Thor - Get Hammered And Just Enjoy The Ride

What better way to start my string of reviews in this blog than a movie that starts the string of summer blockbusters this year? None, of course.

I'm talking about Thor, the movie that had its first screening on the silver screen on the same day I finished my exams. Yes, the legendary Norse god Thor.

Chris Hemsworth plays Thor, the arrogant son of Odin Allfather (Anthony Hopkins) and the heir to his father's throne. Odin is the king of the mythical realm of Asgard, which maintains an uneasy peace with its ancient enemy, the Frost Giants from the realm of Jotunheim. Just before Thor is about to be crowned king of Asgard, some Frost Giants managed to sneak their way into Asgard to steal an ancient artifact which Odin took from them after the war ended. Thor obtains the passage from Heimdall (Idris Elba), guardian of the portal between worlds, to lead an impetuous raid into Jotunheim with his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his friends Sif (Jaime Alexander), Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano) and Fandral (Joshua Dallas). Thor's arrogance offends Laufey (Colm Feore), the Frost Giant's king, bringing Asgard and Jotunheim to the brink of war - and for this, Odin strips him of his power and banishes him to Earth. There, he meets and befriends astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her research team comprising Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy (Kat Dennings) - whilst his mystical hammer Mjolnir lands somewhere else in the New Mexico desert and attracts the attention of Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) of SHIELD.

And boy, what a fun movie this is.

First of all, I know nothing about Thor since I've never read any of the comic series and I've never seen the shows. All I know is that he is the god of thunder from Marvel and that's it. I'm astounded that this movie managed to make an attempt in making the audience know Thor well enough for them to understand the rest of the movie. Apart from that, this movie managed to make itself fun and get its tonality right, which, in the case of other superhero movies, are severely lacking. Chris Hemsworth is the perfect man to play Thor right from his physical attributes down to his cheery naiveness in trying to blend in with the people on Earth. The movie even got the action scenes entertaining enough as well as the humor. Actually, its pretty much like the first Iron Man movie, not the second one.

Which is not to say that it's a carbon copy of Iron Man, of course. See, Thor does not fight crimes nor does he even have a secret identity. Thor only fights for himself initially but he then learns a thing or two on the importance of being humble and what it takes to be a true king. Yes, Thor is arrogant, but he's charming enough to pull it off even when he's just being a stuck-up arrogant dick. His role is quite tricky to pull off, actually, since he has to speak in a royally manner with all the "thee"s and "thou"s while at the same time being entertaining enough. And to the people who thought Thor's learnt about respect and humility in just a very short time, well, here are my responds:
1. Thor is a god
2. Its based on a comic book franchise.

I also salute Tom Hiddleston who nailed the character Loki. Loki is Thor's brother who envies Thor for becoming the new king of Asgard. According to the myth, Loki is the god of mischief and I don't know whether its just me, or is Tom Hiddleston's facial features are just perfect for Loki? He KINDA resembles Loki in the animation and comic book series in terms of looks. His expressions and actions also nailed the character's role in this movie and the thing is, Tom is quite new to the world of acting. Because of that, I was very impressed by him and I'm hoping that he could be starred in any other movies after this one. Thor and Loki as well as Thor and Odin established high enough chemistry to portray the brotherly love-hate and father-son dynamic relationships respectively.

However, it is kind of disappointing to see the lack of chemistry between Thor and Jane. Basically, Jane is just there to be Thor's girl and she doesn't really have enough usefulness inside of her to be a significant character. Its like the director of this movie just decided, "Hey, all superhero needs a damsel, so why don't we come up with Jane and give her a role as a student majoring in some kick-ass course, say, astrophysicist". And Thor fell in love with her during the course of 2-3 days he's on Earth? That's weird, innit? See, their relationship doesn't convince me at all, since Thor can fall in love with Sif during the whole time he's in Asgard. Sif has her own looks and she can handle her own in any battle. So, what's so special with Jane seeing that she doesn't really reprise any significant role here? On the other hand, Darcy is a much more entertaining character compared to Jane since her dialogues are witty despite being a bit monotonous. Heimdall, too, is quite a good character in this movie since I didn't expect the role of a gatekeeper to be THAT important.

One more issue is, Asgard is supposedly a realm, right? So why didn't I see any other citizen there other than the king, queen, Thor, Loki and the other 4 warriors? The only time where we get to see other people in the realm was when Thor was about to become king. Its like the realm is totally devoid of people carrying out their daily activities other than lounging in the castle. Hmmmm... Its not really a major issue, but that was what I noticed, nonetheless.

Overall, this movie is a joy to watch although there are some character issues in terms of character developments. This movie is longer than I expected, actually. It clocks up to 2 hours but since it is fun, the 2 hour length didn't really matter to me. Also, wait until the credits end to watch the scene where they established the buildup to the Avengers movie. If you don't know, The Avengers is coming out next year where it combines Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America into one team. Look out for that.

Thus, that concludes my first ever review of a movie. Of course, after this, I'll be reviewing movies that came out before Thor, and this includes Malaysian movies. See, I don't want to be bias, although my expectations won't be THAT high. If you read this, please feel free to drop any comments or suggestions on my writing, my style of review, etc.

I'll give it a 4/5 stars

Au revoir~

Next review: Legenda Buda Setan
Expectations: ..meh...