Marvel's Thor utilizes an excalibur-esque story to perfection in its interpretation of the comic book. There is a lot for me to comment on with the film.
I will begin with Hemmsworth. The trailers don't do his performance justice at all. Hemmsworth brings Thor to life almost as well as RDJ did for Tony Stark (though Stark I feel is a slightly better performance). He balances the arrogance and regal nature of early Thor with the more wisened Thor after all this transpires. Where Hemmsworth really shines is with Portman on screen, but I'll get more to that later. Thor's arc is obvious, but the excalibur story really works. It gives Thor a reason to change who he is and realize his inner faults, starting as a man whose eventual rule of Asgard is a fact and matter of time, and only when he finds a love and discovers the treachery of his brother, whom he loves dearly, can he face and beat his brother and make the ultimate sacrifice of losing his new love. Very good! Chris Evans I hope can measure up to Hemmsworth and RDJ!
But, a hero is only as good as his villain, and this film has EASILY the best villain in a Marvel film to date in Loki. I absolutely LOVED Loki and the direction they went with him. Loki shines in every scene and tricks even us. You believe Loki is doing all this to take Asgard, but it was really all about impressing his father and overshadowing his brother, who has always roamed the spotlight in the family, for once in his life. When Loki is trying to get Thor to fight him, you can see the mix of love and hate in Hiddelston's eyes. It's beautifully done, and he is a sad character. I felt REALLY sorry for Loki. I didn't want him to win, of course, but when he says to Odin "I could have done it father," as a younger brother myself, I can't help but understand that pain and isolation Loki was showing. Hiddelston does a great job, as does the script with Loki. Loki is leaps and bounds over the previous Marvel film villains. Hugo Weaving has a tough act to follow.
One of the things I always say about Iron Man is the 2nd half kind of mills around with little change in Stark's character arc, and for this reason, Thor's script and overall narrative is much better. In the 1st half of Iron Man, it is paced well and the arcs are nicely done. But, once he starts building the armor at home, it stagnates. The characters in Thor are always changing and always moving forward. The only thing the script falters on is the briefness of Thor's exile to Earth. It lasts a whole 2 days, and in that 2 days, Foster convinces him Earth is great and they're in love? This would be sloppy, but Portman and Hemmsworth have such great chemistry, shoddy writing actually works and minimizes the flaw. I also don't feel like SHIELD was forced into the movie or anything in a distracting way, like Black Widow in IM2. It all made sense and worked.
This film has such great atmosphere, too. Asgard is gorgeous! The color pallet, the clothing, everything. It has such a clear and brilliant atmosphere. It sucks you in! The Frost Giants contrasting world of darkness and emptiness is also great, but in a much different way. The score for the film is also amazing. It compliments what is going on in the movie VERY well. My favorite piece of music is when Thor is having the ceremony, before it is interrupted. Great music for that moment. This film also uses a lot of tilted angles, which on Earth really work cause it adds a bit of surrealism to the events, which include a fallen God.
This film was everything I wanted out of it. Great in almost every way. His brief stay on Earth is really the only flaw of the film worth mentioning. Other than that, excellent film and Marvel's best to date! You're up next, Captain America. I hope you're up to the challenge!
4/5
nice
