THOR

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Kwonryu DragonFist
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Re: THOR

Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Hopkins is great as Odin there, but Loki looks like a wimp.

What's good is that The Destroyer is in. Hope he gets lots of Screentime. My fav villain next to The Abomination.
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Re: THOR

Post by Ashur »

Nice THOR commercial during Super bowl
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Re: THOR

Post by Fairweather Pure »

It was a short commercial with a different cut of stuff we've already been shown. I was hoping for a longer version with a peek at a new money shot.

The Transformers 3 and Super 8 trailers were both fucking awesome IMO.
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Re: THOR

Post by Zygar_ Cthulhukin »

I know it's not out in the US yet, but it's at 94% with over 50 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Looks promising!
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Re: THOR

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Surprisingly good reviews. Like, the people reviewing it were surprised...

Garth from Dark Horizons was the first review I read, and he and I have strikingly similar taste. Here's his review (spoilerish, nothing crazy though)

http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/1166/thor
The trickiest of the Avengers line-up to translate to the screen, "Thor" deserves a lot of praise for getting right something that could have gone wrong so easily. This Marvel Studios adventure is an ambitious fantasy sci-fi epic fusing Shakespearian regal family tropes, Norse mythology, "Dune"-esque alien civilisations, Tolkien-inspired battles, and even a small dash of fish-out-of-water comedy. With big characters and even bigger production design, the danger here was another "Flash Gordon" - a stylish cheese-fest of gilded costumes and unintentional humor that has camp appeal but no serious respect.

That situation is thankfully avoided. Director Kenneth Branagh and his entire production crew have delivered in terms of scope and consistency with this mythology-rich universe, respecting the material and treating it seriously but not letting it lapse into the dour, self-important pompousness that usually turns major audiences away from heavy sci-fi/fantasy works. Some obvious scripting issues and some rather underdone characterisations means "Thor" doesn't soar like Marvel's better efforts (X2, Iron Man), but it is a spectacle to be sure and lays a solid groundwork for a superhero franchise that's thankfully a bit different than the others in their catalogue.

The biggest surprise that many will have with Thor is that its Asgard-set scenes work fine whereas the Earth-based ones tend to come off clunky. After a brief intro on Earth, the first act is almost entirely set on alien worlds from the gold palaces of Asgard, to the rocky wastes of Jotunheim where Odin and his people have waged war and defeated the Frost Giants - extremely tall blue/grey humanoids with red eyes.

Here is where the shades of Peter Jackson kick in with a flashback battle that feels akin to the Elves/Orcs one that kicked off "The Fellowship of the Ring". Full props to the crew for making said Frost Giants into an interesting enemy. An unrecognisable Colm Feore does a solid job as the broken but not down leader of this race whose members can turn their arms into piercing spikes of ice. Though not the main villain of the piece, this establishes them just enough without overusing them.

Most of the first act sets up familial issues in the royal court - Anthony Hopkins' weary ruler Odin, his glory-seeking and war-hungry first son Thor, and his quieter and resentful younger son Loki. Having seen many hours of Chris Hemsworth's work on Aussie soap "Home and Away" several years ago, I'd become accustomed to his style. As Thor though he surprised me, the role is one that could have easily been overplayed and no actor can escape the direness of some of the dialogue here.

Yet for a character dominated by arrogance and entitlement, Hemsworth makes the God of Thunder into a charismatic and even endearing rascal. His conversion from brutish lunkhead to thoughtful ruler happens far too fast to be convincing, in fact he seems to adapt to fitting in on Earth within the space of a few minutes. Still, he's a physically perfect specimen, amply displayed in an utterly gratuitous (thank you Mr. Branagh) shirtless scene. More importantly he handles action scenes and quieter moments equally well, even if there's not really much to challenge him here.

Certainly the romance between him and Natalie Portman's rather thinly drawn character is one that, while not falling flat, feels decidedly undercooked. The middle act, set almost entirely around a New Mexico town, is where the film's main issues come to the fore. The humour is awkward at first, most of the weaker jokes are already out in the clips released thus far, but it does pick up a little as it takes on standard redemption elements.

Kat Dennings and Stellan Skarsgard are like much of the supporting cast of the film - no-one does a bad job, they just aren't particularly remarkable. Certainly some characters feel under explored, like the Warriors Three, while I'm betting much of Rene Russo's role as Odin's wife is on the cutting room floor considering she has about two lines in the whole film. Hopkins as Odin is fine and regal enough, the actor delivering a wise workman-like mentor character which seems more the province of Liam Neeson these days.

The two exceptions to this rule are Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba. Hiddleston is another mostly unknown actor I was familiar with thanks to his co-starring with Branagh in the BBC "Wallander" telemovies. While Hemsworth is all roguish charm, Hiddleston demonstrates more dramatic potential as an actor and gives a fairly cardboard villain character not just the cold and duplicitous ambition it requires but ably conveys both the hurtful resentment and love he feels towards his father and brother. A plot twist with his character feels a little forced, but the actor helps sell it.

The more familiar Elba is Heimdall, the guardian of the quite stunningly realised rainbow bridge. In this it's essentially a wormhole generator with Elba playing the controller of it. He's an honourable man with a gruff no-nonsense demeanour, yet he manages to drop a well-timed dry witicism or two. Even with his giant gold helmet and bright orange eyes, Elba demands you take him seriously and in doing so makes his few minutes of screen time amongst the film's more memorable.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. elements do get dull, Jeremy Renner's cameo (no mention of his name and no costume) has been awkwardly intercut with one of the big character moments of the film and is utterly perfunctory. Yet the sandwiching of "The Avengers" portents thankfully feel more organic than their awkward and jarring inclusion in "Iron Man 2".

In spite of his dramatic touches in this tale of brother vs. brother, and a son learning to follow in his father's footsteps, Branagh knows people have come for action and delivers on that front. The film is fast paced, rarely slowing down for quieter moments, and he films action the classic way without jump cutting or blaring music - it all flows fine, even if he does exploit his love of dutch angles one too many times.

A battle between Thor and his friends with the Frost Giants is well realised and his magical hammer Mjolnir is used to bone crushing effect. The Destroyer, a walking robot furnace on legs, lays waste to a New Mexico town in its own fun battle - though its takedown of one character with a backhanded slap was a little laughable. Even the final confrontation between Loki and Thor is very well done, though one moment had me flashing back to the ending of "The Good Son" of all things.

"Thor" will please fans and may actually convert a few. The effects are solid, the costume and sets are opulent and work well in context, and the score is grandiose but rarely distracting. While the marketing for the film has been rather jarringly fusing the one-off iPod and Facebook gags with action shots that don't seem fully rendered, the final product flows much better than the trailers and clips let on. Though hampered by having to setup a mythology and tackle some familiar origin story elements, "Thor" still manages to work and lets us have fun along the way.
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Re: THOR

Post by Wonko Wenusberg »

I watched it last Wednesday here in Sweden and I liked it. I've never read the comic Thor, but I've always liked mythology turned into Sci-fi.
It reminded me of another comic which name is Thorgal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorgal
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Re: THOR

Post by Winnow »

Watched this tonight.

It's...not bad.

I thought Loki was kinda lame. Oden was kind of a puss.

There were some nice references. Donald Blake's name at least made it into the movie. Stan Lee made his usual appearance:
[Show]
He's the driver of the truck that tries to pull Thor's hammer out of the crater.
The actor that played Thor did a good job.

I thought the battle scenes were a bit lacking. The special effects where there but the actual battles weren't too interesting.

Natalie Portman was ok. Portman's fellow scientists were a waste of time.

The only memorable character was Thor.

The movie was not very epic. There was no real sense of something important happening. The Frost Giants were cool looking but seemed like a sideshow. Shield was kinda just there. The one big enemy thing was generic and heartless. The Earth battle takes place in some population 200 mini town, adding greatly to the "un-epic-ness" of it all. I'm wondering if this movie had a relatively low budget considering the sets I saw.

The dialog wasn't bad. Loki actually seemed kinda intriguing the first half of the movie in a way played down sort of way.

The movie lacked heart. The ending was lame and unsatisfying. You leave the movie with no real attachment to any of the characters. Character development is severely lacking. Asgard is "blah".

Rating this movie vs other Marvel super hero movies. I'd place it above the Hulk and Daredevil, below Wolverine, the X-Men and Spider-Man movies.

It's a movie I highly doubt you'd want to watch a second time.

Thor will be a great part of the Avengers movie.
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Re: THOR

Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Liked it, wish it was longer.

Good starter-movie so people can get accustomed to Thor before the big movie "Avengers"
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Re: THOR

Post by Dregor Thule »

Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Never really much of a Thor fan (except the Ultimate Thor concept), and I expected the Asgard parts to be really corny, but they did a good job. Decent action, some funny moments, and the guy playing Thor was really easy to like and root for.
[Show]
A question on the movie vs comics. Is Loki a frost giant really in the comics? Is he or isn't he Odin's biological son? I don't remember ever hearing anything like that, so I assume it was made up.
Looking forward to Captain America!
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Re: THOR

Post by Fairweather Pure »

I'm going to catch it next weekend. Several of my friends have already seen it and they all have positive things to say about it. It has made good money so far, so that's a good thing!
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Re: THOR

Post by Zygar_ Cthulhukin »

Dregor Thule wrote:Enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Never really much of a Thor fan (except the Ultimate Thor concept), and I expected the Asgard parts to be really corny, but they did a good job. Decent action, some funny moments, and the guy playing Thor was really easy to like and root for.
[Show]
A question on the movie vs comics. Is Loki a frost giant really in the comics? Is he or isn't he Odin's biological son? I don't remember ever hearing anything like that, so I assume it was made up.
Looking forward to Captain America!
[Show]
Yup, He's always been a puny frost giant that Odin rescued/stole.
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Re: THOR

Post by Sylvus »

I've always been a huge Thor fan, I have like every Thor comic book from when the title changed over from Journey Into Mystery (like #126, iirc) through #425 or so. I liked this movie a lot. It had some humorous parts, some solid action, the special effects were realized well (I thought the Rainbow Bridge looked really cool). Thumbs up, I would recommend it to anyone.
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Re: THOR

Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Yes, it's true Dregor.

And later on he humps this chick
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Which creates Jormungandir and Fenris as well as Hel, Goddess of Death!
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Re: THOR

Post by Canelek »

I enjoyed this, although it seemed like it got in a mad rush to just leap right on over to Avengers. I would have liked to see a bit more. The lead character and a couple of the other supporting cast made this work. If there was no humor, I can't see it being very good, unless you are already a fan. The Asgaard scenes were just OK, IMO, but I liked the gatekeeper and the super-friends. Loki was pretty weaksauce, as was Odin (and to a lesser extent, Freya).

Portman and pals were OK, but didn't have too much to do. It seemed Natalie was just there to give Thor someone to get to 1st base with. Maybe that is where they could have given the script some more strength.

6/10 for being a solid comic book movie. I'm glad I saw the Iron Man movies as well as Hulk(Norton) first!
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Re: THOR

Post by Fairweather Pure »

I took my wife out on a date and we watched this. I thought it was great. I half knew what to expect, but I've also done well to blackout any real spoilers. It's a pretty strong super hero movie. I'd put it up there with Iron Man and the Hulk sequel. As far as super hero movies go, it's in the upper tier for me. Asgard was amazingly realized. The acting was rock solid too. The Capitan America trailer was awesome too. My wife had never seen the trailer before and she wanted to know all about the details once Thor was over. The cameo by Renner was great too. I just thought everything clicked really well, even though it was a bit rushed. I think another 15 minutes would've gone a long ways, but I'm happy with what we got.

The Avengers movie is going to be goddamn ridiculous with all these heroes. Thor was a real power house. They didn't hold back on his abilities, that's for sure. God forbid each hero bring along their respective love interests as well. Talk about an ensemble cast! I can't wait. I am totally hyped. I actually have the urge to watch all of my Marvel super hero movies now.

X-Men Trilogy
Wolverine
Daredevil
Fantastic 4 1&2
Electra
Ghost Rider
Iron Man 1&2
Hulk 1&2
Punisher 1&2
Spiderman Trilogy

Did I miss any?
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Re: THOR

Post by Boogahz »

Blade trilogy?
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Re: THOR

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and Howard the Duck
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Re: THOR

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Thor held onto first place for it's second week at the Box Office. The drop off wasn't bad at all. It's making pretty good money, which is encouraging. Do you think that Captain America make more? Thor is doing very well overseas and that is the big question about Captain America (or should I say The First Avenger).
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Re: THOR

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Fairweather Pure wrote:Thor is doing very well overseas and that is the big question about Captain America (or should I say The First Avenger).

First Avenger only in age (and Thor probably has them there) Captain America joined the Avengers with issue #4

Image

The original Avengers are right behind him in the pic! By then Iron Man had a new suit and Ant Man had become Giant Man and the Wasp got some credit!

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(The Wasp doesn't even get credit at the top of the comic in issue #1! Well, It was the 60's! Women had no rights!)
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Re: THOR

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Captain America will not be titled "Captain America" in overseas markets. It will be called "The First Avenger". That's what I was alluding to.
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Re: THOR

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Fairweather Pure wrote:Captain America will not be titled "Captain America" in overseas markets. It will be called "The First Avenger". That's what I was alluding to.
Ah, well the Euros don't know any better! They read Asterix comics all day long! It should be called "World Policeman" Overseas.
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Re: THOR

Post by Winnow »

Watched this movie again.

I think Thor/actor will be great in the Avengers. As a stand along movie, it's just not that great. Asgard looks like a mini model. Looks fake.

I didn't notice Hawkeye was in this movie the first time I watched it. Missed the Shield agents calling him by his real name.

Avengers is going to be awesome. Joss Whedon won't let us down. And by "us" I mean the real fans, not people like Miir that only look at box office figures.
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Re: THOR

Post by kyoukan »

I just watched this and wasn't impressed. The costumes were downright horrible. Heimdall and Odin looked like fucking cosplayers their costumes were so tacky. Natalie Portman's character could have not existed and I wouldn't have noticed. Some of the fish-out-of-water jokes were decent though. The pet shop gag was kinda funny. There were only 3 set piece battles. The first one against the frost giants was pretty good (not sure why they are called giants though; maybe the other people that live in that world are only 2 feet tall), the second one was just a bar brawl against some soldiers and the third one against the robut wasn't very satisfying in my opinion. I wasn't expecting much so I wasn't completely let down.
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Re: THOR

Post by Fairweather Pure »

I liked the "all in" approach. I mean, aliens, rainbow bridge, intergalactic travel, a vault of magic treasures, ect. The creators were like "Fuck it, do everything". There was so much that could have gone wrong with this movie that I think it's pretty amazing it ended up as good as it was. During the first 10-15 minutes I was thinking "Hmmm, where are they going with this?". By the end I was pretty satisfied with the arc of the movie. Yes, Portman's character was a waste. Yes, the last battle was pretty short and the robot dude was a third tier enemy at best for this movie's climactic battle. I said it above, but I was so glad they didn't puss down Thor's abilities. He was extremely powerful during the few times he was using his abilities. Dude who played Thor should go on to a nice Hollywood career when everything is said and done. For an origin movie about Thor, I can't see a whole lot I would do to improve anything other than tweaks here and there. The cast and acting is what elevated it to a better movie for me, and is the part where Marvel Studios seems to excel when making comic book movies.

For the non-nerds out there, Destroyer was actually an enchanted suit of Odin's armor. Was Odin wearing that armor in the flashbacks, or was that part dropped for the movie and Destroyer became a simple monstrous watchman of the vault? That would've been a nice touch to have shown Odin wearing it in the flashback IMO!
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Re: THOR

Post by miir »

Finally got around to watching this... it was pretty terrible.
CGI was second rate and story was ridiculous... how does an arrogant, war mongering hot-head transform into a selfless martyr (literally) overnight?

None of the characters were noteworthy. They were all completely one dimensional and instantly forgettable.

Anthony Hopkins' performance was head and shoulders above everyone else, eventhough he spent 75% of the movie in a coma.
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Re: THOR

Post by Kwonryu DragonFist »

Destroyer was best!

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