Going to the movies is a funny
experience. Not the movies themselves, only about half of those are
funny, but the experience of going to them. Prior to heading out for
Thor 2: The Dark World, I had shared an afternoon meal at the home of
my girlfriend's parents. When my girlfriend and I announced we would
be heading out to the theatre (I refuse to spell “theater”
properly, because YOLO), we had this exchange with my girlfriend's
mother:
Her: “Oh, so you're going out to see
12 Years a Slave! It's
amazing!”
Us:
“Umm, actually, we were going to see Thor.
We thought we'd have some fun, and save the crying for next weekend.”
Her:
“Whaat!? Gross. Well if you decide to be moved, and have something
to think about for the next decade, you should see 12 Years
instead.”
Right
then.
All of this is
somewhat unfair to Thor, and I'm sure the Norse god's thundering
biceps would disapprove, but I think the convo speaks marvels towards
Marvel's (sorry, yolo again) decisions about positioning their
movies. They aren't particularly interested in my parent's
generation, but they know that to gross the absurdist numbers that
they would like to gross with each iteration of their hydraform
sagas, they need to appeal to adults who might otherwise go to see a
film, rather than a movie. They promise a fun, mindless diversion
that won't leave someone in their mid-twenties embarrassed for
themselves afterward (Transformers, anyone?). The question is,
did they succeed?
The short answer,
of course, is yes.
The long answer
goes something like this:
I adored about 90
percent of this movie. The original Thor succeeded for me due
to Branagh's almost Shakespearean ambitions with the film. The use of
royal struggles to explore normal family dynamics is something I love
about the Bard, and is it me, or did the laughs in the first Thor
movie feel inspired from a few of the comedies (right down to playing
with mistaken identity) as well?
This movie delivers
that exact same feel, but peppered and zinged with a few Whedon-y
spices along the way (he's no stranger to Shakespeare either). The
dialogue leaves most cheap-thrill action movies in the dust, and as
for the action itself, well, the Marvel movies are like a fine wine.
My favorite thing
about the action in Thor is actually Thor himself. He's
practically indestructible, so the directors get to do stuff to him
that they just don't get to do to the other Avengers. Whedon obvously
had tons of fun doing this last summer – Thor is the Hulk's
favorite buddy, because he's the only teammate that the Hulk can
harmlessly punch through walls – and Alan Taylor does a great job
picking up the torch in this movie. The action feels epic and
exciting. It completely avoids “apocalypse fatigue,” (the way the
impending end of the world can feel boring because you've seen it so
many damn times) despite the high stakes, and people wanting to see
new and innovative uses of Thor's powers get plenty of the as well.
While the action is
awesome, let's get back to Shakespeare idea for a second. This movie
is at it's finest when we see the drama of a family in turmoil, both
from outside and within. Every single scene with 2 of the 4 members
of the Allfather household (Odin, Friga, Thor, and Loki) sizzles, and
even more so when one of the two members is Loki. Hiddelston is the
gift that keeps on giving, and he's as much a key to my love of the
Marvel franchise as RDJ and Whedon.
So that's a lot of
adoring. What's that last unpleasant 10%, you ask? Well, I wasn't a
fan of the villains. I'm sure the Dark Elves have a rich history in
the comics, but they felt a little flat. The head honcho was great,
but even his motivation seemed like it might have been purchased at
Forboders-R-Us. Those things, of course, are relatively minor when
we're talking about what is essentially a stop-gap movie to set the
stage for something bigger in 18 months. What really irked me was the
orcing.
Orcing is a problem
in a lot of fantasy, so this isn't the most horrible offense in the
world. The fact that it should pop up in Marvel's fantasy helping of
the superhero platter is no surprise, but great sword/sorcery stories
have been told without it, and epic battles have still taken place.
Orcing, by the way, is explained with quite a bit more expertise
in the link above, but is essentially what happens when you introduce an entire race of
people who are treated much the same way by your story as othered
races are treated by mainstream media in this country. Again, this is
a small issue with the juxtaposition of the villains that irked, but
did not remove me from the action.
Anyway, I hope you
see Thor, most of all because of Loki's charming ass, but also
because I'd love to spend some time with you, laughing and applauding
the big blondie's innovative use lightning and gutteral screaming.
Thousand year old Asgardians really can learn new tricks.
