Daenen's Thoughts

It was with a certain apprehension that I began watching Thor this past week. I grew up as a comic book fan, but I mostly stuck with the X-Men. The Avengers were a periphery at most. Marvel picked an actor that I'd never heard of to play the titular character, so my interest continued to decline. Then, something happened. Two names were attached to the film - Sir Anthony Hopkins and Kenneth Branagh. 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last forty years, you know Anthony Hopkins. He never fails to amaze when he's on screen. His infamous roll as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the award-winning Silence of the Lambs cemented him as one of the greatest actors of all time. And suddenly, he was set to play the All-Father, Odin. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued. 

And then we have the lesser-known Kenneth Branagh. If you know Shakespeare, you know Branagh. For the past thirty years, the names have gone hand in hand. Most people know him as Gilderoy Lockhart from the Harry Potter series, but I've been following his career since 1989 when he directed and starred in Henry V. He went on to star in and direct Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Hamlet, and Love's Labors Lost. He also directed, starred, and adapted for film another classic - Mary Shelly's Frankenstein.

So wait a minute. They got one of the greatest actors of all time to play a god, and a director who has a ton of experience directing classics and Shakespearian epics into a comic book movie about a Norse god. Okay, now I HAD to see this movie.

Despite my excitement for Branagh and Hopkins in this movie, I still approached the theater with a certain apprehension. I find that if I go to a movie expecting it to be average, not great but not crap, I get a better feel for the movie once its over. For example, I saw the original Blade back in 1998 and I hated it. The problem was, I assumed that I was going to see a vampire movie, the likes of Bram Stoker's Dracula or Interview with a Vampire. Then I realized that its not a vampire movie, its a comic book action movie that just happens to have vampires in it. With that in mind, I braved the theater once again and enjoyed the movie for what it was.

Thor, on the other hand, I didn't know what to expect. Was it a Norse Mythology movie? Was it a Comic Book movie? Was it an action movie? I didn't know what to expect, other than it should be similar to the last three Avengers prequels (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and The Incredible Hulk). So I sat down, not knowing exactly what to expect, but secretly hoping that Branagh was able to take some of that Shakespearian epicness that he's displayed throughout the years and deftly weave it into what could otherwise be a crappy comic book movie.

I was not disappointed. I won't give any spoilers here, just my impressions. The acting was great on all parts, but the thing that really impressed me was the way the movie flowed and the characters grew. Odin seems like a complete asshole at the beginning of the movie, but you see as it progresses that he's a firm, but loving father. Thor is a spoiled brat who gets some tough love by being banished to Earth, but he can get his powers back when he grows up and stops being a jerk.

Loki, however, is where the real magic is. The mark of a great villain is one that you identify with. Sure, all of us want to be heroes, so its easy to empathize with them. But a villain that can do that is a rare treat. Loki was the hidden gem in this movie, and his rise to villainhood is truly Shakespearian in scope and nature. You can see Branagh's hand in all the aspects of this movie, but when it comes to Loki's story, it truly shines through.

Overall, I give this movie 4/5 stars. The problem with it is that its part of a series. The Marvel Universe is vast, and they've been setting up an Avengers movie since Iron Man. As a stand alone movie, Thor was a lot of fun. We'll have to wait till next year to see how well the whole series blends together. Its impossible to judge a series as a whole while its still incomplete, but we shall all wait with baited breath until next year when Avengers hits theaters.