A LITTLE MORE THOR

I am ready to see this movie. As in now.

I didn't get much out of that spot.  It just felt like a bunch of BOOM BOOM BOOM WHAM!  ... BOOM BOOM BOOM WHAM!  chucklechuckle!  THOR.

The slower pace of the Captain America was more my speed.

Nothing great

There's a monster.

Good news.

Sorry, but "Thor driving in a truck with Natalie Portman in a world he doesn't understand" smacks waaay to close to "Captain America driving in a car with Ned Beatty in a world he doesn't understand".

Yeah, I'm tired of the very over-used hero traveling in car bit.  See also Green Lantern.  

Hemsworth certainly looks the part. And no matter what people say I dig the costumes. But this so far seems too small for a Thor movie. Not in budget but in scope.

Holy shit is this a huge swing and a miss. It just begs the question why hand such a huge event tentpole like this to Kenneth Branagh? This film is out of his league and the movie feels lifeless.

Eh,

I liked what I saw, but the trailer was way to short and fast-paced. I still think this is going to be pretty good (Cap is going to be waaay better) but I'll wait for a proper trailer, not some minute long smashing of images

So far...THOR, looks like...THE, film of 2011!  Father and son fight, THOR gets cast out of Asgard, he fights S.H.I.E.L.D., he disobeys his King...again and fights monsters, wielding his Hammer Mjolnir, hangs out with Jane Foster his true love on a road trip what's not to like?  It is good to see Natalie Portman in a...Big Blockbuster like, THOR, instead of whatever independent films she has been in lately.  She was great in both...The Professional and The Star Wars Prequels as well.

I still like the look of this. It looks a bit small and soundstagey but Hemsworth really looks the part and I can't help but love how Kirby-esque the design is.

Having said that, I can't really see Thor being much more than a special effect in The Avengers. Stark is the rock star and Cap I imagine will be the character pushed to the forefront but I can't help but think that the Odinson will be the Legolas of the Avengers; some great action beats but little else.

Methinks Thor is lucky to be in the Iron Man slot this summer, as that will probably be the difference between it being a solid if unremarkable success and a bit of a misfire, at least financially.

I don't really get how anyone can be proclaiming this film is lifeless and dead on the basis of 30 seconds. Or why they'd want to hate on it at all, what with it being a viking alien movie. At the minimum, I'm interested in the Thor vs Green Lantern throwdown we get to watch in May. Which will be better, which will make more money, could they both be terrible, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjen Rudd 

I don't really get how anyone can be proclaiming this film is lifeless and dead on the basis of 30 seconds. Or why they'd want to hate on it at all, what with it being a viking alien movie.

Love that!  Have you considered a career in movie marketing?

I can't see Thor doing anything other than solid business. I would imagine the various Avenger ties will come through in the TV spots. Sort of like when Downey Jr's entire cameo was a TV spot for The Incredible Hulk.
 

The trailer isn't well put together, but it looks cool. My bet is that it'll be way more interesting than Captain America.

Oop! GL is a June release. So it'll be an X Men/GL smack down. Somehow more boring. Thor has no competition. It'll do just fine.

I am merely talking about whats been released so far and its not hating it doesn't work. I will see it because I do like the character but who is kidding who here this is a hard sell and a difficult character to bring to the screen (much like GL) I look forward to seeing it and at first wasn't against Branagh I was in fact all for it. In retrospect so far it does seem pretty lackluster that is all.

I have my concerns with the with the "Thor hangs out in a van" portion of the film and the Asgard stuff seems to small and movie set-ish, but I'm still interested.

I feel like I'm the only one who's equally looking forward to both Captain America and Thor.

As for the whole "scenes in cars" complaint, it puzzles me. Many movies in a contemporary setting have scenes in cars. I don't think having Thor sit in a car is gonna strike most audience members as unusual. Would people prefer that characters start delivering exposition while sitting on couches?

yea really. Oh no, he's travelling in car. I mean, really who does that when you have a hammer and can do a exposition filled flight ala superman. wasted opportunity i say.

I actually really like the staginess of the sets. Gives me pleasant 80s fantasy movie flashbacks. And as I've said before, I don't want Valhalla to look "realistic".

The make or break for this movie is exactly how much time Thor spends dicking around on Earth without his hammer. The rumours that he basically doesn't get his hammer back until the end of the movie are kind of alarming, but at this point, I'm not sure how they can cram all the crazy fantasy shit we've seen into the movie without a decent amount of screentime.

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Originally Posted by The Prankster 

I actually really like the staginess of the sets. Gives me pleasant 80s fantasy movie flashbacks. And as I've said before, I don't want Valhalla to look "realistic".

 

The make or break for this movie is exactly how much time Thor spends dicking around on Earth without his hammer. The rumours that he basically doesn't get his hammer back until the end of the movie are kind of alarming, but at this point, I'm not sure how they can cram all the crazy fantasy shit we've seen into the movie without a decent amount of screentime.

My conjecture based on the bits and pieces we've seen and heard from interviews and articles and the like is that there's probably about four major action beats (Warning, pseudo-spoilers ahead):

Thor and his posse (Loki, Sif, Warriors Three) against Frost Giants in Asgard (The incident that ends up getting Thor banished).

Unpowered Thor breaking into SHIELD facility to try to reclaim Mjolnir.

(Presumably) repowered Thor vs. the Destroyer (with the help of Sif and the Warriors Three)

Thor vs. Loki

Near as I can tell it's probably going to be:  First act - Asgard and Thor's Banishment.  Second Act: Thor depowered on Earth. Third Act: Thor repowered.

I have no illusions that the "depowered Thor" stuff will take up a good chunk of running time, but hopefully it won't drag too much, particularly with the "infiltration of SHIELD base" mixed in with it.  Plus, after Thor gets repowered/regains Mjolnir he'll have two major fights afterwards (The Destroyer and Loki) so it can't exactly be -right- at the end.

Personally, I'd prefer he rode around on explosions and/or rock music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies 

I feel like I'm the only one who's equally looking forward to both Captain America and Thor.

 

As for the whole "scenes in cars" complaint, it puzzles me. Many movies in a contemporary setting have scenes in cars. I don't think having Thor sit in a car is gonna strike most audience members as unusual. Would people prefer that characters start delivering exposition while sitting on couches?

lol this puzzles you? Really? Why would anyone want to see the God of Thunder depowered and driving around in a van?

Let other characters drive around in cars. Thor should be flying around, smashing things with his hammer and fucking up the weather.

I'm not saying those scenes will ruin the movie, but why would anyone be excited about them?

Devin mentioned a while back that he thought the Destroyer was apparently the big final battle, which suggested that Asgard was going to be limited mostly to the first act. But he wasn't 100% sure. What you've described makes a lot more sense to me, and I'm more or less OK with the second act being depowered Thor stuck on Earth--it's not ideal, but I realize there are budget issues. But I'm concerned that Thor vs. Loki will be minimized, or shunted off to a sequel. Third act needs to let loose some major Asgardian shit for this to work.

I'm pretty sure the actors have said that Thor vs. Loki will be the big finale.

The Destroyer battle takes place before that during the THOR: MAN OF FLANNEL segment of the film.

Makes sense, and sounds good to me. It would certainly be weird if Thor didn't get to go up against Loki in this movie.

Well, I'm on board at this point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Prankster 

Devin mentioned a while back that he thought the Destroyer was apparently the big final battle, which suggested that Asgard was going to be limited mostly to the first act. But he wasn't 100% sure. What you've described makes a lot more sense to me, and I'm more or less OK with the second act being depowered Thor stuck on Earth--it's not ideal, but I realize there are budget issues. But I'm concerned that Thor vs. Loki will be minimized, or shunted off to a sequel. Third act needs to let loose some major Asgardian shit for this to work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

I'm pretty sure the actors have said that Thor vs. Loki will be the big finale.

The Destroyer battle takes place before that during the THOR: MAN OF FLANNEL segment of the film.

It's possibly a bit of both.  Given the Destroyer's penchant for being, well...uncontrollable, it might be that Thor has to stalemate/send it off Earth, then go fight Loki, then finish off against the Destroyer (in Asgard).  Or even that Loki and Thor have to band together against the Destroyer (after Thor has beat down Loki).  Or whatever.

Either way I'm pretty sure I remember both Hiddleston and Hemsworth talking about having a fight against each other, especially Hiddleston talking about how Loki fights with a very different style from Thor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies 

I feel like I'm the only one who's equally looking forward to both Captain America and Thor.

 

As for the whole "scenes in cars" complaint, it puzzles me. Many movies in a contemporary setting have scenes in cars. I don't think having Thor sit in a car is gonna strike most audience members as unusual. Would people prefer that characters start delivering exposition while sitting on couches?

 

lol this puzzles you? Really? Why would anyone want to see the God of Thunder depowered and driving around in a van?

Let other characters drive around in cars. Thor should be flying around, smashing things with his hammer and fucking up the weather.

I'm not saying those scenes will ruin the movie, but why would anyone be excited about them?

When he's depowered, how else is he meant to get around the desert? And to clarify, I didn't say I'm excited for scenes in cars, I just don't see why they're some kind of deal-breaker.

That's the whole thing. The idea of stripping Thor of his powers and throwing him in a van seems boring. Save that kind of thing for the 4th or 5th sequel when you've ran out of ideas.

Also, "de-powered Thor" (i.e. Don Blake) was always the worst thing about the comic book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

That's the whole thing. The idea of stripping Thor of his powers and throwing him in a van seems boring. Save that kind of thing for the 4th or 5th sequel when you've ran out of ideas. Also, "de-powered Thor" (i.e. Don Blake) was always the worst thing about the comic book.

I really hope Branaugh & co make the "powerless Thor" interesting because Thor has rarely warranted multi-dimensional introspection like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne. Seriously, what would Thor the MAN have to say? "I'm kind of a God, now I'm not. I have to stop Loki. What is this iron carriage?!". He's the one-dimensional, HEAVY METAL Marvel hero what goes to 11. You click off the distortion pedal & you end up watching a guy who's not very bright club away at an Em ad nauseum. It gets boring quick.

Still can't wait for it, though.

I liked it as long as they made the Thor side a super ego type who looked on humanity as children who needed watching by a stern adult. Otherwise it just made for a 'how is donald blake going to get to the hammer This time'
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by wadew1 

That's the whole thing. The idea of stripping Thor of his powers and throwing him in a van seems boring. Save that kind of thing for the 4th or 5th sequel when you've ran out of ideas.

Also, "de-powered Thor" (i.e. Don Blake) was always the worst thing about the comic book.

Thor's a little more complex than folks are giving him credit for.  I'd highly recommend both the Walt Simonson (virtually required reading for Thor fans) and Dan Jurgens runs on the character (the recent volume ain't bad, either).  He sometimes is done a disservice by Avengers writers who try to turn him into the hot-tempered near-berserker brute.  He may not be as consistently ingenious as Loki, but he's smart enough to get the better of him from time-to-time.

I don't mind the "depowered" angle because this film is essentially the origin story, telling us how Thor goes from arrogant jerkwad to genuine hero, and how he comes to give enough of a crap about Earth to hang around and protect it instead of spending his days smashing Giants in the Nine Realms and his nights chugging mead in the Golden City and bedding down with Sif.  They don't appear to be giving him a full-fledged "mortal alter ego" which is a good sign (though I'd be perfectly OK if say, SHIELD sets him up with a false "Donald Blake" identity just to make life on Earth easier for him).  They're just condensing the hell out of it all to squeeze it into a two-hour movie (as in the original comics he'd already been trapped in amnesiac mortal "Donald Blake" form for years before he recovered Mjolnir and it took quite a while before he regained his memories of Asgard and fully realized his own identity).

Depending on how well this does, we might get the sequels that don't have to worry about "depowered" Thor.  But will that be any better?  Budget considerations alone will mandate that a good portion of the film be non-action.  So now we'll end up with "talky powered Thor" instead of "talky unpowered Thor."  We're never going to get a movie that's just two hours straight of Thor smashing things and shooting lightning and generally wrecking shop.  Just like Iron Man only puts on his armor three or four times during his movies, or the Hulk only transforms three or four times per movie, etc...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies 

I feel like I'm the only one who's equally looking forward to both Captain America and Thor.

 

As for the whole "scenes in cars" complaint, it puzzles me. Many movies in a contemporary setting have scenes in cars. I don't think having Thor sit in a car is gonna strike most audience members as unusual. Would people prefer that characters start delivering exposition while sitting on couches?

You aren't.  I can't wait to see either one.

I'm going to start calling vehicles "iron carriages" from now on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by S.D. Bob Plissken 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies 

I feel like I'm the only one who's equally looking forward to both Captain America and Thor.

 

As for the whole "scenes in cars" complaint, it puzzles me. Many movies in a contemporary setting have scenes in cars. I don't think having Thor sit in a car is gonna strike most audience members as unusual. Would people prefer that characters start delivering exposition while sitting on couches?

You aren't.  I can't wait to see either one.

Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to both.  Cap more than Thor, but they're #1 and #2 for my "most anticipated movies this summer."  Though I suppose that might have something to do with my top 3 favorite comic characters being Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor (in that order, and it's"close" 3rd).