So… Thor. Is it as good as Iron Man… or as mediocre as Iron Man 2? Did it have action in spades like The Incredible Hulk, or did Thor punch a cloud at the end like in The Hulk? Enquiring minds want to know! I haven’t seen it yet — I’m finishing up Monday’s comic and then I’m debating whether or not to see it this afternoon. (I’m sure I’ll see it eventually.)
This thread will stay open for a few weeks, so even if you don’t see it opening day, stop by and share your thoughts whenever you get around to it!
Its been out here in Australia for a few weeks now. It was good. It felt more like a fantasy movie than a super-hero movie, mostly because of the setting and the use of the norse mythology. Some parts in it felt a little overdone and a little cliched. Portman and Helmsworth didn’t have great chemistry, and Portman’s character was really really boring. The best parts were the action scenes, as you might expect. Anthony Hopkins was great as Odin, definitely could tell he felt at home in the character. There were a few references to the comic series and some good humour in it, as well as nodding to the rest of the Avengers franchise that will be coming out in the next few years. Better than Iron Man 2 but not as good as Iron Man. Can’t wait for Captain America.
I’m in England where it’s been out a week or so. I really enjoyed it, as much as Iron Man I would say. In one area at least it doesn’t suffer as Iron Man did because you don’t have to wait for Thor to build a suit of armour 3 times over if you’re waiting for action. That wasn’t something I would have complained strongly about watching Iron Man originally, but it seems like an advantage here. I wasn’t sure if I liked Chris Hemsworth at first, but he grew on me quickly and the humour in his scenes on Earth/Midgard was spot on. Anthony Hopkins was amazing. One of the few negative points I would make is that SHIELD’s presence in the movie felt like they were making a very conscious effort to tie in all the “Avengers” movies – not saying it was bad that they were there, it just could have been handled better.
It was a lot better than I thought it would be. It definitely isn’t up to standard with Iron Man, but the action was fun to watch. The cast was okay. Helmsworth was pretty good in his role, but I agree with Thomas that Portman’s character seemed to just….be there. :/ Of course you can’t really go wrong with Anthony Hopkins.
The CG stuff was beautiful.
One thing that was a little disappointing was that you sorta knew where the story was going. What with Thor’s brother betraying everyone, but I guess that *should* have been expected already if you knew the Norse mythology about the brothers being enemies. Ah well.
Also, the teaser at the end of the credits was a great twist. It’ll be nice to see how they work that storyline out with the Avengers. :)
I liked it a lot. More than I thought I would. And the 3D was pretty great. I jotted down a few thoughts here: http://realvirtuality.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/kenneth-branaghs-thor-and-the-5-joys-of-3d-done-right/
By the way, I only discovered your comic last week … I LOVE IT!
Thank you, @twitter-91573514:disqus! Glad you’re enjoying the strip.
Am I on another planet? Everyone else is enjoying this thing. What’s wrong with me.
Oh yeah… The Destroyer looks awesome, but, again… used cheaply. IMHO. The Destroyer is Asgard’s a-bomb.
Completely agree with you @bradydale:disqus I just felt like they tried to rush the story too much, and overused Portmans character. It didnt help that Thors personality did a complete 180 after just 24 hours on Earth. I wish they’d drawn out the Thor/Destroyer fight more since in the comics the Destroyer tends almost kill Thor many times during their battles.
I had a blast seeing this movie, and thought the 3D gave Asgard real presence, although I didn’t particularly notice it for the rest of the film. Like @google-2cedd2e27aab789d37e2488fc61ccbb1:disqus, I certainly appreciated avoiding the usual grind of a superhero origin movie, where you have to wait ages before they can do anything. Hemsworth has charisma to spare, and Portman was fine as the heroine. I was a little nervous because before seeing it, I saw an interview with Branagh who talked up the humour in the film, but as it was, there were funny moments but the film itself wasn’t farcical.
I was really not into it. The script is especially bad. It’s not epic or sweeping at all. THOR’s transformation is incredibly cheap and contrived.
It is great casting for THOR and everything looks really good. Except the hammer seems a bit light in is hand, but otherwise it’s put together well…
but…
such a bad script. So awkward and crappy. I was not into it.
Really annoyed with myself that I missed the Hawkeye cameo tho.
Oh wow, someone else I agree with. It definitely seems like people who dislike it are in the minority here, but I personally couldn’t stand it. I think my actual problem with it was that none of the characters were likeable at all to me.
The action scenes were kinda a blur as well to me, making it hard to see what was going on at all. I do have to admit I liked how vibrant his cape was though.
Oh wow, someone else I agree with. It definitely seems like people who dislike it are in the minority here, but I personally couldn’t stand it. I think my actual problem with it was that none of the characters were likeable at all to me.
The action scenes were kinda a blur as well to me, making it hard to see what was going on at all. I do have to admit I liked how vibrant his cape was though.
I watched it a while ago in the UK. Watched it in 2d as my little brother is blind in one eye so no 3d for him. I loved it. I thought it was better than Iron Man and much better than Iron Man 2. It wasn’t a comic book movie, it was barely a summer blockbuster movie. Instead they gave us a good old fashioned saga. It was simply the hero’s journey, somewhat turned on it’s head by having an alien thought of as a god entering the mundane world rather than a farmhand gaining magic powers but it was built around well rounded character arcs portrayed by very charismatic leads. Portman wasn’t the strongest but she wasn’t given much, also Sif and the Warriors Three ended up with limited chances to shine (though I reckon some of that I’d put towards the cut which seemed on the lean side, I could’ve happily sat there for another half an hour or hour even it never seemed to go too slowly or wane my patience).
If you go into it expecting a vapid action packed high octane adventure you’re going to come away disapointed. But I think we could all do with more than that in our cinematic experiences. It was the right choice of director for Thor and I think it’d be interesting to have the characters individual film franchises having different themes and vibes to them and then see the characters interact in the avengers (I for one can’t wait to see Thor interact with Iron Man in the movies now)
It felt the most like a comic book come to life out of all the comic book movies I’ve seen yet. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you. Asgard was very Kirby-esque, the Earth part of the story was very reminiscent of the recent
Straczynski Thor run, the casting was fantastic, and the humor didn’t miss a beat. About the only thing I could say that Iron Man has over Thor is Robert Downey Jr.
My Opininion in a nutshell:
It’s simple, straightforward, a little bit disjointed, but thoroughly entertaining.
I am going to do this quickly in points:
Natalie Portman was a forced love interest. Also, the most unbelievable part of the movie. I didn’t see her and say “hey its Jane the Astrophysicist.” No, I said, “Oh look its Natalie Portman wearing a lot of make up and looking way too good for being some scientist doing calculations in New Mexico.” It drove me NUTS.
Also, the turn around in the story was way too quick. I am not going to say much, but it took 48 hours for everything to take place. Not just the events that happened, but the actual turn around the characters give. This isn’t THAT bad though, because I feel that it actually kind of works in a “campy and cheesy” kind of way. Hey… its Thor. I wasn’t expecting Hamlet.
The 3d seemed a little too dark and blurry but I got in at a crappy spot in the theater.
Now, those were all the negatives. The positives? Chris Hemsworth REALLY surprised me. Anthony Hopkins was awesome. LOKI really SOLD the movie, absolutely for sure. He was definitely the BEST character in the movie, or at least the best acted.
Even though the screen play felt rushed and short, and it definitely could have went on with an extra half hour to round itself off, it was overall very successful. I enjoyed it as much as I did Iron Man… or at least somewhere between Iron Man 1 and 2.
I have to see it one more time to let it sink in some more, but so far, at this very moment, my feelings to the movie are just about a 7.5/10. Awesome enough.
I’m glad someone else thought the love interest was forced. My friend and I walked out agreeing that yes the acting itself was good as singular characters, but when it came to relationships in any sense there were no connections made. It wasn’t until the end that I really felt Thor respected his father (in ANY sense) and I never saw the romance blossom with Thor and Jane. There is MAYBE half an hour total screen time of Jane and Thor around each other.
I’m not gonna argue on the forced love interest part because there was probably more room for development there, but I’m getting really sick of this whole Natalie Portman is too pretty to be an actress crap. I heard it about Hesher and Brothers (which made noooo sense). Some girls always wear makeup. They just do. She doesn’t live in a tent. If anything it makes sense that living in a trailer inside a rented lab she would at least do makeup every day to feel glamorous and feminine. And it really wasn’t that much makeup. She has dark features b.c she’s actually Israeli.
You mean too pretty to be an astrophysicist, I’m guessing?
I really enjoyed the movie as I said on my site: http://wsash.net/fandom/the-movie-thor-strikes-home/. I thought it was well done and worthy of oscar consideration for special effects.
Considering how much I dislike the character of Thor, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. It had enough humor and action to carry the story, which overall was not that strong, forward. Like many reviews I’ve read have been saying about the movie, the real star is Loki. Even if Loki’s descent into evil seemed force, you could tell the actor put his all into the role. The overall presentation made me believe in the Thor mythos, and I was definitely satisfied with it.
Thor started out very fun and exciting. The rest of the movie could not match the first 20 minutes. Plus the idea that Natalie Portman is horny and single with no men around is crazy. Also they mention that science and magic are the same thing in Asgard, which makes the ending very flawed. You’ll know the flaw when you see it.
i am a fan of the thor comic book, and i am usually dissapointed with comic book films, except like everyone else the first iron ma the las hulk, nolan’s batman, and batman returns.
with that said, everytime i would see a new trailer for thor, i would keep asking myself not to be excited and that hopefuly the movie wouldn’t suck; i had already seen the stand for thor in last year comic-con, and saw the destroyer, so at least in that aspect it was going to honor the comic book.
but i have to say the film wasn’t dissapointing, the three main characters were great in their parts(thor, loki, odin), action an special effects were perfect, and i am hoping to see a part two.
I really enjoyed it. The 3D felt absolutely useless to me, however, and Jane’s part in the movie felt forced and totally unappealing. I wanted to stop watching every time she was on screen. However, I got the most enjoyment out of Hiddleston as Loki, and if DC wants to keep stealing actors from marvel, Josh Dallas as Fandral sent so many Oliver Queen shivers down my spine, it wasn’t even funny.
It was a good and fun movie, you should definitely see it, although it had some flaws.
First off, the 3D still can’t win me over. it was unnecessary and pointless. It wasn’t as bad as CotT, but it was made so they could just squeeze a few more bucks out of me.
The movie itself was good, C.Hemsworth did quite good as Thor, Hopkins did great as Odin, and Tom Huddlestone did a great job as Loki. To me Loki was a sort of victim himself which was a bit weak.
Portman’s character was just there, the romance seemed forced since the chemistry was off and they didn’t have much time together.
Hawkeye’s cameo was alright, but could have been done better, all tease and no payoff.
Thor’s merry band of sidekicks was useless.
The action was great, the mythological parts were done very well, and that was the part that could have been messed up the most, so more credit to them.
There were some dumb bits, but can’t say them here because of spoilers.
Overall I would rate it 7/10, and recommend seeing it on the big screen, worth it.
One thing I didn’t want them to do is have any mythological enemies in The Avengers, which was strongly hinted that Loki would again be a villain. I didn’t want the Avengers to have anything else from Thor’s universe but Thor himself. I don’t want any mythology in The Avengers, and I don’t want to see Loki again unless they do Thor 2.
Kinda bummed about that, although most people won’t mind.
Well, Thor is never going to be great art, despite a pretty impressive cast. However, I wasn’t expecting great art; I was expecting Thor to beat people down with a hammer, and that’s what I got. More than anything, it was a set-up for the Avengers movie, and felt short, oddly. But it was a fun, summer action movie. No better, but no worse, than any other summer action movies. A lot more could have been done, with many aspects, but it was what it was.
One thing I found interesting was the assertion, in one scene, that Asgard is effectively based upon a mix of magic and superscience, and that they gods are not gods, per se, but vastly more powerful than the ancient humans who they were worshiped by… not sure if that’s current Marvel comics call on Thor, or not.
I generally liked it.
I don’t think that Loki’s villainhood seemed forced or arbitrary. I think he really did just start out trying to pull a prank, but in the course of that he found some things out about himself, and the rest just snowballed from there. All in all I found him a well-done, sympathetic villain.
I also really enjoyed the humor, especially the moments of Thor’s transferring Asgardian/Viking manners into the modern day.
I had a really good time watching Thor. It’s been out for a couple of weeks here in Hong Kong, but the theater was mostly full yesterday morning. I liked Hemsworth a lot as Thor, and I enjoyed the Asgard scenes (although the CGI was sketchy at times). It was obviously a lead-in to Avengers, but it stood on its own as a complete work. I’m not sure where a Thor 2 might go, though.
*SPOILER ALERT*
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Honestly I am going to focus on Loki here. I like that they went back to the source material rather than the comics for Loki. In the comics Loki was always a bad guy always evil without seeming to ever understand why. In the original myths Loki was always a trickster but he wasn’t always evil. In the myths he killed a woman that had subverted the gods and made them petty he ate her evil heart to destroy it and in doing so made himself evil.
He was a hero. In this they went with he was really a frost giant himself and thus was never truly seen as the potential successor that Thor was. Odin can argue this isn’t and wasn’t the case all he wants but I doubt he ever even considered Loki for the job because he knew if Loki did become king and his true ancestry were discovered it would mean civil war.
This definitely most likely drove Odin to treat him differently. I like that. Loki’s character was well developed.
As far as Thor’s abrupt change. Well if you suffer a sudden cultural shift then you will change very quickly in a very short period of time. Thor was stripped of his Godhood and made a mortal man. This was as traumatic to him as one of us waking from an accident and finding ourselves paralyzed or missing an arm. That can and will humble most people.
Hey, I wrote a blog reviewing it!
http://hugsandhisreviews.blogspot.com/2011/04/thor.html
I enjoyed it, it was pretty to watch, had reasonable action scenes. I m not as much of a Thor nut so I can’t really speak to it’s sticking to source material, but there were no obvious missteps and there were a couple of nice continuity character tie-ins. I feel like I am damning it with faint praise, but it was a solid comic movie and fun way to kick off the summer. I would recommend it.
1) Slow storyline
2) Wicked Sound effects like but REALLY LOUD
3) Decent combat sequences throughout the whole film
4) Much funnier then I thought. For all the action in it, it had equal the amount of laughs.
Loved it. Not as good as Iron Man though.
didnt mean to double post
I liked it, both of a fan of Branagh and superhero films. In hind sight I agree with what several friends of mine have said regarding several plot points being rushed and the climax not being quite epic enough. For the rest of what I thought go here: http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/?p=3379
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Branagh developed the father-son relationships between Odin and Thor and Odin and Loki very well. Loki’s character was particularly interesting as the younger son, feeling neglected by the parents in comparison to his brother, personal crisis, etc. I didn’t hate Natalie Portman’s character, but she (Portman) seemed slightly out of place, as if anyone could have played that role and it would have been exactly the same. The secondary female character played by Kat Dennings brought comic relief and nothing else. The movie’s humor was well-placed and memorable (Thor going into the pet shop and demanding a horse was hilarious.) I didn’t see the movie in 3-D, so I can’t comment on that other than to make the general statement that, unless a movie is specifically filmed in 3-D (Cameron’s Avatar and most animated films,) the 3-D is a waste of money and ineffectual.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Branagh developed the father-son relationships between Odin and Thor and Odin and Loki very well. Loki’s character was particularly interesting as the younger son, feeling neglected by the parents in comparison to his brother, personal crisis, etc. I didn’t hate Natalie Portman’s character, but she (Portman) seemed slightly out of place, as if anyone could have played that role and it would have been exactly the same. The secondary female character played by Kat Dennings brought comic relief and nothing else. The movie’s humor was well-placed and memorable (Thor going into the pet shop and demanding a horse was hilarious.) I didn’t see the movie in 3-D, so I can’t comment on that other than to make the general statement that, unless a movie is specifically filmed in 3-D (Cameron’s Avatar and most animated films,) the 3-D is a waste of money and ineffectual.
 I saw this movie about a week ago with the train of thought that it would be like the first Ironman.. Origin type, where there would be more story telling and character developing. (which would have been Okay in my book)
But what I saw in there was nothing more than a rushed story that gives you nothing and leaves you with nothing. Â The portrayal of the characters were so hard to believe that it bugged me throughout the whole movie, Especially the Main Character Thor.. There were no explanations of why he grew up to be the man he started out in the movie to be And faster than a click of a mouse he has a stunning revelation and gives his character a complete turnaround. Â I hate it when things are spoonfed to the audience like that.Â
The story of Loki and his viewpoint is brilliant, but the way that it was portrayed on screen was too quickly to be appreciated. Â The twist was too sudden. Â It was in the middle of an action scene and didnt give the audience time to let it sink it. (i dont even know if that made sense) Â but it does to me!
6/10
Thor was not as good as Iron Man, but it was better than Iron Man 2. Kinda want to re-watch The Incredible Hulk now (unlike the Iron Man movies, I haven’t seen that one since it came out– and I never saw the first Hulk). Psyched for The Avengers, as a die-hard Whedonite, and even kinda looking forward to Captain America– it looks like they’re filming it as if it were a period piece, and I like that.