Synopsis
When the arrogant God of Thunder, Thor, is banished to Earth from his home world, Asgard, and then pursued by the darkest forces of Asgard, he must learn what it takes to become a true hero.
Kenneth Branagh’s film opus of one of Marvel Studios oldest characters was a good one. He took one of the hardest characters to produce a solid story about, and in under two hours produced what I consider one of the top five films of 2011. The film was entertaining, engaging and it opened the door for what’s to come in The Avengers. What’s most remarkable about this film is that it’s not trying to be more than it is; simply put, it’s a good story mixed with good drama, and there’s nothing particularly great about it. Why is that remarkable? Well, Branagh seemed to know the character and story’s limits. He understood that he was making a film to entertain comic book fans, and not critics. With help from writers Ashley Miller, Don Payne and Zack Stentz, Branagh put together a story of character’s fall from paradise and his redemption. That story has been done a million times, but Branagh’s contribution to that number seemed to be one with solid character development and engaging action. You like Thor at the beginning, you understand why he did what he thought was right, and most of all you fully understand why he gets banished from Asgard. All of it makes sense and flows well from beginning to end thanks to solid character development and properly placed plot points. Again, nothing was over the top. There literally isn’t a dull moment in the film, rather there are several powerful moments that Branagh creates well (I won’t go through them, but you’ll know them when you see them). You’ll be pleased with what he has put together for you and you’ll walk away thinking, “I could watch this again.”
Just an easy, fun movie to view.
Of course, the casting helped to make the movie. Chris Hemsworth as Thor was a fantastic choice. He’s a gorgeous man with experience in action films. He looks and plays the part of a Norse God perfectly. He also brings some real emotion to the character. You’ll see him at his highest peak then you’ll see the slow decline of happiness as he understands his banishment. You’ll see him grow from human to hero. Hemsworth does a fantastic job with the story’s rollercoaster ride and nothing, much like the film, seems forced or over the top. With that said, Thor’s brother (and nemesis) Loki was perfectly played by Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston seemed to grasp who Loki was from the comic; a silver tongued manipulator. He played the part of the weaker brother well, and when he was asked to turn up the evil to 11 he didn’t hesitate or disappoint. He was believable as Loki and he’ll be just as entertaining to watch in The Avengers. As for the rest of the cast, Anthony Hopkins nailed Odin. He was born for that role and I’m positive that Branagh knew who Odin was to be before pre-production even began. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster was good and provided some subtle comedy relief when needed (plus a cute love story).
All in all, the casting helped to make the film what it is, which was fun to the end.
So, are there any issues with the film? Not really. Again, it wasn’t a ‘great’ film, but it was really quite good. When I say it wasn’t ‘great’ I’m not knocking it; it just didn’t try to be more than what it was, which is always a great thing when it comes to filmmaking and storytelling.
Anyway, let’s talk tech!
*This film was reviewed using Active Shutter technology.*
The 3D portion of this release is subtle and at the same time very stylish. Kenneth Branagh seems to be one of the few directors that didn’t visibly force the 3D action. Unlike movies such as TRON Legacy and Captain America, which purposely put in scenes to entice the 3D viewing experience, Thor doesn’t seem to go that route. For example, in Captain America there is a scene where he throws his shield towards the camera, it bounces off a tank and then returns to hit an enemy. The entire process was made for the 3D effect, and in a sense it’s sorta cheesy. In Thor, you really don’t get any of those types of forced scenes. So what does that mean? Well, there isn’t anything too outrageous or over the top when it comes to the 3D element in the film, so it’s not typical. What you do get are some gorgeous and good moments in the film that use 3D when it is needed. For example, when Thor, and crew, are using the Bifröst to head to Jötunheimr to confront the ice giant king Laufey, the entire process of Heimdall activating the device to send them is one of the more gorgeous 3D scenes I’ve witnessed to date. You get this very deep, rich round room where the electricity from Heimdall’s sword sprawls out everywhere in the scene. It will look like electricity is shooting out to the edges of your television set; very cool visuals.
The only other scenes to rival that one is the end scene where Heimdall and Thor are looking over the rainbow bridge. Around them is the this angled waterfall that falls off of Asgard’s edge. The shear depth of the wonderful waterfall and the contrast it has with Heimdall and Thor is visually exquisite. Finally, the other scene that stands out is the fight between the giant metal guard and Thor. Seeing the giant guard pummel the New Mexico town is breathtaking. The depth you get inside the buildings versus outside where the metal monster is causing all sorts of hell is so visually appealing. You’ll have Hogun hiding behind a wall in a diner and you’ll see him on the right side of the frame with the guard on the left side outside of the diner. The 3D effect is pretty cool, as the depth of that particular scene will make you happy that you bought this Blu-ray in 3D. There are dozens of scenes like these that are just as solid, but these stood out.
As for the other 3D elements, you get a lot of deep contrasts in most scenes between characters and environments. Going back to the scene where the metal guard is just obliterating the New Mexico town, the characters involved are darker and the surroundings are lighter. This makes the scene look a lot deeper in 3D then it probably actually is, but it works really well. You’ll find a lot of this, especially at the beginning when Thor is about to be introduced as king of Asgard inside the great hall. When you see the hall at the beginning with all the residents of the kingdom inside, the depth with be visually amazing in 3D. Again, it’s just a very visually appealing scene.
Are there any issues to the 3D? Well, there is some consistency problems, but it only occurs at the beginning. The titles in the opening sequence (Paramount/Marvel) seem to be set differently than the actual Blu-ray title sequences at the beginning of the film. We had to adjust the 3D settings once the Paramount and Marvel logo disappeared, so that we didn’t see ghost images in the actual film. Once adjusted we didn’t have to readjust them again. It’s a small complaint, but it’s one that certainly should have been smoothed out a bit.
Anyway, Thor is the first 3D film where I felt like the 3D element wasn’t used as a gimmick. All the scenes that contained really good 3D felt like it should been there. All the scenes that didn’t need it had a subtle amount of it. It never seemed to get in the way of the Branagh’s vision and ultimate goal of making a good movie in 3D.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, I was really impressed with the visuals. You get very crisp, sharp images on this Blu-ray that contain no artifacts or grain anywhere. The colors of the costumes, the environments and the computer generated effects are crisp and clean. I think Branagh’s decision to actually build sets for most of the scenes helped out a lot in regards to visual consistency. CGI was inevitable in the film, but the most of the scenes where people were walking around in a room was a built set with minimum to no green screening. When you get this film, and you should, expect some very high quality HD to be included with it. The only thing to rival the visuals would be the sound, which was also as high quality as it could be. Coming in with a mastered 7.1 DTS-HD sound and audio track didn’t hurt. This is a very well-rounded visual and audio experience.
Finally, the features you get with this release are as follows:
– Commentary by Kenneth Branagh
– Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant
– 7 Featurettes (HD)
– Road to The Avengers (HD)
– 11 Deleted Scenes (HD)
All of this is good stuff, especially the 7 featurettes. You get to see almost every element of the filmmaking process with the featurettes. From character choice, to costume design, to set design; you get to see a lot. The featurettes include interviews with cast and crew, and just wonderful insight about the production of Thor. The rest of the features are just as good. You get solid commentary from Branagh (the man knows his shit), an interesting feature about The Avengers and some solid deleted scenes. Much like the film, the Blu-ray doesn’t go balls to the walls with features, but there is enough good stuff here to extend the life of the film after you watch it the fourth time.
