Why Thor Is Awesome and Why You Should Care
What you see from this post’s title is pretty much what you’ll get. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Marvel’s adaptation of the god of thunder, Thor. If you’ve been following upcoming movie for this summer you’ll know that super-hero comic book based movies are abound, Captain America: The First Avenger and Green Lantern to name these two alone.
First off, I must say that I knew nothing from the source material, I’ve seen how he looked in the comics and I had basic knowledge of Norse mythology (Odin, Loki, Thor, Asgard and Ragnarök). So with all that, when I saw the first trailers for this movie I was very skeptical. Even with the latest TV spots I was not sold on the movie’s potential. The premise of the movie is presented simply: Thor used to be a big shot in his world until his father Odin exiled him to Earth. He is taken out of his element and stripped from his powers. But that is not really how the movie starts, you get to enjoy a full initial chapter in the other realms where Thor and his warrior friends fight and kick ass.
In many ways, this movie’s sets and costumes can be very annoying. They either looked fabricated for a movie set or where essentially CG elements. But it can be forgiven when you understand that this movie tries to be funny above everything else. There are silly characters, poor one-liners but they serve their purpose gracefully. Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor has invested a great deal to the gym and thankfully has very few lines to say, how often does your main character also serve as comic relief.
Now what is so special about this movie? It clearly binds together other Marvel properties by making references to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and cameoed Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner.
Times again I fall back on my feelings on how to judge a movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and I fear the marketing failed to let audiences figure out the scope of this movie. It’s a movie about family, friendship and redemption. I felt I could relate to that and was entertained until the end. Make sure to stick past the credits for the usual stinger tying this movie with others ramping up to the release of The Avengers in 2012 that will feature all the characters they’ve spent millions presenting on the big screen. I almost forgot about Nathalie Portman… well that’s all there is to say really. She had the opportunity to matter as a love interest and I did not buy it, and didn’t care. Haha!
