Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
5/7/11
You'd
be hard-pressed to find anything going on at the movies these days I'm
less objective about than Marvel Studios' multi-film ramp up to the 2012
all-star superhero movie The Avengers. It all started after
the opening credits of 2008's splendid Iron Man,
when Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury turns up to inform Tony Stark (Robert
Downey Jr.) of something called... “The Avenger Initiative”. A few
minutes later, I picked my jaw up off the floor, because The Avengers (Earth's
Mightiest Heroes, as their subhead assured me each month) were THE comic
book superteam of my youth, and the adventures of Iron Man, Thor, Captain
America and less famous heroes like The Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and The
Vision are hard-wired cornerstones of who I am. Granted, I don't
read any monthly comics anymore (I'll pick up the occasional graphic novel
collection, but DC's always been much better at that format than Marvel
and its multi-title special edition sagas that sprawl like TV soap operas
well beyond any point other than to fill pages), but as an adult movie-lover,
the chance to see these iconic characters come to life as an interconnected
series of film franchises much like the Marvel Universe itself is, well,
more than my geeky little heart can bear. And so I have gone on to
love Chapters 2 and 3 of the Avengers Epic, 2008's The
Incredible Hulk and 2010's Iron Man 2,
at times against my own better judgment (IM2 might be the worst
movie I've given 4 stars on this site, but it delights me for all its flaws).
Now comes Part 4, and I can happily (or delusionally, or possibly both)
report that Thor is another rock-solid outing, probably the 2nd
best movie in the series to the original Iron Man
(which is really on a level all its own). While Chris Hemsworth's
Thor never shouts “Od's Blood!” or anything, he does retain the regal bearing
and mythic courage of the character I remember, and director Kenneth Branaugh,
backed by an army of writers, wisely and effectively tries to ape the spring
in Iron Man's step. Thor is an
action-packed delight, even if you never had an Avengers poster on your
wall.
In
Asgard, the land of the Norse Gods, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is about to
pass on the role of King to his son Thor (Chris Hemsworth) when a long-standing
truce with the Frost Giants is broken by three of their warriors attempting
to steal the Casket of Ancient Winters that would allow them to conquer
all of the Nine Realms. They are stopped by Odin's secret weapon,
a massive robot called The Destroyer, and he claims no harm done, but Thor
is enraged by the violation of Asgardian borders and leads his brother
Loki (Tom Hiddleston), old friend Sif (Jamie Alexander) and The Warriors
Three (Ray Stevenson, Joshua Dallas & Tadanobu Asano) on a raid to
the Giants' home Jotunheim. Odin himself must intervene to save them,
but not before Frost Giant King Laufey (Colm Feore) declares the truce
over and war on. Odin strips Thor of his power and exiles him to
Earth, sending his weapon of choice, the magical hammer Mjolnir after him
with an enchantment upon it that anyone who proves themselves worthy after
holding it will be given the power of Thor. The now-mortal God falls
from the sky and directly into the path of scientists Jane Foster (Natalie
Portman) and Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and their unqualified assistant
Darcy (Kat Dennings), who've been tracking atmospheric disturbances that
are actually the Gods' Rainbow Bridge that connects all the Realms.
As teased at the end of Iron Man 2, the hammer
quickly draws the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Agent Coulson (Clark
Gregg) on the scene as Thor shows up looking for his weapon, but finds
himself unworthy to pull it from the stone in which it rests. Under
the stress of exiling his son and confronted with a dark secret from his
past, Odin falls into a coma, leaving the sinister Loki in power.
Sif and the Warriors Three see through his manipulations and, with the
help of gatekeeper Heimdall (Idris Elba) head for Earth to rescue their
friend. Directly on their tail, Loki sends The Destroyer, which rains
destruction Thor is literally powerless to stop. Can he regain his
powers in time to save his new friends and his Kingdom before Loki's dark
plans come to fruition?
On
paper, Thor is a daunting adaptation: the Norse God of Thunder
is physically imposing, dressed in an outlandishly comic-friendly costume
and speaks like a character from The Iliad. To say nothing
of how little his universe has in common with the more realistic, science-based
worlds previously established in the Iron Man and Hulk movies. But
Branagh and his team pull it off so well you wonder in retrospect what
all the fuss was about. The speech of all the Asgardians is seriously
contemporized and by making it clear that both science and magic are at
work in Thor's world (he calls them one and the same), it's far easier
to imagine Tony Stark giving him the hairy eye but still fighting by his
side. I really liked the fact that the art direction makes things
like The Destroyer and the Rainbow Bridge machines, albeit ones powered
by principals we could not comprehend, and I liked the physical intensity
of the fight scenes despite their reliance on special effects. After
two hours in their company, it's really no harder to make the leap of believing
in Thor and his world than that gamma radiation could turn a man into a
mean green monster. In particular, credit needs to go to the designers
of the costume, which seems to have walked right out of the comic pages
without sacrificing believability.
Branagh's
background in Shakespeare is an asset, as the scenes in Asgard are really
no different than a traditional palace intrigue thriller except that there
are now superpowers in play and the barbarians at the gates are Frost Giants.
Asgard itself is a stunning creation, filled with wondrous sights.
The movie's success with 3D (principal photography was in 2D, but all the
special effects were done in the third dimension) is about half and half:
I admit I was sitting a little too close to the screen in a crowded theater
for optimum results, but Branagh's camera spins and swirls around Asgard
a little too aggressively. Still, individual sights like the Rainbow
Bridge and the Casket of Ancient Winters are very impressive, and I give
the movie credit for not working too hard to try to create 3D where there
is none among the actors.
Also
helping to bring all this to life is that the upper half of the cast is
exceptional (except for Elba, who's terrific, Thor's Asgardian pals aren't
all that memorable). Hemsworth does not disappoint those of us who
felt a star was born during his few minutes of screen time in Star
Trek: Thor's growth from arrogant war monger to humbled hero
is exceptionally played, and like Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, it doesn't feel
like a new character has replaced the one who started the movie once he's
learned his lessons. With his imposing physical stature and regal
bearing, he's totally persuasive as somebody who's not “one of us”, but
also fits in so well with his human co-stars that it's easy to buy the
romance that blossoms between he and Jane. For her part, Portman
is nicely loose and has solidly built-in chemistry with Scarsgard and Dennings,
who's a delightful comic relief sidekick.
Hopkins
does not disappoint on the promise of his casting as Odin: this is
A Real Movie every minute he's on screen and that goes a long way to sell
you the improbable world of Asgard. Feore, under a mountain of makeup
as his Frost Giant counterpart, is superb. And Hiddleston, Brannagh's
TV Wallander co-star in his first major movie role, does a great
job creating the character who'll be The Avengers' antagonist.
It would be easy to have Loki be the typical scheming younger son, but
when all his cards are on the table, there's a far more operatic reason
for his motivations, and it should carry forward nicely in future installments.
Appropriately, Hiddleston plays his cards close to the vest, allowing us
to suspect that at least some of the virtuous face he shows the world is
legitimate.
Thor
is a lot more skillful than Iron Man 2
at putting Avengers pieces on the chessboard, introducing us to at least
4 significant characters from its cast, including a cameo appearance by
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton (aka the master archer Hawkeye) that's not
quite enough to get any real handle on him. Gregg is once more a
confidently awkward delight as Coulson, who I actually prefer to Fury as
the Face of S.H.I.E.L.D. It goes without saying that you should stay
after the end credits for the now-de rigeur tag that may lead directly
into The Avengers depending upon whether any of this summer's 5th
Avengers Epic chapter (Captain America: The First Avenger)
is set in the present day.
Thor
combines well-executed drama, superhero action and a nice sense of summer
movie fun into a potent entertainment machine that's one of the better
recent comic book adaptations. Of course, you have to bear in mind
that you're hearing that from a guy who still gets a chill every time he
thinks we're now less than 12 months away from the motion picture event
of his geeky dreams. Avengers Assemble! |
