I saw the film yesterday. I really liked it, but it wasn't without it's issues. I don't know, it kinda felt like it had parts of a really good movie mixed in with parts of a really bad movie.
I'll get the bad out of the way first. I, personally, really disliked a lot of the aesthetics of the film, particularly during the Asgard scenes. The costumes, the music cues, the set designs... a lot of the time they felt like something straight out of a bad 90s superhero film. The Warriors Three in particular just looked cheap. And surprisingly, even some of the special effects look poor, the kind of dodgy greenscreen stuff that I wouldn't expect from Marvel's recent output. There were several moments in the film where we'd have a lingering close-up on a badly designed character, standing in an unconvincing set, and this overblown music cue would swell up... and I'd cringe. And if I was watching in the company of non-comic fans, I'd probably be a bit embarrassed.
But despite some of the shoddy elements on the surface, where it really counts, there was a whole lot to like. While I was finding the Asgard stuff at the beginning to be a bit cheesy and campy, once the action shifted to Earth, things really picked up. It is in these sequences that Chris Hemsworth truly shines - the earnest, arrogant fantasy hero persona of the earlier scenes plays brilliantly in this fish-out-of-water situation. So, just as I was beginning to fear that the film would be scuppered, it quickly recovered and turned itself around.
I think what truly elevates the film are the central performances. Chris Hemsworth was the main unknown commodity coming into the film, but he delivers in spades. While some might have before questioned if he could survive in The Avengers without being acted off-screen by Robert Downey Jr, here he shows the charisma and screen presence to make me eagerly anticipate the two sharing scenes together. Some cynics talked about how the film would need a quality supporting cast to carry the young actor, but here he proves more than capable of carrying the film himself.
But perhaps my favorite performance is that of Tom Hiddleston's Loki. I always had a good feeling about Hiddleston in the role, and he lived up to my expectations, giving us a nuanced, at times even sympathetic villain whose motives remain ambiguous right to the end. I really can't wait to see more of this compelling performance, and so hope he's showcased well in The Avengers.
Anthony Hopkins brings some admirable gravitas to Odin, getting a good share of powerful, even heartwrenching scenes. The movie is at its very best when exploring the father/son/brother dynamic between Thor, Loki and Odin. It's a testmament to the acting ability of all three that, in spite of the costumes and the set and the music cues, you're still utterly immersed in the human drama when these three are playing off each other.
While I wouldn't say there are any particularly bad performances, there are plenty of people who don't get much time to shine. Rene Russo, once a big star, seems now relegated to giving concerned looks in the background as Thor's mother Frigga. Which is a shame, as in the first draft of the script the scenes between Loki and Frigga were some of the highlights of the story. It seems her part was cut into oblivion in the process of adaptation. The Warrios Three, as well as being poorly served by their costumes, only had lip service paid to their personalities. Sif fares a bit better, though we don't really get much sense of any real closeness with Thor, with her seeming more like part of "The Warriors Four". Idris Elba does really well as Heimdall, who has a larger role than you might think. Ironically, considering all the criticism his casting garnered, that he's perhaps more convincing as a Norse God than anyone.
Thor is not perfect, but overall I left the cinema with a good impression of what I'd seen. And stay for the post-credits sequence: it gave me goosebumps, and left me eagerly anticipating the possibilities in store for The Avengers.
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