Thor
You know, I was 99% sure that this movie was going to suck. Maybe even 99.9% sure. For one thing, the previews reminded me of Masters of the Universe, the 1987 He-Man film. I'm no entirely sure why they reminded me of a movie I barely remember but they did. And furthermore, the only thing I remember about Masters of the Universe is that even though I was five (or six or seven) when I saw it, I still thought that that movie sucked. I think it was the whole costuming and setting of the Asgard part of the film (Asgard being Thor's- the Norse God of Thunder- home). It just looked really, really hokey, particularly in the glimpses seen in the trailer. Then there was the fact that Kenneth Branagh was involved as the film's director. I don't know very much about Branagh other than that he is a noted and/or go-to Shakespearean actor... at least in terms of Shakespearean movies. And that led me to believe that Thor was going to be overblown and way, way, way too serious in tone. Unnecessarily serious. And knowing what little I do about the comic book this was being adapted from, I knew that the wrong tone could take this movie from hokey/dumb but at least somewhat enjoyable to absolutely absurd and an utter waste of time. So yeah it had that going for it... Oh yeah and there was the fact that my brother-in-law (the same one who is responsible for me being able to see all these movies) got to see an advanced screening of the movie in April and described it as "an absolute dog". Now, I don't see my brother-in-law as a super-hero movie type of guy, so I would have been surprised if he liked it, but he really, really seemed to dislike it. It's kind of hard not to be influenced by that. Combined with the other strikes it had against it, I was dead-set that this was going to be one massive whiff of a movie.
And? Well... it wasn't bad at all. Actually, it was pretty darn good. It was fun. A lot of fun. The tone was light for the most part... though it did have to buckle down and be... epic... in select parts of the movie. In general, though, it just didn't take itself- as a film- too seriously... which was refreshing. It'd be way too easy when dealing with the story of gods to devolve into overly dramatic, blustery crap. But somehow and someway, Branagh steered the movie away from that. If I were going to describe it succinctly, I'd say that it was an action/adventure/fish-out-of-water flick. Lots of fun.
That isn't to say that it wasn't blemish free. Oh, there were blemishes. The costumes and setting for Asgard was a shitty as I thought it'd be. The garb sported by the Asgardians was reminiscent of the clothes featured on the gods of Clash of the Titans... just a little less... shimmery... here. They looked like something Michael Bay would have been jealous of/eager to incorporate into his next 13-year-old's wet dream of a summer movie. (And he might, because that's how re rolls) Add to that that the gods of Asgard were blustery Shakespearean types and the whole Asgard scene kind of came off as silly. But I suppose it was necessary. As my brother (who saw the movie with me) pointed out- there wasn't a lot they could have done with the costumes. They were supposed to be gods, after all. Same, I suppose, goes with the dialogue. Gods, of course, can't speak like mortals. They must sound like classic Shakespeareans, minus the iambic pentameter.
Other than that, the only thing the movie has going against it was the kind of ridiculously named Frost Giants as one of the main group of villains in the story. Not only does Frost Giants sound ridiculous, they were actually kind of ridiculously feeble as far as villains go in the movie. Kind of like Shredder's Foot Clan foot soldiers from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Very dispensable. Of course, this is kind of a petty criticism. After all, the rest of the story- which is mostly a set-up for bigger things- is pretty tight.
So, in addition to not having a lot going against it, it did have a lot going for it. The acting was spot on. Chris Hemsworth may not be able to do anything else, but he sure delivered on Thor. Natalie Portman was almost slumming it here, but she proved to be a great asset. In the hands of a lesser actress, Portman's Jane Foster (an astrophysicist... and Thor love interest) would probably have been an annoying and weak character. Kat Dennings was also solid, providing some light but appreciated comic banter. Then there was Sir Anthony Hopkins... he played the Zeus-like Odin well... he was much better here than he had been in many of his other recent flicks.. but boy did he look awful. Which is partly a product of the role, but sadly I also think time is catching up to Hopkins. He just doesn't command the screen like he once used to. He was ok here, but ultimately he was a bit of a weak link. Not too weak though, but noticeable.
And hey, welcome back to the silver screen, Rene Russo!... even though you had something like three lines, you delivered them with goddess-y...ummm... gusto? No, gusto is right... grace? Yeah, that'll do.
Add to the performances a story that was about as good as you'll get for a movie that is essentially pretext. Thankfully, the movie wasn't burdened with an overly solemn origin-story. Sure, the origin element was there, but the audience was mercifully brought up to speed fairly early on, and from then on it was a father-son/king-prince redemption story. Son does wrong, father is disappointed, son must redeem himself. And in this case scheming, jealous, red-headed stepchild of a brother (Thor's brother, Loki) inserts his machinations into the plot to add complexity. It all amounted to a tight plot- nothing overly complex, but with enough riffs on the theme to keep it interesting...more so, especially because of the light tone that accompanied the story (the tone kind of reminded me of the first three Indiana Jones movies... yeah, I know, an odd comparison but an apt one, I'd say). Nicely played, really.
So yeah, who'd have thought that this "absolute dog" of a movie knew so many nifty tricks. I still can't really believe that it didn't suck. But, well, it didn't. It was fun. And that counts for a whole lot.
Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment