THOR: Grading, Discussion, Review **SPOILERS***

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Captain Craig, Apr 17, 2011.

?

What grade do you give THOR?

Poll closed Nov 3, 2011.
  1. A+

    25 vote(s)
    12.2%
  2. A

    48 vote(s)
    23.4%
  3. A-

    49 vote(s)
    23.9%
  4. B+

    33 vote(s)
    16.1%
  5. B

    24 vote(s)
    11.7%
  6. B-

    9 vote(s)
    4.4%
  7. C+

    5 vote(s)
    2.4%
  8. C

    6 vote(s)
    2.9%
  9. C-

    1 vote(s)
    0.5%
  10. D+

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  11. D

    2 vote(s)
    1.0%
  12. D-

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  13. F

    3 vote(s)
    1.5%
  1. Satyrquaze

    Satyrquaze Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2010
    No, clearly, that was SHIELD agent Wendell Vaughn. ;)
     
  2. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2011
    Location:
    astral plane
    I was kinda hoping he'd turn out to be the Black Panther.
     
  3. T'Baio

    T'Baio Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2001
    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Thor has never actually been one of my favourite Marvel characters...I actually never really read his comics or was all that interested in him. My familiarity is mostly through The Avengers.

    What you might be mixing up with what I said was Iron Man was one of my fave Marvel characters, and I didn't see how they could combine the realistic, down to Earth style of Iron Man with the fantastical elements of Thor and make it seem believable. I was relieved when Branagh was hired, as he's definitely a man who could do that, and it showed how serious they were about finding the right director.

    I'm astounded at how well and smoothly and comfortably they combined the feel of both Iron Man's "real world" setting and the fantastic elements of Asgard. The two story elements never once seemed out of place with each other.

    Really great movie. Can't wait to see it again in 2D, because yeah, I agree, the 3D sucked.
     
  4. Agent Richard07

    Agent Richard07 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2001
    ^ I liked it when the Destroyer showed up and someone said... "One of Stark's?" That was a nice way of blending the mystical with the real world.
     
  5. T'Baio

    T'Baio Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2001
    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    I thought one thing they used really well to combine the two worlds was the "to a primitive enough society, science would seem like magic" motif. They reiterated it a couple times, and it really helped sell the combo.
     
  6. od0_ital

    od0_ital Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2001
    Location:
    Nacogdoches, Texas
    I wouldn't be surprised if THOR gets released on DVD/blu ray by the end of Septemeber.
     
  7. the G-man

    the G-man Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Location:
    to your immediate right
    Or that he'd mutter "sweet Christmas," meaning it was Luke Cage.
     
  8. saturn5

    saturn5 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2010
    Good fun, some nice jokes like the Xena reference and 'Is that one of Starks?' Especially liked the way that Loki isn't essentially the bad guy, in some ways he's very justified in his actions.
    Hard to believe Kenneth Branagh directed it?:wtf:
     
  9. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    Ah gotcha. And yes, I too thought that the melding of the two aspects of the story was one of the movie's strongest achievements.
     
  10. Temis the Vorta

    Temis the Vorta Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 1999
    Location:
    Tatoinne
    Box office is stumbling.

    Not surprising. I never thought Thor was one of the characters likely to draw big crowds - it's the relatability issue - and the movie doesn't have the benefit of a charismatic actor like Robert Downey Jr. It'll probably end up as a moderate success and a good building block for other Marvel movies.

    Good to hear they're melding the "real" and "magical" worlds of Marvel well. That's a necessary foundation to other characters, who may be getting their own movies soon. ;) I love that there's an overall game plan behind all this.
     
  11. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2004
    Location:
    Idealistic
    I thought it was fun. Not brilliant, but fun. The designs were great. And overall, i thought the performances were good.

    I don't think this is a spoiler, but, does anyone have an idea who the professor emailed? they were able to provide a GREAT deal of help...
     
  12. timothy

    timothy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2010
    Location:
    The Draco tavern
    niether luke nor the black panther was a shield agent.
     
  13. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    "Thor" will still probably take in 75 million this weekend. I originally predicted about $60 million but forgot that it was released earlier in the week in some theaters. I was supposed to see it tonight but due to hockey, I'll be seeing it tomorrow.
     
  14. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2004
    Location:
    Langley
    BTW, anybody pick up on who the agent with the bow was?
     
  15. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2004
    Location:
    Mannheim, Germany
    A C from me

    With intro movies there's always this huge problem.. running time. You just can't cram everything into 100-120 minutes and satisfy every aspect of filmmaking.

    You have to introduce all the characters, explain their background and where they come from and then you have to craft an engaging story for them to act in. This is extremely difficult to do well and few have succeded.. Thor, unfortunately, isn't one of the exceptions.

    In essence.. the whole movie felt very rushed to me. You go from arrogant, banished Thor to dinner serving, humiliated Thor in about 15 minutes and all that happend in between is him not being able to lift Mjolnir. That felt way too fast and forced and kinda ruined the entire movie for me because this transition should be the core of the movie.. i could have done without the entite Frost Giant/Loki plot for just getting the time to make a believable change of heart and character for Thor.

    Take for instance Iron Man.. similar backstory. Arrogant man, on top of his game encounters a life changing situation and is forced to evaluate his life and changes. Now setting Downey Jr. aside who did a stellar job playing Tony Stark it was handled way better and with far more heart. You could follow the various steps of his change from the death of Yingsen to the realization what hís weapons are actually used for and his desire to end this.

    With Thor i didn't get any of it and without that the whole movie fell apart and all that's left are a few cool pieces here and there. You just can't build a movie on a few iconic scenes.. swirling the hammer, slamming it into the ground and flying around. That's just not good enough.

    Now i was always a critic of the visual design of the movie, especially Asgard. I still don't like the design choice and felt a bit more Viking/Norse influence would have suited this better than the High Tech style they went for.

    The acting was ok but i'm afraid they weren't given much to work with. Portman is a great actress but all she had to do was run around confused in the first third, be angry at Shield for taking her stuff in the middle and adore Thor in the last third. That was basically it and no actress, no matter how good, can pull something worthwile out of that.
    The same applies to all the big and smaller names of the cast.. Anthony Hopkins and Stellan Skaarsgard are both amazing actors but frankly they could have saved the money and hired other competent actors and it wouldn't have changed much apart from the lure of big names to give the impression the movie was better than it was.

    I was so hoping for Thor to knock it out of the park.. he's got such a rich mythology, so many interesting aspects of his story within the Marvel universe but it didn't come together well i'm afraid.

    The only thing now is to await the Avengers movie and see how he meshes with the team.. in the comics he always was one of the heavy hitters and judging by the after credits scene Loki and the Cosmic Cube may indeed be the big bad. I don't know what to make of that.

    P.S.
    Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye was just awesome! :techman:

    That was Jeremy Renner who played Hawkeye, one of the founding members of the Avengers.
     
  16. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 26, 2001
    Location:
    Ireland
    I thought everyone knew it was Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. It wasn't exactly a state secret before the movie.
     
  17. Saga

    Saga Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Location:
    VA
    not exactly. Hawkeye came in later. after Iron Man, Thor, Giant Man and Wasp left. he was part of Cap's Kooky Quartet.
     
  18. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2011
    Location:
    astral plane
    I'm not sure what you mean: Do you mean neither was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the comics?

    Was Hawkeye ever a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the comics?
     
  19. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2004
    Location:
    Mannheim, Germany
    He was in the Ultimate line of Marvel comics, not so sure about the "main" universe.
     
  20. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    Clint was never a Shield agent in 616. They seem to be going with the Ultimates version which was just pointed out was a Shield agent and partnered with Black Widow. I believe that timothy was attempting to respond to Admiral2's statement about that agent to turn out to be Black Panther. I know it's hard to tell with timothy's posts what he's talking about :)