Summer officially kicked off with the latest Marvel adaptation, making this at least the seventh time in 10 years if you start with Spider-man around 2002. Since they’re holding off on Captain America until Independence Day and the Hulk and Fantastic Four franchises keep needing to be ‘rebooted,’ the studios went with the next recognizable character. It is rather amazing how Marvel is on a roll in theaters while the general public is more familiar with DC’s roster of heroes and villains. To prove my point, ask your parents or some friends who don’t know squat about comic books these questions: Who are Batman’s enemies? Who are Iron Man’s enemies? I’m confident the latter will be a stumper. As for me, I really had to think hard about it.
To bring the character’s backstory into the 21st century, the writers synthesize the comic’s story arc from the early Sixties, Norse mythology and some Star Trek-Stargate-like explanations; the gods are really high-tech ‘aliens’ called Asgardians. Humans worshipped them due to the old argument surrounding magic really being technology we don’t understand. Back around 965 AD, the Mini-Ice Age was caused by the frost giants of Jotunheim (a dimension/reality/universe) as a kick off to their larger plan on conquering all nine realms. The Asgardians led by Odin came to Earth, defeated the giants and saved humanity from freezing to death. (Too bad they showed up early because most scientists agree on the Mini-Ice Age happening from 1150 to 1500 AD which coincides with the Plague years. Just nitpicking for fun.) Then Odin takes the war back to Jotunheim, kills the frost giant’s king and secures a truce from the survivors by taking away their Casket of Ancient Winters (a major power source). The losses for both sides were great which explains Odin’s impatience with anyone who fights first, thinks later. Thor and Loki missed out because they weren’t old enough to participate.
Fast forward to now.
Odin is about to make his number one son, Thor, King of Asgard when three frost giants try to recover their casket. Odin dismisses the incident as an isolated event. He doubts King Laufey (current ruler of Jotunheim) would be that stupid or bold. Thor begs to differ and leads a raid with his buddies and brother Loki in tow. Before it escalates into another full-blown war, Odin intervenes, chews Thor a new one. To appease Laufey and restore the truce, Thor is punished by losing his godhood and indefinitely exiled to Midgard (aka Earth). Meanwhile, Odin puts an Excalibur-esque condition on Mjolnir (Thor’s badass hammer) until his wayward son, or someone else more worthy, learns his lesson.
Anything further is already covered by the trailer and commercials, mainly Thor having to interact in our world…humor ensues. Those who at least read the Cliff Notes on Greco-Norse mythology also realize Loki will be the main villain since he’s Thor’s step-brother. (We can all blame Disney and the Brothers Grimm for demonizing relatives established through marriage/adoption.) Being the god of Chaos, Trickery and Deception could be another clue.
Overall I liked it. Thor certainly had the potential to be pretty awful: a huge budget, a big-name director (Branagh), an Oscar®-winning actor (Anthony Hopkins) and it’s rather long for most audiences at 130 minutes. Yet once again, Marvel thumps DC in the transition to film by successfully making the hero’s journey part of the core plot. As much as I love Richard Donner’s Superman, you do have to sit tight for an hour before Lex Luthor appears. Long expositions are for TV series, books and comics, rarely movies. My favorite touch was the semi-realistic scientific explanations involving the Asgardians’ mythos without it delving into an uber-geekdom lecture on how the Marvel Universe ‘works.’ The easiest example was the Rainbow Bridge from Asgard to the other realms being an Einstein-Rosen Bridge or its more popular nickname, a wormhole. Its dramatic climax did seem a tad rushed, something akin to an after-school special but these films lack the luxury to emotionally develop a character as well as a comic/novel could through multiple books.
Worth Seeing? Absolutely. The 3-D element doesn’t add much beyond the Asgard or Jotunheim scenes, hence save the difference saved for Green Lantern in 3-D. Somara and I spent Alamo-level money on Thor because we wanted to see what the staff would show before the movie started. Snippets from the History Channel telling the real story behind the god, various cartoon incarnations including the one I grew up with (rushing home from school to catch it on Channel 44!), an Eighties Heavy Metal band video (you could tell by the hair/clothing), the heartstring-tugging moment from Adventures in Babysitting and it wouldn’t be complete without showing Thor brawling the Hulk in 1988’s craptacular The Incredible Hulk Returns.
As always, sit through the closing credits to catch the surprise. Quick hint, it’s a clue on which movie is next in the Marvel series.