Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Thor

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Paramount Pictures, 2011. Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard and Anthony Hopkins.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy.

Question: How do you convince women to see a comic book movie? Well, cast someone like Chris Hemsworth in it and they will come flocking. I am not kidding. But when they are there, they will discover a really entertaining movie fit for everyone.

Before seeing the movie on Sunday, I really didn't know about the origin or story of Thor. The only knowledge I had about this comic book superhero came from the little girl in Adventures in Babysitting whose hero was Thor. So I was walking in pretty much blind.

I never saw a preview and read almost nothing about the production of the latest Marvel Comics movie. I did know who was in it and I was intrigued. Chris Hemsworth, Thor, was someone I remembered from another movie I really liked a couple of years back. He was in Star Trek. He wasn't in it for very long, but his role was an important one. He gave his character real depth within just a few minutes before he was off the screen forever. Nevertheless, he was a pretty unknown actor to be cast as this movie's namesake. I knew he was cute and could decently perform but not much more.

Then the announcements came for the well-known actors: Anthony Hopkins -- a real favorite of mine. He can do anything and I will see it. Natalie Portman was also cast in it. I will admit that one threw me, and I was even more curious to see it since she didn't strike me as the typical superhero's love interest. (But what do I know? I didn't read comics growing up.)  So knowing the actors who were to be in Thor, I put it on my list for a must see movie.

Well, it finally opened this past week but I was unaware until my husband suggested taking me out to the movie theater for Mother's Day. He mentioned Thor - I smiled, broadly. So, I watched it with my daughter (9), son (11) and my husband and was pleasantly surprised with the movie. Now this is my kind of Mother's Day gift. Seriously!

It started out with a history of Thor's people and their world.  All of that was important but for about the first twenty minutes I kept having minuscule reminders of the movie: Flash Gordon. That's not a bad thing but I was starting to get a little bored with it. Then Thor is cast out to Earth for a big life-lesson by his father, Anthony Hopkins, and then the movie gets good. In fact, it becomes funny, really funny. Something I was not expecting, and then I forgave the beginning part because of how the movie turned out.

Now you know I am not going to tell you anymore about the story, but I will say there is one scene in which Chris Hemsworth shows off his acting chops and makes you realize he isn't just a hunk in a costume. I can't wait to see him play a human again and really see this guy's career blossom. (But I think we will see him again as The God of Thunder in The Avengers out next year -- wait 'till you see the cast -- WOW!)

My only problem with the film was the love story. I wasn't moved by it or completely understand it. Yes, he is cute and she ain't too bad herself but I never really saw the great connection that many on-screen couples portray. Oh well, I am not going to complain about it.

My son's favorite part: The first time Thor used his hammer in the opening of the movie. He gave it 10 out of 10.

My daughter's favorite part:  Well, I should say -- what she thought was the funniest: What Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) kept apologizing for to Thor. She gave it a 9 out of 10.

My favorite part: Discovering there was humor in this film. Well done!

My least favorite part: Not enough of one character, but we will see them again in The Avengers. YAY!

Did the previews show too much? I never saw any -- on purpose!

Rating: PG-13
Length: 114 minutes

Random thought: You should check out who played "Thor" in Adventures in Babysitting. It's kind of interesting. (These are things that never seem to leave my memory but I can't walk out of my house once without forgetting something important.) And if you haven't seen Star Trek yet -- what are you waiting for? It was really, really good!

Review: 6 out of 10. I really want to bump that to 6.5 but I don't usually rate them that way.

6 comments:

Shanae Branham said...

Great Review. I will have to go see it now.
I found you off of “I love my online friends Monday hop” from last week. I was hoping to play this week, but no party was thrown. I just became your newest follower. If you would like to return the favor I’m leaving a link to my blog below. I am looking for new friends to exchange comments with.
Cheers,
Shanae

My Blog

Tired of Previews said...

Thanks for following!! And I am glad you enjoyed the review! There are many more where that came from ;-)

Eschelle Westwood Mumfection said...

I thought this movie was good i thought and i loved natalie in it!

Tired of Previews said...

I am glad you enjoyed it!

Kimberly Gauthier, Dog Nutrition Blogger for Keep the Tail Wagging said...

You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I'm a huge comic book fan, especially Marvel comics. So much so that I have several books at home that I flip through before each movie.

It's something that I shared briefly with my father and uncle and stuck.

I didn't read your entire post, I'll have to come back next week, because I plan to see the movie on Saturday. I'm so excited and this man is so beautiful. He actually dwarfs Brad Pitt in my eyes, but not my Daniel Craig.

Looking forward to it and I'm really excited now that I've read that someone else enjoyed it!

Tired of Previews said...

Thanks Kim - although I can't see what you look like - fans of anything shouldn't have a particular look to me. If you see me - do I look like the typical movie fanatic? Maybe I do, maybe I don't. hmmm? Do a lot of girls like some of the movies I like?? I wonder.

Being a fan of something is a wonderful thing. Glad to hear about your love of comic books - you will have plenty movies to see over the next year.