On Hulking Norse Men

It has been thought, in a couple of emails that I have recently received, that I may be dead. Well...whilst I can with great certainty say that I am currently not dead, I cannot say that I never was dead - and I most definitely cannot say that the way Death plays with you when you make a bargain with him for renewed life makes the Celestial Toymaker from Doctor Who look like a small child in a sandpit. I most certainly cannot say this because...well...because I was most certainly not dead. I was just a bit busy, and a bit tired following that. But it's okay now - I'm back - and you can all go on living your lives as though the past...however many weeks it has been...never happened. Oh, and before you think I forgot, yes, I will be keeping on with the challenge posts, but I'll be using them as filler (also I still haven't gotten the photos taken so...nyer...)

On Saturday night, instead of playing Spud's game (as he was tired and busy working on a management assessment that, I believe, may be due today) Squiggles, Emma, Kylie, Elmo, and myself decided to go to the cinema to watch Thor. I was fairly excited about this, as we had planned on going the week before, however the plan fell through (as it tends to do when it involves leaving the house and spending money, especially around holidays such as Easter.) So, as we drive ever closer to the impending Captain America film, and the increasingly titillating Avengers film, I figured I may as well give you a bit of a review of Thor (my mother's favourite Avenger...)

 My Mother Sings This All The Time

I must first, before I start to tell you of the film itself, get something out of the way. The version of Thor that I saw was in (to my initial unknowing naivety, and subsequent weeping horror) mind-destroying, soul-crushing, nausea inducing, satisfactory adjective escaping 3D. For the initiated, 3D tends to make me slightly queasy, and I feel that it doesn't particularly add anything to the film experience at this stage in its development - I'm there for the story, after all, and looking pretty is just a bonus. Thor, whilst looking exceptionally beautiful as far as visual effects goes, did not (in my opinion, of course) need to be shown in 3D - it made me feel as if I was watching the action through a view-finder, where everything is 2D, but at differing levels. Still, I didn't throw up (although I did have to remove my glasses several times), and I was able to kind of get past it to enjoy the visuals that were presented, which (as I said before) were really well done.

Grasping His Hammer

Still, there is no point seeing something that runs for 114 minutes simply because it is pretty - there has to be some substantial story there as well...And Thor does not disappoint. Basically, as with all of the pre-Avengers films that are coming out, Thor is an origin story...of sorts...I mean, it's the origin of how he came to defend Earth, but it's not really the origin of Thor from the beginning. You won't see him become drenched in hundreds of Nordic battles, for instance (although there are some really nifty fight scenes.) Instead what you get is the tale of a fallen god. A man who let his arrogance and vaingloriousness get the better of him, who defied the wishes of his father and king, and who was banished to Earth - devoid of all power - until he could learn a little bit of a lesson.

The acting was more than passable - I mean, it was a bit hammy in some spots, but when you're playing the godlike son of the Allfather, who could blame you for playing it up a little bit. Really, though, Chris Hemsworth does a brilliant job of portraying Thor (and he looks spectacular) and has certainly come a long way from his days on Home-And-Away. Natalie Portman does a great job of bringing humanity to the film, and the interactions between her character, Jane, and Thor are superbly done - funny when they need to be, touching when they want, and always engaging. As for villainy, Tom Hiddleston's Loki felt like he was simply made of slime and skeeze, and whilst I knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. were only looking out to protect the planet (or America, whatever) I still kind of wanted Thor to kick their teeth in, in a kind of barbaric Scott Pilgrim sort of way.

Continuity wasn't really broken so much, which pleases me. I mean, no mention was made of Thor's need to eat the golden apples to sustain his immortality, but this is possibly because he spent the majority of the film as a mortal, stranded on Earth (why bother telling someone about something like that, when they're going to look at you cock-eyed?) They kind of ignored the fact that Jane was actually a nurse for Thor's secret identity (Donald Blake), but making her a physicist was pretty awesome, even if it did remove the whole 'love-triangle but not really because they're the same person' aspect to the relationship (but it's a film, so it's not like it could be developed very well.) What I was really excited about (I believe I actually bounced up and down a little bit when I realised) was the cameo by Hawkeye - seriously, stuff like that really gets me going.

He Wasn't Quite So...Purple...Though

Without really spoiling anything, all I can say is that you need to go and watch Thor - especially if you are as into comics and super-heroes as I am. Sure, the plot is somewhat clichéd/predictable, but there are so many reasons for this that...well...they speak for themselves. I mean, for starters, it's a superhero/comic book story - it's kind of what they're for. Not only that, but it's a story that already exists (which may have tainted my viewing of it being predictable, admittedly). Finally - it's heavily influenced by Norse mythology. And still, the team working on the film managed to squeeze every drop of creativity that they could from this. Watch this film. Do it. Now.