Before I start let me say this: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.
Many a time I catch myself reading something I know has spoilers hoping
I’ll manage to read the bits without spoilers and skip the rest. Don’t
do it to yourself. Its not worth spoiling the ride cos the unanswered
questions about what happens next is really what holds the film
together. Once you know the plot you’ve really spoilt the whole
experience. Hence ‘spoilers’. So don’t read this til you’ve seen the
film. Thats all.
So I went and saw Thor a few weeks ago but
avoided posting my review until I’d had time to consider it more. It
begins with the tale of a man and his girlfriend who has agreed to see
Thor about 4 times with him but due to her coursework piling up had to
cancel. He didn’t mind but decided enough was enough and when he
discovered she saw it with friends he made his move. And saw it alone!
So, as you can guess, he had high expectations and had been waiting a
long time for it. And the results of his cinematic excursion
where….mixed.
All in all a fun film. Sadly that is more or less
it. Now don’t get me wrong there was emotion and there were stellar
performances and some interesting aspects. But it felt very…80s. I
enjoyed it. I love Thor, especially the more recent stuff since his
rebirth that really took the Asgardian elements back to a tough, gritty
warriors in the snow caked in blood type roots. The film did Asgard
well. VERY well. Bifrost and Heimdal and the whole end of the Rainbow
Bridge, physically and metaphorically, were genius. The interlinking of
the worlds by that whole system was executed well. The Jotun and
Jotunheim were spot on, the Frost Giants both intimidating but not
wildly outlandish. Hemsworth nailed the young immature Thor (he wasnt
the grown warrior we know it comics but in terms of Thor’s ‘origin’ it
was more or less how I wanted it to be). Odin was sublime as were Sif
and the Warriors Three. The whole interaction with the earthlings and
the four Asgardians was very cleverly done and genuinally funny and
heartwarming. SHEILD were done well, Hawkeye was an interesting mystery
for those who might not know to take away and ponder and for those who
know it was a welcomed nod to what is still to come (though those
sequences had flaws I’m focusing on the positives first). Sleipnir was
there and had SIX LEGS! Well done guys that made me smile a heck of a
lot. Some of the shots were beautifully cinematic and luxurious. The
character relationships (Thor and Loki, Thor and Odin, Jane and her
pals) were absolutley perfect and very touching. But…
There
were two words I could use to describe what let the film down for me.
They didnt ruin it but they let it down. These words are:
cringeworthyness and lackofdepthitude. And, yes, these are both words.
For me they really pulled me out of the experience and made me aware I
was watching a film. Perhaps had I had lower expectations I wouldn’t
even have noticed but the fact is I really admire Branagh’s work (Hamlet
and Frankenstein are genius) and so for me I was shocked that he could
remove me from being fully connected with the film.
To explain
what I mean I shall start with my first by-no-means-madeup-word.
Cringeworthyness: sometimes I felt it was, as I have experess, watching
an old 80s action film. Or playing Streets or Rage. The noises made when
combatants clash invoked those ridiculous overly-masculine tropes or,
on the flip-side, women’s tennis. The grunts were not butch, they were
not the shouts of a warrior seen in something like Gladiator there were
half-hearted groans the actors were seemingly forced to express. You
could sense they had been given direction which you never want, you
always want an organic experience. Poor Hiddleston is not a grunting
action hero, nor should Loki be. I could understand cries of pain or
chuckles or the odd yell as he thrusts but there were, I swear, squeeks
and yelps that held no power or gravitas from both men. This was a pity.
Similarly cringeworthyness was found, for me, after the breaking of the
bridge. From the point that Jane looks up and the sky and gives her
cliched line the music was so counter-evocotive (almost attempting to
hold the immensity of the LotR score and come across as a cheap
imitation) that I looked around the cinema to see if anyone was
laughing. Oh, Kenneth. This said the idea to leave Thor in Asgard was
not expected, very clever and very, very appreciated. Gave me some hope
and the film was vindicated in that moment.
Now, to
lackofdepthness: I was never afraid. I never got the sense that anything
was really at stake. I never truly believed anything was threatened,
not because I was aware Thor would come through but because nothing was
ever really threatened. If we take Loki’s actions, which are somewhat
intergral, that is where I saw the big lack of depth. I appreciate we
are fleshing out his character in this film and he is not yet the
villian we all know but he really didn’t seen up to an awful lot. yes he
lied alot and when he did it he did it bloody well; convincing Thor to
go to war and explaining why he couldn’t renounce his throne to Thor for
example were sensational bits of acting with no hints of
wink-wink-nudge-nudge. However prior to these moments Loki had no
context. We never knew why Sif and the Warriors Three were so scared of
him in power. We’d never seen why he’d earnt the title god of mischeif.
Fandral mentions he had always been one for mischief but we never saw
it. We saw magic tricks but never the manipulation we know him for (save
the scene mentioned above). Evil or not, even when simply for fun, Loki
controls the players like chess peices. He doesn’t learn it or fall
into it it is simply his nature. And its not that that is missing as it
is implied by people’s reactions we just simply never see any examples
of why he is so terribly scary. He just seems a tad whiny. Now I must
say based on what he was given Hiddleston was fantastic. But I really
wanted Loki to flex his scheming mind muscles. I never want to see the
peices connecting in one of Loki’s plans; he always needs to be smarter
than me and for the revelation of what he’s up to to take me by suprise.
For now I’m happy to believe they are saving that for Avengers and I’ll
leave it at that.
Going back to threat: why didn’t he point the
bridge at Earth like he threatened. If we had seen that then I would
feel like there was genuine threat and would have been totally
enraptured. There is a scene where Thor regains his hammer and Loki is
using the Bifrost to basically destroy Jotunheim. I suspected him to see
Thor and when Heimdall summons him back I expected Loki to leave the
bridge open to begin destroying Earth only for Thor to stop him. Instead
we get a threat that is not follow through followed by the women’s
tennis tournament (admittedly with scary hammers and spears, which IS
cool). I do think an opportunity was missed. They could have wiped out
the town and the film could have concluded with Jane and the guys
helping rebuild as Thor would have done. Destroyer was cool but not big
enough to be the ultimate threat and Loki at the end just didn’t pose
one as they turned him into a physical threat which simply ought not to
be his trump card.
Hawkeye needed to appear later on just to
clarify he had a purpose rather than one scene. One scene is too forced,
bring him back and given him some character even if only to wink and
Jane or something. Or to try and take a shot at the Devastator before
being knocked out with the other agents who weren’t killed.
That
said I have admitted the film vindicated itself somewhat in those final
moments. Odin’s return could have felt like a massive deus ex machina
but didn’t as it felt like a father rescuing his quarrelling sons from
each other. Which was exactly what it should have been. Leaving Thor is
Asgard I’ve said I liked. But this was the same time as the lousy music
and second gratuitous shot of Asgard (wasn’t sure if it was recycled
from early) so I was still a tad removed. And after the credits was
faultless and exciting.
All in all good but not nearly great and
it certainly wasn’t, as some say, as good as Iron-Man or Batman Begins. 7
out of 10. Maybe a 6. A bit more than average but alot less than I
hoped or expected. It wasn’t even that it didn’t ‘say’ something, I CAN
appreciate fun for fun’s sake but bits of it were just cringeworthy and a
tad lacking.
The worst part is the trailers for GL are giving
off a similar sort of vibe and I’m not so keen. Thankfully Cap and First
Class seem to have a bit more meat on there bones
https://ifanboy.com/podcasts/05-06-2011-thor/
