Thor: God of Thunder
History: Not having been a comic book reader or fan, my first knowledge of Thor was in the context of the Viking myth of Asgard, Valhalla, and a pantheon of gods, of which, one was Thor, the God of Thunder. But, once Iron Man debuted and the general public became aware of Marvel’s pantheon of gods, it was revealed to me that one such comic book hero was based on the Viking myth. Other than that, I knew little, except that he used a hammer, and was generally considered to be pretty hard core.
Hype: I really enjoyed Iron Man, and Iron Man 2 to a lesser degree, but once I heard that Joss Whedon, master of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, was to write and helm Avengers, I have grown interested in all of the Avengers, and not just Iron Man. I re-watched the Hulk movies (and was disappointed that they weren’t much to write about), but this summer was very excited for Thor and Captain America. I went into the theater expecting the same level of writing, effects, and sense of story that Iron Man had delivered.
The Good: Casting. In a word, the casting of Thor was excellent. You could not ask for a better All-Father Odin than Anthony Hopkins, Chris Hemsworth was fantastic as Thor, Tom Hiddleston was excellent as Loki. The supporting cast was well chosen, with veteran presence coming from Stellan Skarsgård, and Natalie Portman playing a fairly easy role as the scientist girlfriend. Even Rene Russo’s fleeting screentime as Frigg, wife of Odin and mother of Thor, fit well. Everywhere one looked in this film one saw quality actors.
Overall, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki stole the film. He was fantastically devious and totally realistic/consistent. It took me half the film to remember that Loki was pretty much orchestrating everything, but because of the way things were set up, Thor really made it easy for him to do pretty much everything he did. I liked him way better than Thor, and the fact that I liked the villain more than the hero says something about how badly this film was written.
The Ugly: Plenty. I wanted to like Thor so badly, but I just couldn’t. The budget for this film was very small, and it seemed like most of it was spent on making it 3D. I have said it many times, but special effects, especially these days, can more easily ruin a film than anything else and modern studios just don’t get that effects DO NOT make a movie. By now the CGI thing is so tired that the audience just doesn’t care and isn’t wowed, but the execs continue to push for big effects because they think that is what will draw audiences. Unfortunately, they are right, but only if they want a big opening day payday and don’t care about anything after that (which, sadly, is also often the case with execs). An audience will pay for the spectacle once, but will pay several times for story. Case in point: Titanic and Dark Knight both had effects but also had much stronger stories, the former appealed to the romantic in every housewife and the latter appealed to pretty much everybody as it broke Titanic’s records. Exceptions do exist, but my point remains: story will trump special effects, and Thor would definitely have benefited from better story.
Lack of proper character exploration was another weakness in this film. Natalie Portman is some sort of scientist studying some sort of phenomenon, but we are never really told what or how or why it matters. She is all excited about her research and notes, but the significance is lost on the audience. Second, pretty much as soon as Thor dropped to Earth, she started going all gooey over him, and it completely contradicted her strong scientist character to have her all gaga over his well defined physical appearance. On the other side of the strange love coin, I have an extremely hard time figuring out why a god such as Thor would immediately become enamored with the first human female he encounters on his exile. Thor strikes me as the kind of dude that has several girls on several planets.
Furthermore, scope killed this movie where it stood. Everything that happened on Earth happened in a sleepy western town in the desert. Everything that happened in Asgard happened in the transporter room or the throne room, or on some ice planet that no one cared about (even the characters in the movie didn’t care about it). The movie felt restricted and small. Iron Man traveled the world twice in as many movies; Thor was cast down to exactly one spot on Earth.
Given the fact that this movie was supposed to be about a god learning humility, it could have been perfectly justified and probably a bit more likely to have Thor quest around the Earth learning humility from the down and out and the wise gurus of the Earth. Instead, he acted like a jerk and hung out in a coffee shop, a pet store, and a scientist crash pad.
Speaking of Thor acting like a jerk, that is pretty much all he did. He was a jerk in Asgard and jumped at the weakest incitement to try to start a war. And then he was a jerk to his dad when he was called on his arrogance. And then he acted like a jerk on Earth by beating up nurses and doctors (honestly, that was the exact moment when I started to not like Thor) and few soldiers. And then he did one semi heroic act (I say semi-heroic because he supposedly sacrificed himself to save everybody, but there were only about 10 people in the little diner that the old scientist evacuated, and the rest of the people who were “in danger” were his god-pals and Foster, so I didn’t really see the peril inherent in the situation), was killed for it, was reinstated as a god, and then continued to pretty much act like a jerk. I really didn’t see any character development in what was supposed to be film entirely about his character’s development.
Lots of other things made this film superfluous, for instance, the annoying intern who managed to have the best line in the film. No, not the one about “pretty cut” or “freaking me out” or “Facebook” but: “I’m not dying for six college credits”. Also there was the whole thing about Thor sneaking into the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s desert compound to try to recover his hammer and basically beating up a bunch of people for no reason (not to mention endangering Jane Foster for no reason). Finally, there was Thor’s total bewilderment of some Earth things but not others (ie, pet stores but not cars). It was inconsistent. Either he is a god or he isn’t, but he couldn’t be that selectively clueless.
Finally: the whole thing with the ice planet and stuff, I don’t get it. I know that Thor has to be shown being completely reckless and arrogant, but the ice planet ended up somehow being a part of the plot and it seemed odd and out of place. It was one thing too many in a film that was already going many different directions and it didn’t seem necessary at all.
At that is just the few things I have highlighted that made Thor a less than stellar outing. There were many more.
The Personal: I barely connected with this film. I should have been able to connect much more strongly. A movie about intense and fundamental personal change within a strong character should have been a movie to connect with and project oneself into, but this movie was so poorly done it was like watching a gaudy spectacle happen with detached interest at best.
In the final analysis, Loki was more relatable than Thor because he was the non-favored son who was stolen from his real parents and was lied to all of his life. He radiated real confusion, pain, suffering, and a loss of identity, all of which are visceral and human emotions that one encounters all to often. I connected with his pain, and understood his conflicts. I think he should have reacted better, but he in fact acted according to character, and thus was devious and angry. Also, he was actually somewhat cathartic as a character: I am a younger brother who many times has wished I could take my favored older siblings down a notch or two in the eyes of my parents. Loki actually succeeded, so I like him for that, despite the fact he was sort of evil.
Final Score: 1 out of 5 thunderous Viking hammers.
a simple man 