Thor
Studio: Paramount/Marvel
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Screenplay: Ashley Miller, Zack Stenz & Don Payne
Main Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba
SCORE: 6.3 Thor could so easily have gone wrong in so many different ways that for it to have been merely adequate should be considered a great achievement. That is more than adequate makes this one of the more impressive feats in a decade of comic book adaptations that have increasingly dominated Hollywood’s summer output since Bryan Singer’s first X-Men (2000).
These next few months could be the truest test yet of the mettle of superhero films – are they part of a trend that is due a decrease in numbers and prominence as the likes of disaster movies and teen sex comedies have before them? Or, since technology has allowed all these decades of fantastical locations and battles featured in multi-panel adventures to become fully realised and animated are these the films we’ve always wanted and now we have them we’re not about to stop demanding them?
I think it would be a shame for all those involved in Thor – from Marvel Studios who had the ambition to give this hard-to-adapt character the full big-budget treatment, Chris Hemsworth who has had to get into tremendous physical shape and also stretch his bombastic acting chops to their furthest reaches when bellowing such lines as ‘How dare you attack the son of Odin!’ to a hospital orderly all the way through to the left-field appointment of Kenneth Branagh – usually seen in films with a separate but just as clichéd predilection for tights and dress up.
Don’t get the wrong idea – this is not a great film. It will never rank alongside the likes of Richard Donner’s Superman (1978) or either of Christopher Nolan’s two Batman movies produced so far but it doesn’t embarrass itself when compared to its fellow ‘Marvel Studio Universe’ pictures Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008) or Iron Man 2 (2010). Indeed if we were to rank Thor against those three it would definitely chart higher than Louis Letterier’s plodding reboot for the angry Green Giant and Jon Faverau’s clustered sequel to his successful (although still overrated in my own opinion) origin story.
Thor is an entirely different beast and has already raised scepticism from Iron Man's star Robert Downey Jr. since this story of Gods and magic is set in a world where our previous heroes had come from slightly exaggerated versions of science we recognise as part of our world and modern military warfare. Indeed, one of the more laughable lines in the film as far as 'don't worry it all makes sense' dismissals of these concerns is to simply have Hemsworth explain to scientist Portman that magic and science are really exactly the same. I suppose Derren Brown might agree with that but I remain sceptical
The epic scale of this film is far greater than any previous superhero film has attempted with it's traversing of planets and use of myths and stories more similar to the exploits of Thesus and the Minotaur rather than Batman and the Joker. However, the tone remains suitable and faithful to its source and never feels too stupid like either of Michael Bay’s awful Transformers films (2007, 2009) or the kitsch Masters of the Universe (1987) which are much more obviously comparable than the canon to which Thor is now added.
Another enjoyable aspect of Thor is that for an origin story it’s less of a hard slog than many others, Spider-Man (2002) and Fantastic Four (2005) were two of the worst culprits that immediately spring to mind. A whole half of a film can be wasted with scenes about our hero realising and learning what powers they are capable on top of crafting a villain from scratch. Thor is fully aware of his own abilities as a magical super warrior and has already been mistaken for a deity by us primitive Earthlings after his previous battles fought in 10th century Norway.
If anything Thor discovers the powers of his hubris and the damage that can be inflicted when he instigates a resumption of the on-off battles with the Frost Kings that his weary, ageing father Odin (Hopkins) has tried to avoid since his son was an infant. The film's villain, and Thor's step-brother, Loki (Hiddleston) has been plotting his master plan since before the majority of the action in the film takes place and we come in as it starts to reach fruition. Loki’s motivations are more complex and understandable than mere evil for evil’s sake that the Lex Luthor-types usually display – the Greek (or should that be Norse?) tragedy that is his own life actually allows sympathy for a villain rarely seen outside of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Unfortunately this means that despite being a God of mischief Loki mopes more than quips so don’t expect a deified version of The Joker. Perhaps a sequel will allow a more anarchic streak to run through Loki’s actions as it would be a shame for Hiddleston – who avoided the risk of being lost in the mass of characters – to be dispatched in one film. I imagine that this won’t be the last we see of him barring disastrous box office returns.
Despite Thor, Odin and Loki’s familial woes this doesn't mean the film is all drab and serious. There is chuckles to be had – if not the hearty guffaws to match Ray Stevenson’s bellowing Volstagg. Thor’s bafflement at the New Mexico town he has been banished to, and the reactions of the locals themselves, supply a few fun moments - in particular during a trip to the local pet store. His main Earth contacts, though, are left with little to work with other than to be puzzled by the blonde hunk that literally fell from the sky during on of their nights of stargazing. Skarsgard makes occasional observations about the Nordic tales he was told as a boy but is given no chance to tell a story or explain these childhood legends brought to life to his American accomplices. Dennings is fine with what she’s given, although one wonders if her ‘I’ve got to get this on Facebook’ line won’t sound as dated as Robert Downey Jr.’s MySpace line at the start of the first Iron Man. You do wish that some of her more flirtatious lines had been given to Portman, though, since she has little with which to work. Her character has no depth nor strength of will. Her attraction to Thor seems less finding a soulmate from beyond the stars than swooning over the high school football captain. In truth her romance with Danny McBride in Your Highness has more interesting twists and turns and better sparkling chemistry.
The fight scenes are fairly unremarkable except for the final collision between Thor and Loki and for that praise must be handed in equal measure to Hemsworth, Hiddleston (who convinces as his meaty brother’s equal despite his far leaner frame) and Branagh. An unusual choice on first inspection, but Branagh really has the best pedigree possible in taking legends, folklore and unusual speech patterns and fitting them into both exotic and conventional settings at the same time. His eye for action beyond a simple one-on-one conflict may not be particularly thrilling (one dreads to imagine how the already dark visuals of the big battle in the frost kingdom of Jotenheim will look in the 3D shades of yet another annoying and artistically pointless post-converted cash grab) but his time given to the actors and the vastness of the setting is admirable. Though given little to work with at times Branagh clearly has respect for characters such as Elba's Heimdall and Jamie Alexander's Sif to allow them little moments to shine. Although Rene Russo clearly was left largely on the cutting room floor.
There is no clever-clever superior smirking all the jokes (except the usual Stan Lee cameo) seem to come naturally from within the story, plot and characters. This has the same necessary dedication and respect for its original creators as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations.
So, as far as quality goes the first hurdle of this tricky year has been passed. If the public are on board for the more mystical or overblown universes proffered this year by Thor and DC’s first serious non-World’s Finest offering Green Lantern perhaps this will open superhero movies to try for a more operatic scale befitting the special effects at their disposal. Couple this with X-Men: First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger both being period pieces (following in the footsteps of 2009’s Watchmen) placing their heroes in a time period usually only seen in Indiana Jones and Connery-era Bond and the fact that Thor and Captain America are the final pieces in The Avengers jigsaw puzzle that I expect will only do about as well financially as the least successful of all the four set-up movies.
I hope that Thor does well. The key job with this film was to be faithful and reverent to its source material whilst also being rollicking good fun. You may think this is little more than doing its job but with recent mega-blockbusters like Tron Legacy and Superman Returns it seems sometimes being simply enjoyable and having the audience leave smiling is the last thing these filmmakers are concerned about. Everything needs to be marketed as ‘darker’; everything needs to have moral uncertainties. Alan Moore has said it before but it really does seem that a slight grump he had in the mid-80s has negatively affected a lot of the work in the superhero/comic/action genre and that has now spread into summer films. Jon Faverau’s Iron Man seemed to be going in the right direction but it still had its cod serious moments. Thor, for all its faults, for the most part has done away with the indulgences of many of its contemporaries and for that alone we should be grateful for small mercies.
If this year’s comic offerings fail on more than one count, either critically or commercially, then expect many more grounded, tough, gritty superhero films. Perhaps a Green Arrow film will be released in 2013 where our hero spends his time lecturing drug addicts and foils a few gang rapes before being locked up for excessive verbal abuse of bankers at a G8 summit demonstration. And if all this happens because the movie-going public is too snooty to see a film about a Nordic God who fights Frost Giants and a creature made of fire and metal called The Destroyer with a hammer that allows him to fly in self-made hurricanes in order to prevent the Casket of Ancient Winters falling into the wrong hands then surely we only have ourselves to blame.
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