Thor
Regal 14, May 20, 2011
Movie #31 for 2011
My expectations of Thor weren’t high. I don’t know much about Marvel comics (except what I learned from Neil Gaiman’s 1602 which is to say not much) but gods are super fun and I have a soft spot for Thor - in myth he’s as big and dumb as I thought the film might be. It also had a good director and decent cast, so maybe my expectations weren’t as low as I thought. Certainly not low enough.
It was thunder-storming as I walked to the cinema, which I felt was an auspicious beginning. More auspicious than the actual beginning of the film and that wretched voice-over, at least.
Thor (CHRIS HEMSWORTH, Star Trek, Home and Away) launches an almost single-handed attack on the Ice Giants of another world, which annoys this father Odin (ANTHONY HOPKINS) so much that he strips Thor of his godliness and banishes him and his magic hammer to Earth. This is presented as back-story to the moment that Thor arrives on Earth and is found by astrophysicists Jane (NATALIE PORTMAN, from everything ever at the moment), Erik (STELLAN SAARSGARD, Mamma Mia!, A Somewhat Gentle Man) and their intern Darcy (KAT DENNINGS, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist), so it’s strange that it takes up so much of the running time. And it truly is back-story - so much of it should have been cut from the script, let alone shooting, let alone the completed film.
Once on Earth - in New Mexico - he attracts the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D’s Agent Coulson (CLARK GREGG, the Iron Man movies) who moves in on the hammer and all of Jane’s research. And then Thor’s brother Loki (TOM HIDDLESTON, Midnight in Paris) stirs up some of that mischief he’s so famous for and things look bad for the Ice Giants, Odin, Thor and Earth.
It’s never a good sign when I have to constantly remind myself to suspend my disbelief during a film. This tactic is rarely successful. I was prepared for a certain amount of ridiculousness, but I wasn’t prepared for quite that level of stupidity.
So much of the film is distracting - from KENNY BRANAGH’s decisions as director, to the writing, to the completely over-the-top CG, to the plastic-looking costumes and even all the way down to Thor’s wig and Jane’s artificial eyelashes.
HEMSWORTH is a decent Thor - especially in the scenes on Earth - but there ain’t much spark in this lightening storm. Perhaps I was expecting too much?
