Thor, A Pre-Review
I’m a geek.
I’ll give you a moment to let that whopper of a revelation sink in.
I’m predisposed to groovin’ on comic book movies. So when I saw the line-up of summer movies this year I said: “Oh Hell yeah!” and immediately began compiling a list of movies I would see this year. First up: Thor.
Now I’ve never been a huge fan of Thor, though I did love his work in Adventures in Babysitting. But I was looking forward to seeing this movie as well as the new Captain America flick because these movies are pieces of this massive puzzle that Marvel is putting together which is all leading up to a massive cinematic event: Battleship, The Movie!
No, that’s not true, but can you believe someone greenlit that idea?
Anyway, Thor came out (the film was released, he didn’t reveal that he was gay) and I had every intention of seeing this movie as soon as possible. But now that it’s here I’m overcome with a “Meh, I’ll catch the matinee” attitude.
My problem is that, after seeing the trailers, I feel I’ve already seen the movie. I’m guessing the movie starts in Asgard, Thor says something blasphemous (like “I really empathize with the mortals on Jersey Shore“), Thor then gets kicked out of Asgard, he meets Natalie Portman and goes through a gauntlet of fish-out-of-water sequences (“Thou has a magic carriage!” “Thou has a magic box that contains moving paintings!” “Thou has Wikipedia!”), Agents of SHIELD conk him on the head and drag them back to their headquarters (which is made up of flimsy, paper tubes for some reason), Loki drops off some death-dealing robot like a mother dropping off her destructive child to a daycare facility, Thor gets his hammer back and hits lots of things with it, the end.
I hope I’m wrong. I hope it’s a great flick that’s able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Spider-Man and Iron Man. But I fear it’s, at best, “OK.”
I wish I could say it was great, but it wasn’t. It is very predictable and the acting is not that great. You actually summarized it pretty well — of course not EXACTLY, but then again, you haven’t seen the flick, so it makes sense. I would actually wait for it to be available on DVD or something because of the overall quality. But it does LOOK good on the big screen, if that’s worth anything to you.
I agree. Totally predictable and cheap. Thor is punished and redeemed twenty minutes later. It gets worse the more you think about it. I thought Thor was cast well, tho. I don’t think Cap was. I hope I am wrong about both.
I’d say you summarized its general skeleton fairly well, but the execution is much better than the concept alone would seem to suggest, and there are several more subplots and whatnot. I know I thoroughly enjoyed it, for what little that opinion’s worth.
Admittedly the plot was predictable, but there was smashy fun and many teases as to what will be in the Avengers movie. He doesn’t really have the shocking “you have this thing here that i have never seen” experience, but there are plenty of “fish-out-of-water” shenanigans, mostly through his mannerisms. not a masterpiece, but still worth a see.
Finbar said it sucked, but he liked The Other Guys….I am still interested. Let me know when you want to go!
As origin stories go, it was a tad predictable, but it was “THOR!” It lent itself to a lot of sequels…PEACE.
yeah, the plot was fairly predictable. You summarized it quite well, in fact. However, it was definitely enjoyable. No great work of art, but a good way to kill a couple of hours. There were a lot of parts that I found pretty funny, but then again, I’m easily amused. Anyway, I think you should go see it.
Eh. It was a good, if not top-notch, effort. Good scenery-chewing, some good set pieces, more of a plot than I expected, the obligatory god-meets-girl stuff wasn’t as painful as it could’ve been, and Loki was properly Mr Plans-Within-Plans. And, oddly enough, the occasional bits of comedy actually worked as intended.
It was MIGHTY ASGARDIAN FUN [did they actually say “mighty Asgardian” in the film, or did we just make that joke entirely up…?]. I went to the midnight opening, so there’s a chance it wasn’t actually as entertaining as I remember?
But yes, it’s basically cardboard cut-outs walking around in an entertaining manner, and Loki’s the only “character” with any sort of depth (though damn is he interesting). But you never watch/read/choose-in-Marvel-v.-Capcom-to-fight-with Thor because he’s a great character. You choose Thor because he’s the God of Thunder and hilarity ensues one way or the other.
Being the Redbox fan that i am, going to the movies isnt all that important to me but i did break down and go watch this and thought is was pretty good. Stan Lee is teh best 😀
I saw it. I’ve got strong opinions. We can discuss it on Friday’s show!
At the beginning, I thought, “this could be like pre-The Lion King, where Thor is Mufasa and Loki is Scar.” Then, about halfway through, it switched to ACTUALLY being The Lion King, where Thor was Simba and Loki was still Scar…
I thought it was a fantastic flick. I didn’t want to see it, but majority rules in my household, so we saw Thor in lieu of Fast Five that day. I was impressed. I was never a Thor comic fan (except when Walt Simonson was drawing the series), but I really had fun with this one. I didn’t particularly care for the science team characters though. Asgard was the place to be! 🙂
Not surprised that you didn’t care for the sciencey people… given that your preferred choice of movie was Fast Five. Juuuuuuuuuudgiiiiiiiiiiing yooooooooooou noooooooow. 😉
My wife and stepdaughter were the culprits behind the desire to see Fast Five. We still haven’t gone to view it yet. I can wait for the DVD. 🙂
What I didn’t like about the “scientist” aspect of the film was that it seemed like they just made them scientists so it would fit. No one necessarily acted nor behaved like scientists. I did like the line about “I studied political science” though.
“I’m a geek.”
…OF STEEL!
Honestly I can’t take his stupid hammer seriously. It looks like a sledgehammer rather than a war-hammer.
Hollywood bastards defiling our gods. Asator is so much more than the stupid movie makes him out to be.
All that I have to say about the Battleship movie is this, Clue made an awesome movie. Just because it is based on a boardgame doesn’t mean it can’t be a good movie.
Clue is my absolute favourite movie ever 🙂
Don’t waste your money-see the movie when it comes out on DVD, if you really want to.
The plot was fairly basic, but it was really well done. It was actually good in 3D too, which is impressive.
Also, the lead was an Aussie. So that makes it awesome.
There was a bridge essentially made out of a CRYSTALLIZED RAINBOW. See it for that, if nothing else. Oh, and Loki was good, I think, though I do gravitate towards petite, cunning, evil-ish guys… It’s also funny when the lady with the terrible voice hits Thor with her car a couple times. And another tases him.
I totally agree with the Lion King comment. The 3d effects were worth the price of admission though. Character development was lacking, but peice in the Avengers puzzle development was NOT lacking. His possee was laughable and along for the ride- and the scriptwriters admit this in a quote “we have a xena, a robin hood, and a jacky chan here, please advise”
Well, I quite liked it. Not as geek-out-awesome as Iron Man (the tech is more mystical and less tech-y), but it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which in my opinion was Spiderman’s main pitfall. It’s fun, and exciting, and the heroes are mostly very classic-comic-book-brash-and-heroey, instead of angsty all the time. (Not that I didn’t like Dark Knight, because WOW, did I.) Also? Heimdall. Kicks. Ass.
It’s a good time with genuinely good 3D. And there are, as has been said, clear tie-ins to the rest of the Avengers universe.
You just spoiled the movie for me without even seeing it first.
But in all seriousness, I enjoyed it if only because I wasn’t previously educated regarding the whole Norse pantheon part of the Marvel universe. The background was enough to keep /me/ entertained, but I can see how the movie could be disappointing for someone who is already familiar with that setting.
Regarding the trailer. While at first glance it may spoil the movie, it turns out it doesn’t. Particularly Loki’s and SHIELD’s actions and motivations.
It is the only movie I have EVER gone to see twice at a cinema.
It seems a lot of people watched a different movie then I did. Because your summary isn’t right. I mean similar sort of presence. But when it comes to how he gets to earth and what is going on there you are fairly wrong. For example. He doesn’t really care about the morals in a normal “They are wonderful” kind of way. But I don’t want to ruin it.
All in all it is a good movie, not a great movie, but I had fun watching it.
Wow, its funny how close you are, but I think it was still a great movie, I’m into all of the superhero stuff too, but I’m a little put off by the Green Lantern movie
It wasn’t bad, but it was better than okay.
I must admit, I had my doubts. I have always enjoyed the concept of Thor, even if I didn’t read the books. But please remember, any first movie in a franchise is going to have the same issues that Thor did, namely that the characters and settings will have to be introduced to an audience made up, largely, of people who didn’t even know there WAS a comic.
That said… There was more humor than expected, and in a way that was un-expected. What surprised me was that for the majority of the movie I found Thor almost unlikable. Yummy (uhm. yeah!), but crass, arrogant, and exactly the type of guy who needed a good taking down.
Still, it was fun, and I didn’t for a minute regret taking my lawn chair and going to the drive-in to watch it. Totally worth the $4 entry fee. hehehe
This movie sucks loads. No point expanding on the topic. A waste of time and money.
Don’t understand all of the people disliking this movie. I watched it 3 times and enjoyed it quite a bit.
The Marvel comic character Thor is a tough one to translate to the big screen without making him hokey. However I think the director did an excellent job. Especially considering Thor had to be worked in such a way as to mesh in with the other characters on the upcoming Avengers.
I was disappointed that there wasn’t as much action as I would have liked, but I was very happy with the interaction between Thor and Loki. Tom Hiddleston (Loki) did a fantastic job. Chris Hemsworth did a good job giving Thor a personality without it being forced.
Overall Thor was a fun movie and that’s generally why I go to the movies, to have a good time. I thought it was money well spent.
Can’t wait for the Avengers!!!