Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Thor ~ not so much thunder, but a backstory for the Avengers


In order to introduce the Avengers, we have seen the aspiring single movies for the individual members. The Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, and Thor, with some thrown in supporting roles like Black Widow (from Ironman 2) and Hawkeye (from Thor) we see the forming of the team that will grace the movie screen.

Thor, the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) is the heir to the throne of Asgard. Asgard is the core of the nine realms, yada yada yada, nothing you really need to know when the Avengers come out, but to make a long comic book short, it’s where the protectors of the Universe live. Thor is a cocky, self-absorbed dude who only wants to fight for glory, machismo, and whatever motivated all of those large Viking-types back in the day to fight for. When these beings first came to Earth to defend us against the frost giants, they were taken for gods and thus named. The Asgardians repelled the giants and sent them back into their own realm.
Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor’s father, took the source of the frost giant’s power, the casket  and a young frost giant baby, which turns out to be Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who is raised as Thor’s brother and potential heir to the Asgardian throne. Loki is the God of Mischief, and boy does he ever live up to his name.

Thor takes a small team to the frost giant realm to kick some butt in retaliation for a sneak attack on Asgard. Odin gets ticked off and banishes Thor to Midgard (Earth) and forbids Thor from wielding his mystical hammer, Mjölnir which is his source of power and basically the only thing that makes Thor a superhero.  While human, Thor falls in love with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a scientist investigating the abnormal things that happen when Asgard connects to Earth through the Rainbow Bridge. I swear, I’m not making it up. It’s in the comic book.

Thor can’t wield his hammer until he stops being a jerk and learns how to be a better Asgardian. Turns out, this was all planned by Loki who is now taking over Asgard, and Thor’s team comes to Earth to help get Thor back.

The battle scenes and special effects are done pretty well. My favorite character is the Heimdall (Idris Elba) the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, who basically sees everything in the universe at all times and opens and closes the connection from Asgard to the other realms. The battle in the Frost Giant realm is well done but very dark and hard to decipher what’s going on at time. As with some of the other battles, there is too much spark, and fiery flashing to see if the actors had any real fighting skills, but it’s enjoyable.

The movie itself is a bit slow in parts and very “background boring” as they try to establish who and what Thor is, and how he will figure into “The Avengers” later on. There’s a Thor 2 already in the works, so look for more establishment and joining of the Avengers.  Now that it’s on DVD, go ahead and check it out, I have a feeling you’re going to need it once the Avengers movies kick in.

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