When I watch a movie at home I take notes. I know, I am a dork. But I have a lot of thoughts that I want to make sure I remember for my blogs. My notes comment on movie connections, music cues, specific shots or camera angles, lines of dialogue and so on. I really wished that I had my note book while I watched this movie. There was a lot to comment on. A quick synopsis would be: An arrogant prince from a far away planet is banished to earth until he can learn modesty. All the while his ill father is being deceived by his adopted brother. Then throw in a bunch of crap to further set up the Avengers movie and there you have it.
I would like to write more about the motives of Loki, Thor's brother, but I truly don't understand his actions. Either he is a far more complicated and Shakespearean character than we have ever seen from any of these Marvel movies (an most Shakespearean plays even) or he is poorly written. Sometimes he seems to be doing good by his home, others times he is thinking only of himself. Sometimes he seems hungry for the throne and will do anything to be crowned King, other times he is only wants the title to gain the praise of his father. Sometimes he is a warring monster against a neighboring planet, other times he seems to be working along side them in an attempt to destroy his home. This kind of dichotomy can be very effective if handled properly but in this script he is jumping from personality to personality in the same scene. I never knew what he was going to do or say. And I meant that in a bad way.
When did WWF superstar Chris Jericho become a movie star? The character of Thor is played by Chris Hemsworth. A beefcake of an actor mostly known for his TV work, which is my way of saying I have never heard of him before. I suppose he fit the part. I don't really have anything negative to say about his performance. I wonder how many others roles he will fit the bill for. He is a muscular, chiseled good looks type. It seems like in today's industry Hollywood isn't really making many movies with bulked up dudes in them the way they were in the 80's, but I wish him well. Natalie Portman is his love interest. She is very cute in the role and she isn't asked to do much more than that. Kat Dennings (who I find to be a manic pixie dream girl) is only in the movie to spew comic relief. I am talking 100% of her dialogue is supposed to be funny. She doesn't have a single line that couldn't be followed by a rim shot. Anthony Hopkins is the king. It seems he was allowed free range to get as theatrical as he wanted. But it worked. I was glad he never winked about his performance. Playing it straight saved what could have been a way over the top production.
The rest of the cast consists of characters actors who are simply set dressing. I have a question though. Why does the Asian guy on Thor's home planet speak with an accent? Is the character from the Chinese area of that planet?
Thor is filled to the brim with CGI. Some effective, some not. The effective things were the little flourishes and touches that were sprinkled around to better flush out the environment. The large lavish backdrops and monsters felt and looked fake. It made me long for the days of Superman where his fortress of solitude was an actual set and not just a green screen backdrop. There was depth and a sense of placement in those real world settings. Like human, or alien hands had actually spent time there.
Speaking of sense of placement, I thought the battle sequences were poorly staged. It just looked like flashing colors and grunts. Then camera moved to quickly and the editing was too cut up to provide any sense of location. Think of The Bourne movies. When Jason Bourne is in a hand-to-hand fight you might actually duck when a punch is being thrown. That is because you know exactly where you are in relationship to the action on screen. Not even 3-D (which I did not see this in) can make up for bad and over enthusiastic camera work.
Speaking of camera work the Dutch angles in this film are over the top. A Dutch angle is where the horizon is not parallel with the bottom or top of the screen. The view is askew. This technique is to subtly inform the viewer that something is not right in the story, or that something strange is going on here. Kenneth Branagh, the director of Thor used this technique at nauseoum. I bet there are near 100 Dutch Angle shots. When used correctly it is a great tool to infer some bizarre happenings. Here is draws attention to it's self and took me out of the picture. There is another rule of camera work, and that is never to rotate the camera more than 180 degrees in a single take. This type of movement can make the viewer disoriented and loose perspective. I like when directors smash these cinematic conventions, but in Thor Branagh does it at least twice and both time I felt like I was totally lost and removed. I was disoriented. This is a convention because it is true.
All in all I would say that the movie was a little thin, and I could have lived without the SHEILD stuff entirely. But I will have to say that I was somewhat entertained by Thor. My only other note would have mentioned something about wanting to see Yoshi and Mario on dirt bikes riding along the rainbow road. I give Thor ★★★.
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