Marvel Marathon-Thor

Let me start off by saying this: I bought a ticket to this movie completely expecting it to suck. I had never heard of Tom Hiddleston or Chris Hemsworth and did not think they were up to much of anything. I also did not think much of Natalie Portman (I had not yet seen Black Swan yet, sue me) I also had not yet seen Hamlet, so I do not anything about Kenneth Branagh as a director. I only knew of him as Gilderoy Lockhart, and the thought of Gilderoy Lockhart directing Thor was laughable. I also thought Thor as a concept was close to impossible to take seriously. The weird helmets and outfits, the capes and the overall idea made the God of Thunder the hardest of the Avengers to bring to the big screen. I bought a ticket, put on my 3D glasses and sat down in the theatre for what I expected to be a two hour suck-fest. Gods, was I wrong.

I had no clue that Hemsworth was another brilliant casting decision on Marvel's part. He NAILED this character. The arrogance, the regality, the power, the nobility. It's all here, and believable. He plays Thor as a character as an arrogant jerk who must find the noble man within. We see him in the beginning thinking he's the king of the world, and a lesser actor would have just made him completely unlikeable. But Hemsworth gives him an air of charisma and likability that carries on later. We know that he is a good character at heart, and this movie is about him discovering that for himself. He has great chemistry with Natalie Portman. I liked the relationship between Thor and Jane Foster a lot, much more than the Betty and Bruce relationship from The Incredible Hulk, although has more to do with the fact Portman was actually trying. I felt very sad at the end when Thor has to destroy the Bilfrost Bridge, preventing him from coming back to Earth. I was a tad disappointed to see that Jane not appear in The Avengers (she is mentioned), but am excited to see her back in the upcoming sequel. Tom Hiddleston.... I love this guy. True, he is much more dastardly and hateful in The Avengers, but he was not meant to be a monster here. This was the setup. He realized the history of his origins and swears revenge. Simple, but understandable. Towards the end he really does become more evil. I think this carefully balanced performance proved no one other than Hiddleston could have played this role. Anthony Hopkins is good as always, and I really liked the ragtag group who tags around Thor, them being Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. They had great chemistry and provided for some great battle scenes. That reminds me: this is easily the most visually stunning of all the Marvel movies. The realm of Asgard looks jaw dropping, as does the Bilfrost Bridge. The action scenes are spectacular, especially the final fight between Loki and Thor. The only issue visually belonged to the Frost Giants. They were not CGI: they were actors wearing latex costumes. I can't fault them for not going the CG route, but they never really looked giant. The original Godzilla movie did the best job for making something small look giant. Everything was shot from a low angle against objects made to scale. There are too many shots of the Giants alongside the main characters, and that can get distracting, but I guess that's not a huge deal. Branagh was really the only director who could have done this movie. Yes, the characters are all wearing capes, helmets and viking inspired armour. But he never loses sight of the human angle. This movie still feels real, even if the concept may be silly. It's proof almost any concept can work if the execution is good.

I love this movie. Yeah, there are a few nitpicks here and there that I didn't mention, but they're not important. (Except for the pointless Hawkeye cameo. Seriously, why?) This was a huge step up from Iron Man 2. Yeah there is setup for The Avengers, but it feels natural. Loki's villainy felt like a natural progression from this movie. Kudos to this movie, and good on you for proving me wrong.