New Lord of Asgard
This four part, seventy-plus minute feature film begins with the defeat of Thor by the hands of his step brother Loki. Loki overthrows Odin, thereby taking rule of Asgard, and intends to rule it with an iron hand. He keeps Thor in a dungeon, something that gives him great pleasure. Loki feels justified in his new position — always doubted, overlooked, or held down in his youth, Loki is now the Lord of Asgard, and he’s eager to prove to his people that he deserves to be in this position.
This is a difficult role, however, and he is bothered by the constant demands in being the Lord of Asgard. Hella, a character I had previously not known, approaches him early in the film. A sneaky, powerful entity, she is eager to consume Thor’s soul and convinces Loki to go through with it (didn’t take a lot of convincing really). Loki has his people begin construction of an extensive outdoor execution stage on which he plans to have Thor beheaded.
While most of the movie is about Loki feeling he deserves to be the Lord of Asgard, and the imminent execution of Thor, much time is spent with Loki examining his life and past. It can be a bit wordy at times, like a Shakespearean play, but the voice acting is outstanding, especially for Loki. Some voice acting, like that of Odin and to a degree Thor, are not as good, but the performance of Loki’s voiceover was overwhelmingly good.
Art from Esad Ribic and animation from Magnetic Dream is gorgeous — facial detail is superb, and the lighting used is also great. Of the Marvel Knights Animation movies I have seen to date, I think this one takes the cake for being the most visually impressive.
On DVD
For a seventy-two minute animated movie, you expect a plain DVD release, but Shout! and Marvel did a nice job here. After skipping over numerous trailers, a mature, somber, and lightly animated menu with appropriate music greets you and yields three options: Play All, Episodes, and Bonus Features. There are four episodes, each roughly seventeen minutes long. Under Bonus Features, you will find:
-Sons of Asgard: Looking Back At Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers with Robert Rodi & Esad Ribic (14.5m) – This feature has two separate interview sessions with writer Robert Rodi and artist Esad Ribic. Both share their thoughts on the creation of the movie, including their intentions and challenges; well worth a watch.
-Behind the Scenes (~21m) – This segment can be optionally watched in roughly seven minute chunks, or there is also a ‘Play All’ function. Here, Magnetic Dreams, the animation studio that helped bring this movie to life, talks all about the project. Some interesting picture-in-picture behind the scenes footage is shown, and the final segment actually focuses on how motion comics are created. Interviews with Mike Halsey, President of Magnetic Dreams, as well as Directors Mark Cowart and Joel Gibbs are included.
-Original Trailer (1.5m)
There are other trailers for other Marvel Knights Animation movies, too. To the summary…