hungry young
man who is so very, very eager to be king.
In fact, one could say that he just can’t wait to be king, as when his
coronation is interrupted by Frost Giants let into Asgard by his brother Loki,
he wants to immediately mount up his armies and go kick some Frost Giant ass.
So when Odin reminds him that he’s not King yet, Thor and his friends head across the Bifrost to do it
anyway.
For this, Thor is stripped of his powers and banished to
Earth where he meets physicist Jane Foster, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) and
Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) in the deserts of New Mexico. Mind you, only Thor is punished for this
transgression against the throne of Asgard.
Not the Warriors Three, who not
only followed Thor into this, but happily.
Not Loki, who nobody manages to
remember was the one who actually manipulated Thor into going to the realm of the Frost Giants (silver-tongued devil, my
ass).
And not Heimdall, who willingly
left the door open so that they could go through the Bifrost in the first
place.
…eh, Thor is the only one with a
lesson to learn here, apparently.
But, in a little town in New
Mexico, Thor will spend three days learning the virtues of…whatever that make
him a worthy king of Asgard from Anakin Skywalker’s ex (by the way, Natalie, major step up…since, y’know, Chris can act).
This is actually kind of an issue with the film, as Thor goes from being
a war hungry manchild to being a compassionate, wise young man over a three day
weekend because he hung out with a hot chick in the desert…then again, it is Natalie Portman and she’s been um…inspiring to many.
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| Fine Dwarven Craftsmanship: A Nokia on a stick. |
In the end, through some rather
funny scenes and some trials and tribulations, Thor willingly sacrifices
himself to save his newly gained human friends, as well as Sif and the Warriors
Three, from total annihilation at the hands of Loki and the Destroyer, then has
what is one of the most awesome scenes of all time in which is hammer returns
to him, his armor reforms on him, and he proceeds to lay a smackdown upon the
Destroyer before going back to Asgard and giving a smackdown to Loki.
Loki who, by the way, is the one
who really gets the most sympathy from me…at least for this film. He learns that his true heritage has been kept
from him and, naturally, doesn’t take that well given exactly what he is. The manipulator has himself been manipulated
and lied to about where he came from for his entire life. So, the real
villain of Thor? Definitely
Odin. The guy’s a complete dick.
Mind you, my view of Loki changes
drastically by the time of The Avengers (as should yours, take
note, fangirls!), but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I’d even go so far as to saying he’s
pretty much justified in his actions…except for keeping Thor in exile when he
has the opportunity to bring him back to Asgard, but then Thor just has to
learn his lesson, apparently.
All in all, it's a great movie. It's minor problems can be overlooked and it can be a very enjoyable summer blockbuster, which it was.
And, of course, we get the
post-credits scene setting up The
Avengers, which was by then quickly on its way with the hype built up to an
absolute fever pitch. However, it is now
that we come to a film that I’ve been dreading…not necessarily because it’s
bad, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it good…
....but we’ll save the adventures
of the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant for next time.
Thor is now available from Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is available wherever movies are sold.
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