Week thirty three
And seeing it’s Free Comic Book day today – my review of Thor.
Based on the Marvel comics, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. I had expected it to be all raaaaaaaawr!! watch me hit people with my hammer!!! (*sniggers*) but what I didn’t expect it to charm me as much as it did. Thor (the character) was incredibly charming and courtly whilst at the same time being immature and hot-headed.
The film is essentially a coming-of-age story. When we first come across Thor, he’s arrogant and a wee bit irritating. He thinks only of the glory of war and being a warrior. He does something rather stupid and his dad, Odin, banishes his arse to Earth to grow up a bit. Odin also takes the opportunity to separate Thor from Mjolnir, his hammer and the source of his power. He places a spell on it that will stop the unworthy from wielding it (ie: Thor). You can work out where the story is headed from there.
Chris Helmsworth does a fine job as Thor. He does the arrogance of Thor just right but is just a good when banished to Earth and is in a sorry state. He also seems to have rather good comic timing. And the scene where he has his shirt off… my, he was buff!! *fans self* He had great on-screen chemistry with Natalie Portman who played scientist Jane Foster (originally a nurse in the comics) who has a habit of hitting him with her car. Their fledgling romance is quite believable.
I was quite surprised when Natalie Portman signed up for the film. It was reported she did so because Kenneth Branagh was directing. Not the most obvious choice for director but a good one as he brought a Shakespearean deftness to the film. There were quite a few scenes that could’ve turned out horrendously melodramatic but with Branagh’s guiding hand, the scenes played out quite beautifully – especially the confrontation scene between Loki and Odin and the one later on between Loki and Thor.
I quite enjoyed the scenes where Thor was trying to explain to Jane about Asgard and how magic and science are the same thing for him. I especially loved the inclusion of the World Tree. Neil Gaiman writes a lot about Norse mythology and the World Tree so I was really pleased with its inclusion as it’s a mythology I’m really interested in. (Highly recommend Gaiman’s American Gods and I must admit I found myself wishing Odin in the film was a little more like Gaiman’s Odin.)
This is my one of my favorite Marvel films, pipped at the post for favourite by Iron Man. It’s not too long, it has engaging characters and a simple but well-told story that doesn’t excessively reference its comic book origins.