Shiny movies with pretty people: Thor

[winter]

I was somewhat dragged to see Thor, because my mother of all people decided she wants something pretty and brainless.

Not brainless, as it turned out (Kenneth Brannagh directing, J.Michael Straczynski with a writing credit, team from Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles - I should have guessed), but so. Immensely. Pretty.

Honestly, I could screencap any moment of the Asgard scenes and hang it on my wall. Classic pulp SF art, all soaring spires and gold and crystal, with angles and costumes to match. These are my childhood fairytales, and oh, they made them sing.

And really, nothing ruins it. I adore and root for Loki, of course, who is smart and tragic and engaging (and avoids chewing through scenery, unlike everyone else in Asgard and Jotunheim). There's not a single weak person in the cast, from Anthony Hopkins on down. For female characters, we get four strong major ones (a full third of MCs, impressive for a Hollywood movie) and the Bechdel test is passed with an impressive amount of technobabble. Good music. Very decent writing for a comic book movie, you can really tell which Shakespearean undertones they aimed for (and managed to hit). Chris Hemsworth in tight and/or missing shirts is the cherry on the cake.

I can get behind this kind of summer movie :) Pirates next, Captain America and X-Men First Class - anything else interesting coming out?

(Also, for a 3D movie this didn't give me a headache at all. I think the amount of CGI helps.)

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought about Thor as well. Shiny, fulfilled childhood tales, and also, Loki is so far the best and most fleshed out of the Marvel movie villains (always discounting Magneto, of course!). Granted, the competition isn't that great - I don't think anybody liked Iron Man for Obediah, or the Spiderman movies for their bad guys - but still!

And note: Thor's proof of newly gained maturity and insight isn't winning a duel or fighting better, it's being able to consider the civilians first, evacuating them, letting other people who at that point are more qualified do the fighting, and then, when it becomes clear the destructive villain is only destroying because of him, sacrificing himself without a fuss. I approve of this in an action hero.

[winter]

Loki is a villain with intelligence, motive, and a fatal tendency to out-think himself, which is something I'm intimately familiar with. Plus hey, he guilt-tripped himself into not!suicide. That boy has issues and is in clear need of cuddles. (I also loved his scene with Frigga, where it's clear that he adores her beyond measure.)

Mind you, he's matched in Thor being mostly mature, rather than the "aren't I cool??" antihero Stark, or somewhat hyperactive and moodswingy Spiderman. And I really liked the way the girls were handled - Sif being the more-or-less leader of the Warrior Three, Frigga laying into the Frost Giants with his sword, and the Jane-Darcy mentor-mentee relationship. I think I can stand behind this take on superhero movies. Here's hoping X-men:First Class is of the same class!