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According to Paul Movie Review: Thor

 

by Paul Honke

Going into the theatre I had this in mind: “This movie is… going to be bad.” I mean, come on, it’s Hollywood + religious figure + beloved comic book character (I mean anything else would be considered crazy). I had the same mindset with Heath Ledger as the Joker, but luckily I was pleasantly surprised. This could-be abomination is in fact fairly decent comic book/fish-out-of-water story.

The story of Thor can be summed up like this: Thor the Norse god of thunder is about to be crowned king of Asgard (Norse version of Olympus) when thieves (frost giants) try to steal an important artifact. After some sympathetic goading from Loki, the god of mischief, Thor agrees to take some warriors over the land of Bifrost (frost giants’ home in Norse mythology) to exact revenge.

One big fight scene later, Odin the all-father strips Thor of his powers due to his arrogance and sends him to Earth to find nobility. Thor is stranded until a human named Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) finds him–and thinks he’s crazy. All the while Loki (back in Asgard) learns of his true heritage. There, that is whole story that I will give you.
First off, let’s talk about the good things about the movie. The acting and casting in this movie were pretty well done (minus some of the human characters like Natalie Portman). I was surprised that even though the actors who played the Asgardians didn’t speak Shakespearian like in the comics, they still had their dialog almost Shakespeare-like in nature.

The actors who played Thor, Loki, and Odin were very good. Anthony Hopkins, who played Odin, can take any role whether good or bad and play it like it was Shakespeare and nail it. The actor who played Thor was spot-on visually as well as in attitude. Chris Hemsworth is to Thor as Robert Downey Jr. is to Iron Man. Tom Hiddelston as Loki was very enjoyable to watch. It’s not easy to act like a victim as well as an envy-filled villain, but Tom was great. I am going to say this right now: Loki is the best villain for the summer because of his sympathetic situation, his near psychotic obsession with ruling Asgard, and his cunning nature.

Another good thing about the movie was the pacing. Unlike “Green Lantern” which spent most of the film on boring Earth scenes, “Thor” actually managed to spend quite a bit of time on Asgard, which was always exciting, The Earth scenes, while most were boring, they actually made some Earth scenes enjoyable (the Destroyer fight and the infiltrate government base were cool).
Two of my favorite things about the movie were the action and the scenery of Asgard. It starts with a bang for 20 straight minutes and ends with a very cool climatic fight. All the action scenes were done well and were very enjoyable. The scenery of Asgard I just had to include because the design of Asgard is the same as the design Jack Kirby (Creator of Captain America and co-creator of the Fantastic Four, the X-men, and the Hulk along with Stan Lee) used in the Thor comic books. And let me tell you this coming from a comic geek: I was happy.

And now for the bad things. The biggest one is the Earth scenes. With the exception of two scenes, they were boring and used for the occasionally funny scene (The Denny’s scene was funny though). It’s not like “Green Lantern”, where I thought that most of the movie should be in space its just that I thought they could have been done better. The other one is Natalie Portman who played the love interest. I did not care for her character, she wasn’t the worst character, but she just wasn’t that interesting to me. Plus, who falls in love with a guy in one day. I mean come on; she was falling for Thor at the end like she was in middle school. That and the acting seemed a little too cheesy for me at times. Other than that, this is a fairly good movie so when it comes out on DVD check it out. I give “Thor” three out of five stars. (By the way people the post credit scene just confirmed who the villain is for the “Avengers” movie).

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  • M

    Malachi WickmanSep 8, 2011 at 8:31 am

    IS THIS COMMENT GOING TO POST???? experiment from the editing lab

    Reply
  • D

    Delsin ArnoldSep 8, 2011 at 7:11 am

    I love you Paul!!!

    Reply
  • A

    Austin EblenSep 7, 2011 at 11:52 am

    Paul, the so called “boring earth scenes” were a necessary part of both films. In order to create a character, you have to know where they came from, what conditions they live in, etc. Also, try to sty on topic. I started reading this thinking I was going to be reading a review, instead I was reading a comparison. LAY OFF THE GREEN LANTERN!!!

    Reply
    • A

      ahsneedleSep 12, 2011 at 9:23 am

      Austin I know what you are saying. The boring earth scenes are necessary in both film. Its just that when you go to Oa or Asgard the excitement level was good. But when you go to the earth scenes the excitement level goes down since most of the time its boring dialog. Thor did good in earth scenes but was still not as good as Asgard. scenes have to flow with each other to create pure enjoyment.

      Reply
  • P

    paul honkeSep 6, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    Comment and rate

    Reply