Thor (2011)

Thor Review
Review # 150

3/5 stars

Director – Kenneth Branagh

Cast – Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard

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– followed by The Avengers

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Thor continues Marvel’s journey to the intensely awaited The Avengers. Directed by Kenneth Branaugh (of all people), the movie follows the titular arrogant supernatural being/god as he finds himself banished on Earth after a brash attack on a similarly supernatural group of beings called Jötunn (or “Frost Giants”). To regain his superhuman abilities and the respect of his father, Odin, Thor must find humility and lose his arrogance. Or something like that.

Anthony Hopkins appears as Odin, Colm Feore plays the Frost Giant King, and Stellan Skarsgard mentors Natalie Portman’s young and ambitious scientist. I get the feeling that a cast like this would not have been possible without Kenneth Branaugh’s involvement as director. And seriously, how the hell did they get Mr. Shakespeare to do a superhero movie? In interviews Hopkins and Branaugh constantly mention the “Shakespearean themes” in the story. Well, there is a squabbling royal family, I guess that counts.

Released just months before Captain America, there was a lot riding on the success of the two films. Imagine if they both tanked and hadn’t found an audience, especially as The Avengers had already been started. Hundreds of millions of dollars would have been lost. But it wasn’t that likely, was it. The question remains though, could they find a way to make the films work?

They did, for the most part. Thor finds himself mingling with already introduced characters such as Agent Coulson, numerous references are made to Iron Man and other future Avengers, and the tone (on Earth anyway) is kept as realistic as we have come to expect. There may not be a huge amount of chemistry between Hemsworth and Portman, and the script gives them even less to work with, but it does get by, and in a fairly pleasant fashion.

Thor is best looked at as a part of a whole, that whole being the Avengers franchise. It serves to introduce both the character of Thor and his villainous brother Loki, and also the concept of supernatural beings as superheroes. Up to this point in the Marvel-verse superheroes are the result of serums (The Incredible Hulk and then Captain America), or super-suits (Iron Man), so to introduce gods into the equation seems a little off. All in all the movie meshes itself in well to the established continuity, and that is really all it wants to do. A more unique story would have been welcome, but what we have here is done well.

OVERALL

Thor is fairly unremarkable, though the special effects and most of the visual design is great. The script holds back the movie, which, while solid and workmanlike, likes to dips its toes in the pool of cliché once or twice too often. It is best seen as a build up to The Avengers, and as such it does what it is expected to.

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TRAILER

“Thor” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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45 – Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones REVIEW

3/5 stars

Director – George Lucas

Cast – Ewan McGregor, Hadyn Christenson, Natalie Portman, Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz

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— follows Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

— followed by Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

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The second in Lucas’ prequel series, Attack of the Clones, features some excellent scenes and some iconic sequences. We see the rise of Anakin, soon to become Darth Vader, and begin to understand the choices and events which shaped him into one of cinemas greatest villians.

The visual sense of the movie is awe-inspiring. During the first half we see many sweeping views of the city-planet Coruscant. We have heard this plant reffered to before, but now we see it in all its glory. It truly is amazing. However there is so much of it that after a while we become numb to it. The key to great and inspiring images is usually simplicity. What is one of the best images in Star Wars IV: A New Hope, and an iconic image in general? A single Star Destroyer in space emerging slowly from the top of the screen. It’s iconic becuase it is simple and has great visual impact. In Attack of the Clones everything is so cluttered that it’s hard to grasp onto.

The storyline is cluttered as well, and goes on far too long. One of the driving forces of the story is the blossoming relationship between Padme and Anakin. This whole aspect is what cripples the story. Not only does Anakin come off as extremely creepy, but the romantic dialogue is awful, trite, and full of cliche. And there’s so much of it! Hadyn Christenson is half-decent (see Shattered Glass) when he is given good material, but here that is rare to say the least. The action scenes are spectacular, but they really can not make up for a good story.

However I must admit that the fighting/battle sequences are good. There is a space battle between Boba Fetts father and Obi Wan Kenobi (in an asteroid field) that is wonderful. The last bit of the movie is a huge battle between the Jedi’s Clones and battle droids, and is of huge scope and grandeur. Yoda also has his first fight scene that we have seen, and it is spectacular. Having Yoda fight Chrisopher Lee (as Count Dooku) was a great choice. It could have been quite a ridiculous thing, watching a little frog hopping around in a lightsaber fight, but it works quite well. Watching him zipp around was one of my favorite things I could remember from the first time I saw it in theatres.

Afterwards we see that Count Dooku has employed some of his allies to build a certain large moon-like space station, the Death Star. Realizing you have just seen the birth of just an iconic image was wonderful.

However as I said, without a well done storyline the movie starts to fail. Without the epic fights, sweeping battles, and the sheer power of the mythology, the movie would have fallen flat. Even with all those, it still isn’t great. Just “mediocre”, with awesome moments sprinkled in randomly.

OVERALL

Star Wars fans will be the ones to get the most out of Attack of the Clones. It’s worth a watch, but mainly because of what it is a part of, not on its own merits. It’s a bit too long, and George Lucas still can’t write dialogue to save his life.

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TRAILER

“Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” on other websites:

IMDB —– Rotten Tomatoes —– Wikipedia

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