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

I gave it a B+. Pretty good, but not great. Entertaining while it lasted, but not particularly memorable. Good performances from Hopkins and the guy who played Loki. Made me curious to see The Avengers, which I guess was the whole point.

Oh--and the 3D was exceptionally poor.

 

I also give it a B+. The pacing was a bit uneven, and some parts were a bit cornball, but the acting was fairly good and the characters were very likable and interesting. I would have liked to spend a little more time in Asgard and a little less on Earth. All in all, it's just a typical, fun, summer superhero flick.

We didn't see the 3D version, just the regular film, as one in our party had poor vision and doesn't do well with 3D. Besides, with a film like this, I didn't really see a need for it.

 

One review pointed out that we never got to see the POV of the "normal" Asgardians. We see them at the highest level but get no sense of the regular society.

I thought she was good but she was really nothing more than the love interest in this film. I'm not a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow (or Portman for that matter) but I always thought she was good in Iron Man and the character of Pepper Potts brought more to the table than most superhero love interests do.

 

My review on Facebook:

 

on a scale from 1 - 10 I give Thor a solid FUCK YEAH

I loved it

 

I loved the movie. I graded it A- strictly because there was a lot of story going on and it really could have been split into two movies and fleshed out both the Earth and Asgard plots.

Loki was amazing. Helmsworth had great chemistry with every actor he was on screen with, he pulled off the character and dialogue and mannerisms perfectly. Portman was adorible.

The warriors three and Sif fit better than I'd imagined, Jamie Alexander did a great job, I loved how natural and casual she could look sitting in Asgard in costume like it was her everyday clothes, which of course they were in story.

Effects were A+ and the cosmic/magic part of the story worked well, it had a different feel than Iron Man or Spiderman because the power levels were completely out of this world, but it all fit together nicely.

I'll be happy to watch it a few more times. I saw it in 3d, kind of by accident when I ordered the tickets online. Would have preferred 2d but the Asgard scenes were nice use of 3d.

 

So this evening I saw a cool IMAX trailer for Green Lantern, a rather frenetic IMAX 3D trailer for Cars 2, a crappy ad for a movie about giant robots tearing up DC...and they attached Thor to the end of all that.

The 3D was better than a lot of conversions I've seen, though you got the "pop-up book" effect on a few real close over-shoulder shots. Hemsworth and Hiddleston were charming, the Earth section was - surprisingly - the best part, and Denning was cute as a button. It didn't really add up to a movie, though.

Oh...and for all that people fuss about the relative merits of practical effects and make-up versus computer effects, putting people in blue rubber faces right up against decent CG work just looks cheesy as hell.

The Donald Blake gag was cute.

 

You know, this establishes Thor in the Marvel Unvierse but when you think about it, it's not really an origin story. He's already Thor in the beginning of the film.

 

I'll take this type of cheesy special effects over the stuff I watched as a kid in the late 60's and early 70's any day.

 

Oh, most of the special effects were anything but cheesy. The practical work looked pretty bad, though.

It's tracking to open way ahead of Marvel movies like Fantastic Four (which I liked) but even with the premium charges that come with 3D it'll be way behind the Iron Man or Spider-Man films. That seems about right.

Someone at Deadline described this as a "reverse superhero film" - it's not about the character becoming a hero, but the hero becoming a human being.

 

I was severely disappointed. I went to see this movie for one reason and one reason only: Chris Hemsworth skin. He was shirtless for about sixty seconds, and that was it. Criminal. Once I realized during the Destroyer climax that he was not going to be shirtless for any additional scenes, I was disheartened and had trouble enjoying the rest of the movie. Other than that terrible letdown, it was fine. Loki's character was very engaging.

 

i think the part I enjoyed best about the movie was when he put the hammer on loki's chest and pinned him to the ground....

 

That was clever.

There wasn't a lot else that was unpredictable in the movie - they hit all the obligatory beats for this kind of flick and reached too obviously for a couple of them (Thor more-or-less sacrificing his life and being resurrected, for instance). Loki was unpredictable and Hiddleston played him very well and subtly - as if Loki believed himself a good man. His is probably the best performance in the film.

 

Busy, Busy weekend. Thor, free comic book day, Borders closing-store at 60% off, Thor again. Finally able to post.

I've seen THOR twice now, once in 2-D, once in 3-D.

I agree the Asgard sequences are exceptional in 3-D but then there is still an hour+ where its underutilized. See it in 2-D.

My grade: A-

Everything I could think of concerning Thor and mjolner was done in this movie. The flying, deflecting blasts, used in combat close up, it's 'boomerang' return to Thor and vortex creation were all used in the film very well.

I never doubted the outfits or costuming but was still impressed with them.

Heimdall, awesome. I hope all the fuss made over his being black causes those people to feel like fools. What a strong and excellent performance. "Do you intend to go against Loki and go after Thor?" "Yes" "Good then"

Worked the Donald Blake aspect into the film in an interesting way. If there is a sequel it might be kind of interesting to meet Jane's ex, if briefly.

Asgard was just magnificent. They really brought the Kirby-esque world to life in a way I wouldn't have thought possible years ago.

Good blend of humor, not over the top, it was just right. The,"Base, we have Xena, Jackie Chan and Robin Hood walking down Main St" got a good laugh among the laugh lines. Near the end several people, including myself got a chuckle over Thor pinning Loki down with mjolner.

The chemistry between Hemmsworth, Hiddelstone and Hopkins worked very well. One of the ladies in our group felt very sympathetic for Loki. She said(loosely), "He wasn't a maniac like Joker, mentally disturbed like Green Goblin or just greedy evil like Luthor. I really liked him even though he was doing bad."

Concerning the villains another friend, also female(they really put thought into this movie by the way), liked the Frost Giants over Loki. She thought they felt as differnent as anything else she's seen in a comic movie. She tried drilling her point home by saying the scope was big and the visuals so cool you had to take notice that this isn't Batman or Spiderman fighting thugs in an alley, they really did something unique.

Upon my first viewing I thought little of the Jane/Thor romance but on my second viewing I appreciated the nuances they did to show a genuine attraction between the two.

Hawkeye, nice touch
Pioneer in Gamma research whose work was taken, also nice
Is that one of Starks, good add-in
The Eye of Agamotto in the Odin vault? Dr.Strange tease it seems.
I heard the Infinity Gauntlet is there but missed it both times.
The Cosmic Cube in the post credits is a fanboy only moment obviously. Drilled home by the fact that unlike Thor's hammer in IM2 or Tony Stark in TIH I had to explain to both sets of people just what it was they were being shown.

So, I gave it an A-, what would I have done different or added? Glad you ask:
-Thor should've had his headdress on more. Loki was in his plenty. Post Destroyer revival when he gets his Asgardian armor back the helmet should've been included at minimum in that moment.
-A bit more Frigga(Russo) as Thor's mom. She put up one brave moment though and did knock one frost giant down before being batted down.
-While as a group the Warriors 3 had fair screen time none of them got a true "moment" to shine. Sif got one with the Destroyer but I felt they all needed one.

Every website but the link posted 2 pages back is talking about this being a strong opening for Thor and worthy official start to summer. Fast Five over performed expectations after all. Any one not following the box office regularly wouldn't know that till Fast 5 NO film had opened to over $40m and only a few in the $30m range. So having two $60m+ openers back to back is excellent. Thor also is likely to have a great second week as unlike F5 it doesn't face a strong contender.

 

You know, I usually try to grade films on a good/bad scale but that seems beside the point here. It wasn't particularly either of those things. It was just...dumb.

That's really the only word I can think of here. Not bad. Not good. Just really dumb the whole way through.

C-

 

Yeah, I liked that bit, too.

But it was one of a bunch of bits I liked in a movie I really enjoyed.

Gotta try & figure out when I can take my nephews to go see it, unless my sister takes 'em first.

 

Just came back from seeing it and wow was it fantastic. A solid B +. Had some minor problems with the pacing of the film, and Kat Dennings, but other than that I thought it was great! Good thing my expectations had been lowered after reading the leaked script. I think my favorite scene was when Thor wielded Mjolnir! The fight with Loki was quite good. Tom Hiddleston was fantastic as Loki, and I enjoyed Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Natalie Portman was fine as Jane but they could have cast someone else. Didn't buy their romance. I don't like forced, quick romances in films like that. I'm really pumped for "Captain America: First Avenger" now.

 

I just saw it tonight too. It was good, but I think some of the other comic book movies will be better. Some of the effects and cinematography, especially in the last part of the movie seemed like it came out of a higher budgeted Hallmark movie.

I also didn't feel like there was that much sense of urgency in this movie. Didn't seem like a whole lot was at stake or in peril. I guess if you counted Asgard's security or Odin's life then maybe, but that ended up being a ruse by Loki to get Loufy in and kill him, thus solidifying more trust with his kingdom. Or maybe I missed something. And I guess The Destroyer and some small town in New Mexico.

In addition to Thor's sudden change in character in a span of 2 days maybe 3. If anything that felt more rushed than the romance with Jane. Still had a great time watching it! Great to see Renner as well.

I didn't really follow Thor all that much prior to watching this. Is this fairly accurate to his story in the comics?

 

I just got back from seeing it. I had no idea that JMS wrote the story for this. It was a really fun movie and the acting was top notch. I really liked the chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman. I loved the Asgardian scenes and was shocked how funny the movie was. Bravo Branagh Bravo!!!

 

@ObiWan yeah it's fairly accurate to the comics. I'm not a huge "Thor" fan as others are but I'm pretty satisfied with the film's adaption of the comics. JMS co-wrote the story and had a cameo in the film as well