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Review by
Brandon Tenold
Film:7
BD/DVD:9
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| NOTE:
Screenshots were taken from the DVD |
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I start this review, allow me to give a little backstory. |
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Thor
is my father's favorite superhero, so growing up I had access
to a stack of vintage Stan Lee/Jack Kirby-era comics and was pretty
well versed in the character from an early age. Although he wasn't
my favorite, I liked the concept of a character that combined
a superhero with mythology and who existed in both the 'real'
world and a fantasy one. Many people don't seem to really 'get'
Thor, with some saying that the character was too absurd to be
made into a live-action film, a notion I didn't really agree with.
Seriously, Marvel Comic's character stable includes a guy who
transforms into a giant green monster who's pants magically stay
on, a silver guy with no dick who flies around in outer space
on a surfboard and a motorcycle-riding demon with a flaming skull
for a head (all of whom have had movies made about them, I might
add)... and this guy is too far fetched? Ummm, 'kay. Nevertheless,
a film about Thor would have to be handled carefully, with the
look and tone having to be just right. While
Thor director Kenneth Branagh had made his name with Shakespeare
adaptations like Henry V (1989) and
Hamlet (1996), he didn't really have
much of a track record with regards to effects-driven blockbusters.
However, for the most part Branagh did a fine job with Thor,
a movie that should please both fans of the comics as well as
casual superhero fans, even if I do have a few minor issues with
the movie. |
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Thor
begins with a prologue telling of how Odin (Anthony Hopkins),
ruler of the mystical realm of Asgard, fought a war against the
Frost Giants of Jotunheim and defeated their king, Laufey (Colm
Feore), taking from them the source of their power. In the present
day, Odin's son Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant
warrior, prepares to take his father's place as king, but when
the Frost Giants try to reclaim their powerful artifact, Thor
brashly disobeys his father and confronts Laufey, threatening
to ignite another war in the process. Angry at his son's disobedience
and hubris, Odin strips Thor of his godly powers and banishes
him to Earth, specifically the middle of the New Mexico desert
where astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is investigating
cosmic phenomena. Thor's hammer Mjolnir is sent to earth too,
with Odin enchanting it so that only someone worthy of its power
may wield it. Meanwhile, Thor's devious brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston)
has his own plans for Asgard... |
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As Rick Moranis once said in Spaceballs:
"Everybody got that?" |
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Seriously though, Branagh handles all of this much more elegantly
and efficiently than that paragraph just made it sound, with the
first half hour of the movie introducing a huge amount of lofty
characters and concepts. They're fantastic to be sure, but Branagh
never seems to be in over his head with the material or characters.
Hemsworth, in addition to supplying the lean muscle mass needed
for the character, also plays Thor with the right amount pride,
confidence and humor. He may not have the charisma that Robert
Downey Jr. had as Iron Man, but he's still very well cast. Hopkins
and Hiddleston do a good job in their roles as well, with their
scenes together having some father-son angst that's almost, dare
I say it, Shakespearian in its grandiosity. The supporting cast
also includes actors like Rene Russo, Stellan Skarsgard and even
Japanese star Tadanobu Asano, who admittedly don't really do a
whole lot, but considering how stuffed to the gills this movie
is with characters, both mythical and human, that's kind of understandable.
Credit must also go to the special effects team, who give Asgard
and its inhabitants the right amount of comic book grandiosity
and flash that Jack Kirby's original artwork had without going
too far over the top with it. |
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The middle section of the film, with Thor stripped of his powers
on earth, is where I felt the pace started to drag just a touch,
with most of it being devoted to Thor's fish-out-of-water reactions
to modern earth. These scenes are mostly played for laughs, but
thankfully the humor is handled pretty well. I also felt this
section devoted a little too much time to trying to set up The
Avengers (2012), with Clark Gregg's agent Coulson character
hogging a lot of the screen time. I can appreciate what Marvel
is trying to do by tying their films together and it's something
that hasn't really been done in movies before (at least not on
this scale), but it should never feel like the Avengers
setup is at the expense of what ultimately should be Thor's
solo adventure. Another flaw is that despite the large number
of characters and far-out ideas, at the end of the day Thor
doesn't have a really rich plot to speak of, consisting mostly
of your standard superhero origin/redemption story. Having said
that, these are only minor complaints and things pick right up
again during the film's climax, with Thor facing off against his
brother. |
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In
the end, Thor is a fun, good-looking
film that's faithful to the comics without being a slave to them,
and it ultimately succeeds despite its flaws. It also proves that
no matter what the source material, it really is all about the
execution. While I can't call it the best superhero movie ever
made, it's still colorful, funny and entertaining, and really,
what more does a superhero action-blockbuster need to be? |
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| Thor
comes in a "combo pack" containing a Blu-ray, DVD and digital
copy of the movie. As you can expect from a BD/DVD of a recent
big-budget film, both the video and audio are practically flawless.
The 1080p transfer handles the film's broad color palette exceptionally
well and the DTS 7.1 soundtrack is appropriately rich and thunderous,
with the film's various action scenes coming off best (you can
really feel it when Thor slams his hammer down and smites his
enemies!). |
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The primary extras are a detailed and informative
commentary from director Kenneth Branagh, various deleted scenes
and a 20-minute documentary detailing various aspects of the films
production design, as well as several shorter, fluffier featurettes
about the films music, casting, make-up, etc. Oh, and of course
a promo about the upcoming Avengers
movie is included as well. 9/16/11 |
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