Movie Review: THOR

Here's the long and short of it, since I'm guessing a majority of people (i.e. "Nerds") will have already read the metric s#it-ton of reviews that have been circulating. They've been drooling and bickering on various geek-interweb sites about "how great it will be"s or how "it's gonna suck hammer-balls".

So here it is: If you liked the first installment of "Spider-Man", "X-Men", and "Iron Man"? Then you'll definitely dig on "Thor". A lot.


Without geeking out too much on the Marvel character, or Norse pantheon: The God of Thunder pisses off his dad (Hannibal Lechter) and gets his boom-boom power and hammer taken away before being cast down to earth as a mortal as punishment. While he tries to learn humility, hijinks in Asgard ensue.

Is it good?
Yup. It moves well, the action is fun, you don't need to be balls deep into the comic book to enjoy it, and it was a lot funnier than I'd have given it credit for. (To be fair, "Thor" was never I title I dug. It was like the writers wanted a character that gave them an excuse to write pseudo-Shakespearian prose whenever he opened his mouth) The 3D was fun, the scenes in Asgard were pretty, and the action was exactly how you'd think it should be.

Will my significant other dig it?
Sure. Like I said, there's beef cake, ass-kicking female characters (Sif rules. And even Freya doesn't take shit from no Frost Giant) And as I said before, the pace should be good enough to not feel like torture. And it has a really good sense of humor.

How was the acting?
Really good, actually. Hemsworth has this way of walking when he's on earth that's not quite a swagger, but more of a posture of entitlement (if that makes sense). I liked that they made it out that he was crazy and how everyone looked at him like he was delusional versus dimissing him outright or just falling for his schtick. He also has some great humanizing moments that I didn't expect from a comic-book movie. Who knew?

Hiddleston (of course) deserves a lions share of credit for his performance as Loki. (My rules on comic book bad guys? They need to be unstoppable threats, bat-shit crazy, or sympathetically complex. When Loki exclaims that he loves his brother more than any of them? I believed it. And by the end? I wasn't sure at all.) The Warriors Three and Sif were well rendered individual characters (Although Volstagg kind of reminded me of Leonidas from "300")

And yeah. Stringer Bell plays Heimdall. And he's awesome.

I guess my biggest beef (if I can call it that) was the Academy Award Winning Swan as the love interest. I think it was the first time I actually felt like making this woman a beautiful astro-physicist cum helpless-damsel-in-distress grated on me. I wanted her to be a bit tougher. But...by way of correction I think that it's important to say that (if viewed this way) it made an interesting distinction between the "Gods" and the "Mortals". It kind of felt like she was phoning it in. Of course the same can be said about Hannibal Lechter, but whatever. They both know when they should collect a paycheck.

(ps- This is dumb, but there was a scene towards the end that focused on her face, reeeeeally tightly. And I swear she was wearing her fake lashes leftover from "Black Swan". Whatever. I noticed the lashes. Love me for noticing)

What sucked?
What everyone else said. In spite of not feeling like a long movie, there were a few clunky beats here and there. Some superfluous characters who probably could've stayed on the cutting room floor. And as much as I liked seeing (SPOILER) Hawkeye for his cameo, it did feel kind of forced in there at the last minute-(In spite of some funny dialogue.) I don't mind that they're trying to "create this world of the Avengers", just don't sacrifice the flow of the film you're making and leave the non-geeks scratching their heads and having to lean over to their dates and ask "who's that supposed to be?"

And I had a thumper of a headache afterward. 3D'll do that.

Become the Mighty Geek- What's the nerdy stuff?
I really, really am starting to like Agent Coulson showing up in these movies. And as much as I just frassed about forced continuity, throwaway lines like (referring to the first appearance of The Destroyer) "Is that one of Stark's?"/"I don't know. He never tells me anything" made me smile. The Thor battles are pretty damn epic, and everytime they throw down he doesn't disappoint. The cameo at the end is yet another set-up for another movie (natch) and the Stan Lee cameo was played for decent laughs. One of my favorite moments was during the epic final battle when Thor just "sets" his hammer on top of his enemy, showing the weight of the thing and how Thor really is the only one who can truly wield it.

(Oh, and the preview for "Captain America"? The one that's been on TV? In 3D? Looks reeeeeally pretty. It truly is a good time to be a Comic-Book Nerd)

4/5 This will be a good companion DVD on your shelf to add to the rest of your individual Avenger movies.