Vlog 5-15-11 – Thor

Spoony | May 15 2011 | more | 
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  • Penumbra Shade

    Interesting. I have to say, in apparent contrast with you, I thought the stuff on Earth was the better part, and the stuff in Asgard was pretty bad, all in all. Maybe it was just a bit too glittery for me.

  • ApatheticOne (the original)

    I couldn’t agree with you more about Natalie Portman, she’s beautiful in this movie.

  • ApatheticOne (the original)

    I couldn’t agree with you more about Natalie Portman, she’s beautiful in this movie.

  • http://twitter.com/Maulmoviemoos Maul

    I think Heimdall was set up not as a bad ass, but he was feared because he can see everything and is extremely loyal to the throne, so he has the potential to be a powerful snitch.

    With the exception of Odinsleep, I liked how they presented the powers by showing not telling.

  • Anonymous

    I feel like Spoony may have exaggerated the extent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s
    importance (and thus the build-up for the Avengers) in the film. Sure,
    they provide an obstacle when it comes to getting Mjolnir back, and
    sure, they steal Natalie Portman’s research and investigate the hulking
    Nordic maniac who storms their compound, but… well, it didn’t really
    matter that it was S.H.I.E.L.D. That could have been ANY major American
    intelligence agency– C.I.A., F.B.I., N.S.A.– and it wouldn’t have
    changed a single plot point of the film. It’s basic alien-invasion
    storytelling: when something unexplainable happens in the American
    heartland, some government spooks show up to cover things up– that plot
    thread would have been in the movie, Avengers or no Avengers. The
    biggest difference would’ve been that the sniper eying Thor from the
    eagle’s nest wouldn’t have been Hawkeye.

  • http://twitter.com/BlackCycFan Michael Connell

    Just saw Thor and also enjoyed it, though I do agree with some of your problems with it. I admit the Odin Sleep didn’t confuse me since I just wrote that off as “Well he’s the king of the gods, so I guess they’d make a big deal every time he took a nap.”
    The part with Loki though, I think the reason Thor and everyone else trusts him is Loki went more in the mischief direction up till the events of the movie. Basically everyone just saw him as the village prankster and didn’t pay much heed to the deception part of the role.
    On a side note, as a Green Lantern fan I am a bit interested in seeing the film just to see how they portray thhe overall story, though having Parallax as the main villain does seem a bit off putting considering what it is in the comics. I will agree with you about the Guardians since considering all the screwups they’ve made since the corps reformed, they make the Psychlos look smart.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Max-Beattie/1587183387 Max Beattie

    I enjoyed Thor, but it really is the weakest film put out by Marvel Studios (currently I’d rank Iron Man 2 as their best, followed by The Incredible Hulk, then Iron Man and then Thor), but it was good old fashioned fun for me. Although, that may be the 20+ years of being a comic book reader talking.

    My biggest complaint with Thor was really that damned romantic subplot. I would love to see one, fucking ONE movie that doesn’t shove that crap in. I’d say something about television here (since I vastly prefer TV to film), but this usually isn’t an issue on TV. Anyway, I hate the whole romance subplot, because it serves NO PURPOSE. Whatsoever. It is only put in movies anymore because we, as the audience, expect it to be there. It’s there only because it’s a movie, which only serves to call attention to the fact that we are watching a movie, which takes me right the fuck out of said movie. It’s different when the romance is a main part of the actual plot 9the most recent example I can drum up being The Adjustment Bureau) as it really is major section of the plot and actually carries weight. Anywhere else, screw it, it’s just tacked on bullshit. 

    • Anonymous

      now wait Max, that’s not a bad direction.  I mean why just do the Hal Jordan story for a Green Lantern movie?  He’s so fucking dull.  Even if it’s not 100% true to source, make the origin story all 4 human lanterns joining at once.  An ensemble cast with Guy as the hothead, Kyle as the rookie since he’s an artist so he’s more skidish about fighting than the others,  with John being all military marine discipline and clean constructs with his architect background

  • Matsern

    Hey, Miles. What up? Welcome back. Good to see you again.

    Keep the vlogs coming, Noah. We love ‘em! Thanks.

  • Anonymous

    I can totally believe a god changing their gender. Because hey, why not? You’re a god, so why not try being a man/woman instead for the next 1,000 years?

  • http://www.youtube.com/thefaustianman Faust

     I’ve watched 4 reviews for THOR and I haven’t seen the movie yet. 

    Stewart the BEST Lantern

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Casper-Andersen/676567775 Casper Andersen

    A funny thing is, that here in Denmark people dislike the movie because “it isnt anything like the myths”. As in the original stories of the norse gods :-P
    It took some time but I have been able to seperate the Marvel mythology from the actual mythology in my head. The marvel Thor is very diffrent from the “real” Thor, “real” Thor is drinking, cursing, troll killing motherfucker, where Marvel is this ponce that speaks in faux old english.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Casper-Andersen/676567775 Casper Andersen

    Sorry double post

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Purdy/100001228513207 Chris Purdy

    Overall I enjoyed Thor even though I haven’t read a lot of the comics…or hell, ANY Thor comics for that matter.

    I really agree with Miles about Loki’s plot and how it’s kind of all over the place.  My dad, an old-school comics fan himself, observed that that was the kind of storyline they’d have drawn out over a period of something like three years, but here it happened in just under two hours so it felt really confusing.  I left the theater feeling like the movie was a little short (just now checked on IMDB, it was 114 minutes) and honestly felt that they could have added another twenty minutes or so and it wouldn’t have dragged.  As for Noah’s comment about Loki’s motivation, the Warriors Three do make some comments about how Loki is a known prankster, so it kind of gives the impression that he’s just a harmless goof who likes playing jokes, rather than the jerk he was in Norse Mythology.

    What really bugged me about the film was how Thor’s turnaround was pretty quick.  I will admit, I’m glad they spared us scenes of him awkwardly trying to adapt to Earth and failing (as just about every other similar film has done), but like you guys said about Portman, in some ways it really does feel like the whole reason he changed was because he had the hots for Jane Foster.  I kind of would have liked to see them make better use of the Donald Blake idea, maybe say that Thor was “reincarnated” or sealed into a common man, but that has its own drawbacks too (like introducing another character who would either need more screentime or a sendoff at the end of the movie to keep from becoming an albatross around the Avengers film’s neck).

    I will admit, I was kind of interested in Green Lantern at the start, but so far it really hasn’t grabbed me.  If anything, some of the SFX and the suit designs turned me off to a degree.  I did get the impression that they “spiced up” Hal’s character because he’s so damn uptight and stiff in normal comics, and that would generate a pretty blah hero movie.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Purdy/100001228513207 Chris Purdy

    Overall I enjoyed Thor even though I haven’t read a lot of the comics…or hell, ANY Thor comics for that matter.

    I really agree with Miles about Loki’s plot and how it’s kind of all over the place.  My dad, an old-school comics fan himself, observed that that was the kind of storyline they’d have drawn out over a period of something like three years, but here it happened in just under two hours so it felt really confusing.  I left the theater feeling like the movie was a little short (just now checked on IMDB, it was 114 minutes) and honestly felt that they could have added another twenty minutes or so and it wouldn’t have dragged.  As for Noah’s comment about Loki’s motivation, the Warriors Three do make some comments about how Loki is a known prankster, so it kind of gives the impression that he’s just a harmless goof who likes playing jokes, rather than the jerk he was in Norse Mythology.

    What really bugged me about the film was how Thor’s turnaround was pretty quick.  I will admit, I’m glad they spared us scenes of him awkwardly trying to adapt to Earth and failing (as just about every other similar film has done), but like you guys said about Portman, in some ways it really does feel like the whole reason he changed was because he had the hots for Jane Foster.  I kind of would have liked to see them make better use of the Donald Blake idea, maybe say that Thor was “reincarnated” or sealed into a common man, but that has its own drawbacks too (like introducing another character who would either need more screentime or a sendoff at the end of the movie to keep from becoming an albatross around the Avengers film’s neck).

    I will admit, I was kind of interested in Green Lantern at the start, but so far it really hasn’t grabbed me.  If anything, some of the SFX and the suit designs turned me off to a degree.  I did get the impression that they “spiced up” Hal’s character because he’s so damn uptight and stiff in normal comics, and that would generate a pretty blah hero movie.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DBGXIBGDTZZFGRQSF353XSYLZQ bebe

    Does anyone even remember when Spoony used to do funny videos and reviews… damn I liked this website before.

    • Anonymous

      You mean like the one he did yesterday?

      …Moving on then…

    • Anonymous

      You mean like the one he did yesterday?

      …Moving on then…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DBGXIBGDTZZFGRQSF353XSYLZQ bebe

    Does anyone even remember when Spoony used to do funny videos and reviews… damn I liked this website before.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Taylor/523378875 Josh Taylor

    Pretty good review, it is a pretty alright movie. Roger Ebert was pretty critical of the movie but also made some great points: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110510/REVIEWS/110519987

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Taylor/523378875 Josh Taylor

    Pretty good review, it is a pretty alright movie. Roger Ebert was pretty critical of the movie but also made some great points: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110510/REVIEWS/110519987

  • http://www.facebook.com/phoelscher1 Patrick Hoelscher

    yay 100% agree with spoony. it was an alright blockbuster, they did not fuck it up (costumes, sets, most of narrative was ok) but by no long shot a great film due to preconceived plot (avengers setup etc)

  • http://twitter.com/srsartistkat Kat B

     Haven’t seen the movie yet, and haven’t read the comics, but big fan of norse mythology:

    When it comes to trusting Loki, the Norse gods really were just that dumb, Noah. Everything you described here had me laughing and going “sounds like an accurate depiction”. 

    Thor and Loki (who was technically more like Thor’s uncle than a brother) were BFFs in mythology and Thor would always get in trouble because he was dumb, and then Loki would bail him out with a clever plan that, in all honesty was usually kind of hilariously dumb – like making Thor dress in drag to steal his hammer back after he’d lost it one time.

    It should also be noted that before Loki was BFFs with Thor he was BFFs with Odin and pretty much single-handedly set up the rest of the pantheon and got Asgard built for them…and then they sort of just shunned him and treated him like crap (he was half giant)….

    And actually, though the girl Loki stuff in the comics probably is because they wanted to draw a hot chick, in mythology Loki was mocked for not being manly enough, and accused of turning into a chick and having kids and generally being all brainy and smart and effeminate (which did happen, though it wasn’t a HUMAN woman, he turned into a horse and got knocked up by a mythological stallion and proceeded to have a divine freak-horse-baby with too many legs……..yes. Norse mythology is very, very weird.)

    Tl;dr – in norse mythology the Norse gods are kinda dumb and they never see it coming when Loki tricks them, because they live in a world that is sort of like a fairy tale – it doesn’t operate with real world logic, but with Fairy Tale logic.

    Enjoyed the vlog review and had fun listening to the two of you talking about the movie :)

  • http://twitter.com/srsartistkat Kat B

     Haven’t seen the movie yet, and haven’t read the comics, but big fan of norse mythology:

    When it comes to trusting Loki, the Norse gods really were just that dumb, Noah. Everything you described here had me laughing and going “sounds like an accurate depiction”. 

    Thor and Loki (who was technically more like Thor’s uncle than a brother) were BFFs in mythology and Thor would always get in trouble because he was dumb, and then Loki would bail him out with a clever plan that, in all honesty was usually kind of hilariously dumb – like making Thor dress in drag to steal his hammer back after he’d lost it one time.

    It should also be noted that before Loki was BFFs with Thor he was BFFs with Odin and pretty much single-handedly set up the rest of the pantheon and got Asgard built for them…and then they sort of just shunned him and treated him like crap (he was half giant)….

    And actually, though the girl Loki stuff in the comics probably is because they wanted to draw a hot chick, in mythology Loki was mocked for not being manly enough, and accused of turning into a chick and having kids and generally being all brainy and smart and effeminate (which did happen, though it wasn’t a HUMAN woman, he turned into a horse and got knocked up by a mythological stallion and proceeded to have a divine freak-horse-baby with too many legs……..yes. Norse mythology is very, very weird.)

    Tl;dr – in norse mythology the Norse gods are kinda dumb and they never see it coming when Loki tricks them, because they live in a world that is sort of like a fairy tale – it doesn’t operate with real world logic, but with Fairy Tale logic.

    Enjoyed the vlog review and had fun listening to the two of you talking about the movie :)

  • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

    I thought you couldn’t stand 3D and generally didn’t like plot holes!…
    Oh well, I’m glad you enjoyed the movie. *shrug*
    I’m SO putting a link on my site (i.e. this URL) just to be humorously ironic! LOL

  • Anonymous

    I really don’t see the point of the Avengers. I think Marvel is setting themselves up for a potential disaster with that project and it’ll be doubly interesting to see how it fares against The Dark Knight Rises.

    As for Thor it’s…okay. It has all the same problems as Iron Man 2 and it shows. Badly. For most of the movie it just feels like the screen writers were playing with themselves, making a plot that was insubstantial if well-written. Yeah, sure, the actual script and dialogue are good, but the STORY is lackluster. I just don’t think Marvel gets that you can’t do movies like comics.

    • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

       Unless you make it into a goofy comedy like “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” or something.

  • RogerAlphaZooloo

    Is you’re bro wearing a t-shirt of that French/Canadian actor…? I’ve seen him before..

    I loved Thor it was f*cking awesome!!!

  • Anonymous

    Loki in the mythology tended to go both ways. He was often as much a help as he was a hindrance. That hammer? He got it for Thor. Odin’s horse? Loki gave birth to that because he needed to swindle out the guy they hired (on his advice because he thought the guy couldn’t complete the work in time). He used his deception to help screw their enemies or benefit the Asgardians.

  • Anonymous

    Loki in the mythology tended to go both ways. He was often as much a help as he was a hindrance. That hammer? He got it for Thor. Odin’s horse? Loki gave birth to that because he needed to swindle out the guy they hired (on his advice because he thought the guy couldn’t complete the work in time). He used his deception to help screw their enemies or benefit the Asgardians.

  • http://profiles.google.com/jnhall86 joseph hall

    The best thing I can recommend for people who know nothing about Thor is to watch Hulk Vs before they see this movie. Hulk Vs Thor has now been released on its own d.v.d.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AUDOKLEB5JWURQGFBSGXZPB2PE Kristoffer

    Loki is not only god of mischief, but a god of deception too. He is a master of disguise and he uses every single trick just to benefit it, in some kind of way. The reason why the gods actually believe him is because he is a smooth talker. Even though he lies again and again he sounds so believable that they trust him, and the only reason why he really turned evil is because he was the reason the god Balder died and got imprisoned for the evil deed. Then when Ragnaroc (end of the world) comes he gets free and wants vengance.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, really, the only reason to see it in 3D is to see the Captain America trailer in 3D. Thor was my first time in a 3D movie, and I didn’t even notice a difference after a while.

  • Anonymous

    The Japanese guy (Tadanobu Asano) you mentioned is actually a pretty wellknown Japanese actor. He played in some big titles like Ichi The Killer, Zatoichi and Mongol (which was nominated for an Oscar).

  • Anonymous

    Does Spoony’s short hair harken anyone else back to the days of Bayou Billy? 

  • Damian Wielk

     spoony are you gonna do some gameplay or review of Witcher 2 i would be so excited

    ps im from Poland ;p

  • http://UnholyFireDragon.com Unholy Fire Dragon

    I’ve been wondering about something, Spoony.

    What exactly do you do/use to play your character mass-consuming pills without wasting bottles of pills?

  • http://www.facebook.com/Reshaph Liam Trevarthen

     In the original Norse stories Loki was the god of fire, he was just very mischievous.  And he wasn’t actually one of the Aesir (one half of the Norse gods, the other being the Vanir), he was a Fire Giant.  

    To start most of his pranks were against the Aesir’s enemies, but he slowly got more and more depraved and corrupt over time.After killing Baldur in a deadly trick he was tied to a giant stone where a snake would drip venom into his eyes, so Loki’s wife held a bowl over him to catch the poison, but when it gets full and she has to pour it out the venom gets into Lokis eyes again, and his shaking and writhing is the cause of earth-quakes.The prophecy is that when Loki breaks free Ragnarok will begin.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Karo-Gal/100000790948267 Karo Gal

       Loke was one of the Aesir, but he was also one of the Jotun because he shared blood with Odin, but he was not a Vanir.
      Loke has never been a fire giant, he was only a trickster.
      Loke was never on one side and shifted, he sometimes helped out the Jotun and other times he helped the Aesir. The rest you wrote is right.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

        Loki was neither an Aesir nor a Vanir. He came over the sea by boat. The Edda didn’t really specify where exactly he came from, only that he was the child of giants, Farbauti and Laufey. Ironically Laufey being the mother, while in the movie they gave that name to the king of the Frost Giants. If they had wanted to use a name from the Edda for a king of the Frost Giants who was slain in battle by Odin, they should have picked Ymir. But it’s Laufey in the comics, so they were stuck with it.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

        Loki was neither an Aesir nor a Vanir. He came over the sea by boat. The Edda didn’t really specify where exactly he came from, only that he was the child of giants, Farbauti and Laufey. Ironically Laufey being the mother, while in the movie they gave that name to the king of the Frost Giants. If they had wanted to use a name from the Edda for a king of the Frost Giants who was slain in battle by Odin, they should have picked Ymir. But it’s Laufey in the comics, so they were stuck with it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=638786969 Stephen Clancy

    Wait, Spoony is a Brony?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q4JJMULUGCW6WL3ECUNEYHDBJQ Vash The Stampede

    good vlog.  Can you PLEASE watch Bridesmaids and vlog it, cause it looks so terrible but rotten tomatoes likes it…I’m really finding that hard to believe.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Q4JJMULUGCW6WL3ECUNEYHDBJQ Vash The Stampede

    good vlog.  Can you PLEASE watch Bridesmaids and vlog it, cause it looks so terrible but rotten tomatoes likes it…I’m really finding that hard to believe.

  • Anonymous

    totally agree with GL. god, it looks so horrible. the cg…errrrr

  • Anonymous

    Spoony, you mentioned My Little Pony, do you watch the show? ^^

  • Anonymous

     hahaha yeah… i may pass this one up. seems like a marvel subplot adventure kinda idea. i love how miles always look like no ones in his loop. thats hilarious to me. I just got the espresso machine running so watch the fuck out!

    amon amarth – death in fireX-cops – highway starICP – headless boogie

    I’m spade and I’m decaf.

  • Jawmuncher

    I thought Thor was the best Marvel movie yet.
     

  • Jawmuncher

    I thought Thor was the best Marvel movie yet.
     

  • Anonymous

     The name you’re looking for is Jotunheim, Spoony :P

    Also, you want epic ? Have Thor fight Ymir.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ymir

  • http://twitter.com/random_ninja5 Eric Hesselberg

    I noticed Spoony didn’t mention the stinger at the end of Thor. I won’t discuss it here, but I thought it was a pretty good one. I had mixed feelings for Thor. I’ve had a Natalie Portman crush for years (from before star wars) But I think the “Romance” made no sense. I think she just had the hots for him, but they left out mention of that to appeal to the family audience. Stellan Skarsgard is awesome in this movie; cynical humor – love the drinking scene. When watching it, I saw the hawkeye scene – while it could have been a cooler intro to the character I still liked it. It was fun how I instantly realized it was HawkEye, while no one else did. What I didn’t like is that it was too easy for Thor to regain his powers. I feel he should have had to go through a lot more, even if the hammer allowed him to fight the guardian, it should have then taken them away so that he had to work even harder to get them back. I agree that a lot of the movie was geared toward setting up The Avengers movie rather than telling a great Thor movie.
    Green lantern looks like spectacle but no plot. And I’m not familiar with GL comics, but isn’t that purple guy with the mustache Sinestro? So are they planning on having sequels? Don’t know if I’m going to see it.
    The only thing I don’t like about what I’ve seen for Captain America is the obvious effect of putting the actor’s head on a smaller person’s body. It just looks bad especially when we know the actor is buff. The effect does look better in 3D. I am going to see it.
    I did like the return of Miles. I wish he could be in more videos. Great vlog Spoony and Miles (maybe Miles should have a nickname as well…Captain M!)

  • Anonymous

    i LOVED Thor! it was awesome! it was also the third movie i ever gave a ten out of ten (the other two being Iron Man and the Dark Knight). it is a MUST SEE!!!! btw, loki was at first the god of pranks, but then became the god of deceit and evil after he betrayed the Asguardians. you also brought up Rango, which i thought was good, but they never brought up the huge big-ass eye you see when they’re underground. what the hell was that?? we never find out!

  • http://twitter.com/Nast3e Nikolay Valkanov

    Nice vlog, I agreed with most points. I will copy what I posted somewhere else:

    It was a good and fun movie, although it had some flaws.
    First off, the 3D still can’t win me over. it was unnecessary and pointless.
    It wasn’t as bad as CotT, but it was made so they could just squeeze a few more bucks out of me.
    The movie itself was good, C.Hemsworth did quite good as Thor, Hopkins did great as Odin, and Tom Huddlestone did a great job as Loki.
    To me Loki was a sort of victim himself which was a bit weak. A confused young man jealous of his brother, who wasnt even his father’s son. I haven’t read the comics, so I don’t know what he’s like there.
    Portman’s character was just there, the romance seemed forced since the chemistry was off and they didn’t have much time together.
    Hawkeye’s cameo was alright, but could have been done better, all tease and no payoff.
    Thor’s merry band of sidekicks was useless.
    The action was great, the mythological parts were done very well, and *that
    was the part that could have been messed up the most*, so more credit to them.
    There were some really dumb bits, why can’t they repair the bridge, if they built it to begin with?
    Overall I would rate it 7/10, and recommend seeing it on the big screen, worth it.

    One thing I didn’t want them to do is have any mythological enemies in The Avengers, which was strongly hinted that Loki would again be a villain. I didn’t want the Avengers to have anything else from Thor’s universe but Thor himself. I don’t want any mythology in The Avengers, and I don’t want to see Loki again unless they do Thor 2.
    Kinda bummed about that, although most people won’t mind.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

       ”To me Loki was a sort of victim himself which was a bit weak. A confused
      young man jealous of his brother, who wasnt even his father’s son. I
      haven’t read the comics, so I don’t know what he’s like there.”

      That’s the part was is taken pretty much directly from the comics, only difference in the comics Odin killed the king of the frostgiants in battle and “abducted” the king’s son (a young boy, not a baby) and adopted him. The script writers didn’t have much leeway there, otherwise the comic book fans would have complained.

      “One thing I didn’t want them to do is have any mythological enemies in
      The Avengers, which was strongly hinted that Loki would again be a
      villain. I didn’t want the Avengers to have anything else from Thor’s
      universe but Thor himself. I don’t want any mythology in The Avengers,
      and I don’t want to see Loki again unless they do Thor 2.”

      Agreed. I’m not happy with Loki appearing in Avengers. Either he’s the only villain, then he’s going up against a whole gang of “heroes” and by the laws of comic book narration is bound to lose at the end (probably dying), or if Loki teams up with some other villains, he’s just one in a bunch. Either way, he loses his place as Thor’s arch-nemesis and becomes just another villain. But unless the Avengers movie focuses exclusively on Thor, which it won’t, the movie is not likely to devote sufficient screen time to the complex relationship between Thor and Loki, or resolve any emotional issues between Loki and Thor, Odin and Frigg.

  • http://twitter.com/Nast3e Nikolay Valkanov

    Nice vlog, I agreed with most points. I will copy what I posted somewhere else:

    It was a good and fun movie, although it had some flaws.
    First off, the 3D still can’t win me over. it was unnecessary and pointless.
    It wasn’t as bad as CotT, but it was made so they could just squeeze a few more bucks out of me.
    The movie itself was good, C.Hemsworth did quite good as Thor, Hopkins did great as Odin, and Tom Huddlestone did a great job as Loki.
    To me Loki was a sort of victim himself which was a bit weak. A confused young man jealous of his brother, who wasnt even his father’s son. I haven’t read the comics, so I don’t know what he’s like there.
    Portman’s character was just there, the romance seemed forced since the chemistry was off and they didn’t have much time together.
    Hawkeye’s cameo was alright, but could have been done better, all tease and no payoff.
    Thor’s merry band of sidekicks was useless.
    The action was great, the mythological parts were done very well, and *that
    was the part that could have been messed up the most*, so more credit to them.
    There were some really dumb bits, why can’t they repair the bridge, if they built it to begin with?
    Overall I would rate it 7/10, and recommend seeing it on the big screen, worth it.

    One thing I didn’t want them to do is have any mythological enemies in The Avengers, which was strongly hinted that Loki would again be a villain. I didn’t want the Avengers to have anything else from Thor’s universe but Thor himself. I don’t want any mythology in The Avengers, and I don’t want to see Loki again unless they do Thor 2.
    Kinda bummed about that, although most people won’t mind.

  • http://twitter.com/Nast3e Nikolay Valkanov

    Nice vlog, I agreed with most points. I will copy what I posted somewhere else:

    It was a good and fun movie, although it had some flaws.
    First off, the 3D still can’t win me over. it was unnecessary and pointless.
    It wasn’t as bad as CotT, but it was made so they could just squeeze a few more bucks out of me.
    The movie itself was good, C.Hemsworth did quite good as Thor, Hopkins did great as Odin, and Tom Huddlestone did a great job as Loki.
    To me Loki was a sort of victim himself which was a bit weak. A confused young man jealous of his brother, who wasnt even his father’s son. I haven’t read the comics, so I don’t know what he’s like there.
    Portman’s character was just there, the romance seemed forced since the chemistry was off and they didn’t have much time together.
    Hawkeye’s cameo was alright, but could have been done better, all tease and no payoff.
    Thor’s merry band of sidekicks was useless.
    The action was great, the mythological parts were done very well, and *that
    was the part that could have been messed up the most*, so more credit to them.
    There were some really dumb bits, why can’t they repair the bridge, if they built it to begin with?
    Overall I would rate it 7/10, and recommend seeing it on the big screen, worth it.

    One thing I didn’t want them to do is have any mythological enemies in The Avengers, which was strongly hinted that Loki would again be a villain. I didn’t want the Avengers to have anything else from Thor’s universe but Thor himself. I don’t want any mythology in The Avengers, and I don’t want to see Loki again unless they do Thor 2.
    Kinda bummed about that, although most people won’t mind.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maija-Karoliina-Salenius/100001060110359 Maija Karoliina Salenius

    Spoony, darling, Loki was actually a female horse at one point in the sagas (And gave birth to Sleipnir at that time). I doubt randomly turning into a chick would be beyond him :D

  • Anonymous

    This reminds me of how Neil Gaiman told that when he used Norse figures and other mythologies & religions in Sandman, the only real complaint letters he got were from Marvel fans accusing him of making fun of “their” characters with Thor, Loki and Odin.  And at the same time, he got letters from Scandinavian fans *thanking* him for being a work of fiction that finally got their culture’s mythologies right (Thor is supposed to be a big idiot with Rob Liefeld body proportions for instance).

    That actually kind of shows how Marvel works.  If you want History, go to Neil Gaiman.  If you want simple, but effective fun, go to Marvel. 

  • Anonymous

    This reminds me of how Neil Gaiman told that when he used Norse figures and other mythologies & religions in Sandman, the only real complaint letters he got were from Marvel fans accusing him of making fun of “their” characters with Thor, Loki and Odin.  And at the same time, he got letters from Scandinavian fans *thanking* him for being a work of fiction that finally got their culture’s mythologies right (Thor is supposed to be a big idiot with Rob Liefeld body proportions for instance).

    That actually kind of shows how Marvel works.  If you want History, go to Neil Gaiman.  If you want simple, but effective fun, go to Marvel. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Rush/657514535 Ben Rush

    Spoony one man your killing me, Heimdallr is not only white hes Blond haired and Blue eyed for a MAJOR reason, he’s the deity of the Arian nation and is described as “the whitest of the gods”, this isn’t just a case of oh we didn’t fallow the comics, no this is a case of Fuck your religionreligion

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Rush/657514535 Ben Rush

    Spoony one man your killing me, Heimdallr is not only white hes Blond haired and Blue eyed for a MAJOR reason, he’s the deity of the Arian nation and is described as “the whitest of the gods”, this isn’t just a case of oh we didn’t fallow the comics, no this is a case of Fuck your religion

    • http://twitter.com/Nast3e Nikolay Valkanov

      Heimdall is not a main character, I could care less whether he’s black or white, I understand that someone might be pissed off though.
      There were some rumors way back that Captain America may be cast as a black man, I think Will Smith was rumored. Now THAT is something I would be really ranting about and make me hate the morons who make the decisions.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

        We won’t know whether to like it or hate it unless we see it.

        We might get an interesting perspective of America from Will Smith. 

        • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

           No, the point is, if a character (for example Captain America) has been established in comic books and movies and whatnot for decades as a white man, it would be silly casting a black male actor. No-one would be casting a female actor to play Tony Stark, would they? Same thing.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

        We won’t know whether to like it or hate it unless we see it.

        We might get an interesting perspective of America from Will Smith. 

    • Anonymous

      Do you mean Arians as in Arian Christians, the rival sect to Orthodox Christianity from the 4th century that the Goths & Vandals worshipped. Or Aryans as in the ancient Indo Iranian peoples like the Persians & the Medes, who worshipped Ahura Mazda the monotheistic God that most of the world religions ripped off neither of those groups gives a shit whether Heimdallr is black or white or Chinese. Of course you could mean “aryans” as in white supremacist Nazi morons, & frankly who fuckin cares if those bonehead retards get offended. Fuck them.

    • Anonymous

      Do you mean Arians as in Arian Christians, the rival sect to Orthodox Christianity from the 4th century that the Goths & Vandals worshipped. Or Aryans as in the ancient Indo Iranian peoples like the Persians & the Medes, who worshipped Ahura Mazda the monotheistic God that most of the world religions ripped off neither of those groups gives a shit whether Heimdallr is black or white or Chinese. Of course you could mean “aryans” as in white supremacist Nazi morons, & frankly who fuckin cares if those bonehead retards get offended. Fuck them.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

      Saying that kind of stuff is going to attract the dim-witted rage of overzealous prudes who do more harm than good.

      I say this because your post is hard to understand unless you read closely. Someone might skim over it, get offended, and make a fool out of themselves.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Alden/100000469737019 Christopher Alden

       Honestly, I just like seeing the idiots at Stormfront get worked up over it.  Always hilarious.

      As for the reasoning… you ever think that “Whitest God” might be an ironic nickname?  Y’know, like how Tom Lister is “Tiny”?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Alden/100000469737019 Christopher Alden

       Honestly, I just like seeing the idiots at Stormfront get worked up over it.  Always hilarious.

      As for the reasoning… you ever think that “Whitest God” might be an ironic nickname?  Y’know, like how Tom Lister is “Tiny”?

  • http://twitter.com/AndrewPSwain Andrew Swain

    I think the “Hangover” fad started with Superbad, then was blown out of proportion with Hangover.

    There’s something about mary, no one else really did it well so it kind of just died off. 

    Also the begining of the movie kind of sucked on the grounds that the action was WAY too close, and it always had the fucking slanty camera angle, I felt like I was watching Battlefield Earth for the first little while.

    Otherwise yeah, this is basically the definition of Ok, not great but not a waste of time.

  • Anonymous

    Somebody must do a crossover with Troll movies Thor. It would be so bad.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Oliver-Meyer/1288596186 Oliver Meyer

    I concur that Thor certainly wasn’t 5-star material, but IMHO a strong 4-star film.

    IMO the film handled both plot-lines quite well (the goofy stuff on Earth and the fantasy-Shakespeare-like material in Asgard). The fact that the film wasn’t drowning in slapstick(which could have happened with Thor’s time on Earth) was already a huge relief.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jovan-Stipic/1520802005 Jovan Stipic

    i really liked thor its not a cult hit but in my opinion best movie this year

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jovan-Stipic/1520802005 Jovan Stipic

    i really liked thor its not a cult hit but in my opinion best movie this year

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000283577520 Zach Zimmerman

    It wasn’t an origin story but its the closest that anyone is going to get at this point considering the comics are from the 60′s and they didnt explain how his hammer was made until the middle of the 80′s also im still kinda curious why they didnt make Thor do his whole possesion thing when he gets to earth with Donald Blake

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000283577520 Zach Zimmerman

    It wasn’t an origin story but its the closest that anyone is going to get at this point considering the comics are from the 60′s and they didnt explain how his hammer was made until the middle of the 80′s also im still kinda curious why they didnt make Thor do his whole possesion thing when he gets to earth with Donald Blake

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ICDHG7TLTN6JVK6JMK3TKQFXKQ Mike Wallace

    I enjoyed the film, I thought it had an epic feel and great characters and a great story. Some of the aspects felt kind of vestigial and unnecessary but it still told the story it set out to tell and it looked fantastic.

  • Nate Ellis

    i liked thor a lot And i thought it was going to be a wreck. But i didnt know J michael stracszinscky wrote the story. I love his take on the amazing spiderman series. thor didnt hide its cheese factor at all, but that made it loveable. it was a big setup involving shield, but the performances and script were good. i liked it more than iron man 2. scarlette johansenn as black widow? ……awful!

  • Nate Ellis

    i liked thor a lot And i thought it was going to be a wreck. But i didnt know J michael stracszinscky wrote the story. I love his take on the amazing spiderman series. thor didnt hide its cheese factor at all, but that made it loveable. it was a big setup involving shield, but the performances and script were good. i liked it more than iron man 2. scarlette johansenn as black widow? ……awful!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

    Thor spent a little too much time in New Mexico. Aside form Natalie Portman and some supporting cast, the Earth sections really didn’t have enough star power to warrant taking up over half the movie. They snubbed The Guardian, Loki, Odin, and all of the great actors in the roles of Thor’s fellow warriors whose names are mentioned only once and forgotten for the entire movie.

    Even worse, a lot of the content in ‘Thor’ could have been cropped to give more time to the actors in Asgard. I don’t want to see the generic father get smashed, I want to see the other warriors get developed. It felt like the plot was taking short breaks in between the all-important everygirl story arc to slam out as much character development as it could. This problem could have been easily avoided.

    ‘Thor’ forces talented actors them to fulfill major secondary rolls with little to no time for character development or introduction, just to tell a relatively boring story with the better known Natalie Portman.

    Aside form this movies unfair fixation with a big name actress, I still like this movie. It has great action, great actors, and surprisingly good humor. I just wish all this talent was better handled.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

       I agree, the love story with Natalie Portman’s character was unneccessary, and at the same time it felt too rushed but took up too much screen time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

    Thor spent a little too much time in New Mexico. Aside form Natalie Portman and some supporting cast, the Earth sections really didn’t have enough star power to warrant taking up over half the movie. They snubbed The Guardian, Loki, Odin, and all of the great actors in the roles of Thor’s fellow warriors whose names are mentioned only once and forgotten for the entire movie.

    Even worse, a lot of the content in ‘Thor’ could have been cropped to give more time to the actors in Asgard. I don’t want to see the generic father get smashed, I want to see the other warriors get developed. It felt like the plot was taking short breaks in between the all-important everygirl story arc to slam out as much character development as it could. This problem could have been easily avoided.

    ‘Thor’ forces talented actors them to fulfill major secondary rolls with little to no time for character development or introduction, just to tell a relatively boring story with the better known Natalie Portman.

    Aside form this movies unfair fixation with a big name actress, I still like this movie. It has great action, great actors, and surprisingly good humor. I just wish all this talent was better handled.

  • http://www.facebook.com/GermanBlackbot Julian Schilling

    I think they said something about this being “not one of your usual pranks” to Loki…like in “You’re doing some pretty weird stuff all the time, but THIS time you’ve gone (or will go, don’t know when they say it) too far.”

    That said, I really wanted to like the film, but I just didn’t. When the film started, I was HYPED. I really enjoyed watching Thor beating the shit out of the giants, flying around, breaking stuff. But the whole “Trying to reach the hammer and fail pulling it”-Stuff seemed pointless. Plus I really wanted to get more information about his friends (Not a big comicreader, I vaguely remembered that they were his friends), but they just show up to fight. And that said, I enjoyed their fights more as Thor’s. Their fight with the Destroyer was AWESOME. Thor’s was just “Got my Hammer. THOR SMASH!”
    Not to mention his fight against Loki, which was utterly disappointing to me.
    Plus I have to aggree with Doug’s review: WHY DON’T YOU JUST REBUILD THE FUCKING BRIDGE? Maybe it gets clear from the comics, but in the movie it seems more like “You broke it and we don’t want to build another one. Learn to take care of your stuff, young man!”

  • Anonymous

    “Thank you brother who is not the god of treachery”
    I lol’d.

  • http://twitter.com/bijankarim Bijan Karim

    I think you should see Fast Five it’d make for a great review 

  • Anonymous

    Actually it was more like:

    Loki: “You know, Thor, you really SHOULDN’T disobey Odin.”
    Thor: “I’m going to go disobey him!”
    Loki: “Sigh. He makes it too easy.”

    I hadn’t read the comics, so the Odinsleep was new to me. But I quickly caught on that it was a healing hibernation. As for Loki’s plans, I thought it was kinda clear (once revealed). Heck, Loki was a well designed villain. I was actually rooting for him most of the time.

    In regards to the *cough* romance… there was no real emotion there. It was pure lust on both their parts. Thor wanted the cute mortal wench. Jane wanted to the ride the lightning bolt til discharge.

    However, I will agree that there was more needed in regards to the battles. The frost giant stuff in Act I was awesomely outlandish… but it looks like the same obviously rendered shit we’ve been getting for twelve years now. It doesn’t look real and some more effort needs to be put in. Yes… I want a realistic image of giant fantasy monsters. I don’t want to see stuff that look like large animated pillows.

    But what disappointed me was the final part of the Guardian fight. It was over way to quickly. It looked like it was a kickass build up to something great, when in fact it was the whole thing. Sigh.

    Hopefully we’ll get a Thor 2 after Avengers. It might be neat to have Jane and crew visit Asgard so we get a reverse of the situation in this one. Also I’d like to see the more common parts of Asgard. We only saw the palace and the big-wigs. I’m a little curious to see what a god’s version of a Mom’n'Pop store is like or what they actually do on a normal day. (And no, I don’t want that to be the focus of the movie. Just something to flesh the other world out.)

    Oh, and I saw the movie in both 3D and 2D (my kid wanted to see it after I already went not realizing he had an interest). There is little to no difference. There’s a few cool shots of Asgard the 3D boosts A LITTLE, but that’s it. I like 3D when it is done right, but there is simply no point here.

  • Anonymous

    Actually it was more like:

    Loki: “You know, Thor, you really SHOULDN’T disobey Odin.”
    Thor: “I’m going to go disobey him!”
    Loki: “Sigh. He makes it too easy.”

    I hadn’t read the comics, so the Odinsleep was new to me. But I quickly caught on that it was a healing hibernation. As for Loki’s plans, I thought it was kinda clear (once revealed). Heck, Loki was a well designed villain. I was actually rooting for him most of the time.

    In regards to the *cough* romance… there was no real emotion there. It was pure lust on both their parts. Thor wanted the cute mortal wench. Jane wanted to the ride the lightning bolt til discharge.

    However, I will agree that there was more needed in regards to the battles. The frost giant stuff in Act I was awesomely outlandish… but it looks like the same obviously rendered shit we’ve been getting for twelve years now. It doesn’t look real and some more effort needs to be put in. Yes… I want a realistic image of giant fantasy monsters. I don’t want to see stuff that look like large animated pillows.

    But what disappointed me was the final part of the Guardian fight. It was over way to quickly. It looked like it was a kickass build up to something great, when in fact it was the whole thing. Sigh.

    Hopefully we’ll get a Thor 2 after Avengers. It might be neat to have Jane and crew visit Asgard so we get a reverse of the situation in this one. Also I’d like to see the more common parts of Asgard. We only saw the palace and the big-wigs. I’m a little curious to see what a god’s version of a Mom’n'Pop store is like or what they actually do on a normal day. (And no, I don’t want that to be the focus of the movie. Just something to flesh the other world out.)

    Oh, and I saw the movie in both 3D and 2D (my kid wanted to see it after I already went not realizing he had an interest). There is little to no difference. There’s a few cool shots of Asgard the 3D boosts A LITTLE, but that’s it. I like 3D when it is done right, but there is simply no point here.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Oliver-Meyer/1288596186 Oliver Meyer

      I agree with you about Loki.

      The parts of the film that are set in Asgard are basically “The Tragedy of Loki”, as far as I am concerned. Great stuff!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Oliver-Meyer/1288596186 Oliver Meyer

      I agree with you about Loki.

      The parts of the film that are set in Asgard are basically “The Tragedy of Loki”, as far as I am concerned. Great stuff!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Alden/100000469737019 Christopher Alden

       And with Heimdall, it was more like:

      Loki: “Hey Heimdall, look over there!”
      Heimdall: “Ummm… yeah, no.”
      Thor: “Forget him.  We want to go to Jotunheim.”
      Heimdall: “Cool with me.”

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Christopher-Alden/100000469737019 Christopher Alden

       And with Heimdall, it was more like:

      Loki: “Hey Heimdall, look over there!”
      Heimdall: “Ummm… yeah, no.”
      Thor: “Forget him.  We want to go to Jotunheim.”
      Heimdall: “Cool with me.”

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

    • http://twitter.com/JSPartisan JS Wooten

       I would agree with you about the romance, if it were not based on falling in love at first sight.  They basically see one another, chemicals fire in the brain, and that is indeed that.  That does happen and I believe that’s what happened between those characters in the recent restart in the comics, and it works for me because you know that stuff happens.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Valerie-Dicaire/100000800421372 Valérie Dicaire

    Spoony! Shut up about Green Lantern, it will be awesome! It HAS to be because I command it! No, seriously, I love GL and really hope it does great…

    • http://www.facebook.com/jbhaslach John Barton Haslach

      I love GL myself. Big fan ever since Rebirth. I’m willing to give Reynold’s a chance as Hal. Mark Strong as Sinestro will be awesome. So I hope.

  • http://profiles.google.com/zarathushtra Thadd Nelson

    Portman was terrible in this.  Maybe it was just her character, but she was so incredibly dumb it was painful

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Haas/100000971156636 Ian Haas

     Hahaha “She wants to see Thor’s hammer”, I fucking died laughing!

  • Anonymous

    Nice to see you doing these again Spoony. Good to see Miles too. Take care of yourself.

  • Anonymous

    Nice to see you doing these again Spoony. Good to see Miles too. Take care of yourself.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jbhaslach John Barton Haslach

     Well I gotta tell you Noah: I am a huge, huge GL fan. I admit, Guy can be a dick. But, I have only read the recent stuff with him in it. 19 years old and all. I admit this: I fucking hate the guardians. They are behind everything that goes wrong. Loved the epilogue of Blackest Night with Arisia punching one of them. Made me laugh. You are entitled to what you like and hate by the by. I love the story and mythology of it all. I do not like though how Sinestro is less of a villain and more an anti-hero nowadays. So, Im going to say: was a little pissed at first when you said you hated Green Lantern, but calmed down when you said you hated Hal Jordan. Maybe that isn’t the only reason you hate it, maybe you don’t as much as people may think, but I will give something up in exchange, I hate the Brightest Day storyline. But, well, you stand apart from others, who knows, maybe it will be good, maybe it will be bad.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

     These side advertisements are seriously bizarre.

    WTF is Cock Robin?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/George-Rosenbaum/100001387887487 George Rosenbaum

     These side advertisements are seriously bizarre.

    WTF is Cock Robin?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    I’m only sort of a fan of these comic characters through film and TV, but I am however a huge norse mythology fan. I havn’t seen this movie yet, but I wanted to comment on your comments regarding Loki being the god of mischief and Thor being friends with him (though not brothers). In the actual myths, it is cannon that Loki and Thor are very good friends and many of the more common stories from these eddas are the adventures that Thor and Loki have together. He has been known to assist the gods and although tricky and playful, was not their enemy until he ended up getting Baldr killed. As for being the “god of trickery” this is more a later or modern interpretation of Loki as his stories got mixed in with other mythological figures and themes. It has not been established by scholars whether Loki is indeed one of the gods or one of the giants (depending on the edda you are looking and and how you interpret it). He was known as a trickster god, but not the god of trickery if this makes sense and until the event with Baldr, he was on good terms with the gods and had many adventures along side them. Perhaps this is not very well set up in the movie, as you say, they assume you are familiar with the comics, perhaps they assume you are familiar with the myths as well, but as someone fermiliar with the myths they are based on, what you say makes sense to me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    I’m only sort of a fan of these comic characters through film and TV, but I am however a huge norse mythology fan. I havn’t seen this movie yet, but I wanted to comment on your comments regarding Loki being the god of mischief and Thor being friends with him (though not brothers). In the actual myths, it is cannon that Loki and Thor are very good friends and many of the more common stories from these eddas are the adventures that Thor and Loki have together. He has been known to assist the gods and although tricky and playful, was not their enemy until he ended up getting Baldr killed. As for being the “god of trickery” this is more a later or modern interpretation of Loki as his stories got mixed in with other mythological figures and themes. It has not been established by scholars whether Loki is indeed one of the gods or one of the giants (depending on the edda you are looking and and how you interpret it). He was known as a trickster god, but not the god of trickery if this makes sense and until the event with Baldr, he was on good terms with the gods and had many adventures along side them. Perhaps this is not very well set up in the movie, as you say, they assume you are familiar with the comics, perhaps they assume you are familiar with the myths as well, but as someone fermiliar with the myths they are based on, what you say makes sense to me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    I’m only sort of a fan of these comic characters through film and TV, but I am however a huge norse mythology fan. I havn’t seen this movie yet, but I wanted to comment on your comments regarding Loki being the god of mischief and Thor being friends with him (though not brothers). In the actual myths, it is cannon that Loki and Thor are very good friends and many of the more common stories from these eddas are the adventures that Thor and Loki have together. He has been known to assist the gods and although tricky and playful, was not their enemy until he ended up getting Baldr killed. As for being the “god of trickery” this is more a later or modern interpretation of Loki as his stories got mixed in with other mythological figures and themes. It has not been established by scholars whether Loki is indeed one of the gods or one of the giants (depending on the edda you are looking and and how you interpret it). He was known as a trickster god, but not the god of trickery if this makes sense and until the event with Baldr, he was on good terms with the gods and had many adventures along side them. Perhaps this is not very well set up in the movie, as you say, they assume you are familiar with the comics, perhaps they assume you are familiar with the myths as well, but as someone fermiliar with the myths they are based on, what you say makes sense to me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    I’m only sort of a fan of these comic characters through film and TV, but I am however a huge norse mythology fan. I havn’t seen this movie yet, but I wanted to comment on your comments regarding Loki being the god of mischief and Thor being friends with him (though not brothers). In the actual myths, it is cannon that Loki and Thor are very good friends and many of the more common stories from these eddas are the adventures that Thor and Loki have together. He has been known to assist the gods and although tricky and playful, was not their enemy until he ended up getting Baldr killed. As for being the “god of trickery” this is more a later or modern interpretation of Loki as his stories got mixed in with other mythological figures and themes. It has not been established by scholars whether Loki is indeed one of the gods or one of the giants (depending on the edda you are looking and and how you interpret it). He was known as a trickster god, but not the god of trickery if this makes sense and until the event with Baldr, he was on good terms with the gods and had many adventures along side them. Perhaps this is not very well set up in the movie, as you say, they assume you are familiar with the comics, perhaps they assume you are familiar with the myths as well, but as someone fermiliar with the myths they are based on, what you say makes sense to me.

  • Alexreku

    Im actually not a fan of Green Lantern but, as you, I did dislike the trailer. From what I hear, even Ryan Reynolds disliked it too. It made the whole movie look like a comedy, which, apparently (hopefully) is not. The second trailer was released not to long ago and it actually looks pretty good, a lot more serious if anything.

    The new trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-GO9fo9DtM
    Oh, and I also hear that they actually moved the release date of this movie back because they didnt like the final CGI, so they went back to redo some of it, which is actually pretty cool. Hopefully that means that they dont just want to just release some junk but actually want to improve on the movie.

  • Alexreku

    Im actually not a fan of Green Lantern but, as you, I did dislike the trailer. From what I hear, even Ryan Reynolds disliked it too. It made the whole movie look like a comedy, which, apparently (hopefully) is not. The second trailer was released not to long ago and it actually looks pretty good, a lot more serious if anything.

    The new trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-GO9fo9DtM
    Oh, and I also hear that they actually moved the release date of this movie back because they didnt like the final CGI, so they went back to redo some of it, which is actually pretty cool. Hopefully that means that they dont just want to just release some junk but actually want to improve on the movie.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    Ah, I also for got to add. The hot chick comment. This is also cannon in norse mythology. Loki was a shape shifter and would often disguise himself as a woman.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephan-McGowan/100001521374937 Stephan McGowan

    Ah, I also for got to add. The hot chick comment. This is also cannon in norse mythology. Loki was a shape shifter and would often disguise himself as a woman.

  • http://twitter.com/Shada67 Shada67

    Actually, in Norse mythology the relationships between the other gods and Loki was pretty weird.  Whenever the gods needed something sneaky done (let’s face it, the other gods are NOT exactly subtle!) they’d go to Loki for help.  They realized he could be a sneaky bastard, but he was their sneaky bastard.  Up until he engineered the death of Baldr (after that, they kept him chained up).  But I seriously get your point with this.  The gods DO know how things are going to end (kinda depressing actually).  They all know their fates in Ragnarok, and how they will die, so they really don’t have any reason to trust Loki (maybe they figure that they can trust him until the end??)

  • http://twitter.com/WWFanboy WrestleWrestleFanboy

     Except that Ragnarok was not set in stone. In you pay attention to the stories there are instances where we do see that they could prevent the inevitable. Frey did not have to give away his sword and keeping it would have saved his life. They took the fingernails of their fallen warriors to keep the ship from being built.

  • http://twitter.com/WWFanboy WrestleWrestleFanboy

     Except that Ragnarok was not set in stone. In you pay attention to the stories there are instances where we do see that they could prevent the inevitable. Frey did not have to give away his sword and keeping it would have saved his life. They took the fingernails of their fallen warriors to keep the ship from being built.

  • Anonymous

    Well, here’s the part where I disagree with virtually all your points.  Everything in the movie you were confused about was explained, just with great subtlety.

    1.  They’re not Gods.  They’re hyper-advanced aliens.  This part was covered in a couple different points in the movie and it sort of answers a lot of your other questions.

     - Fandral the Dashing (the guy who’s name you couldn’t remember) was talking with Thor and brought up how this wasn’t like the old days when you could pop down to Midgard, impress the mortals with a little thunder and lightning and they’d “worship you as a God”.  Immortal, yes.  Gods, no.

    - The in-your-face moment when Thor is telling Jane Foster “your ancestors called it magic, you call it science.  Where I’m from, they’re one in the same”.  This brings up the old sci-fi trope of any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

    - When Thor is stripped of his armor and hammer, he’s no stronger or more durable than a human.  It’s as though his powers were completely dependent on Asgardian technology.

    2.  The timeline and discrepancies vs Norse Mythology.  It’s pretty clear that a lot of what is recorded in Norse Mythology couldn’t possibly apply to the characters in the movies.  It goes back to that quote from Fandral.  Odin and the Asgardian warriors pop down to Earth and kick a ton of Frost Giant ass.  Thor and probably the rest have been to Earth since then.

    It makes complete sense that the people of Norway interpreted these strange people whom they already were convinced were Gods according to their own preconceived notions.  Loki was mentioned in the movie as always being into mischief.  Some bitter (and observant) Vikings probably read something sinister into his crap and gave him a prominent role as a villain (and getting his liver eaten by a bird for all eternity.  That’ll learn ya for putting a dead fish in my jerkin.).

    This also completely explains the difference between myth Heimdall and movie Heimdall.  If he never left his post, how would the Vikings even know what he looked like?  The most they would have saw were half-images during those times the bridge was open.  And all you would see is a big gleaming set of golden armor.

    Side note:  Hogrun the Grim is Asian in the comics, too.  Though he was a Mongol instead of Japanese, so that’s still a fair comment.

    Naturally, of course nobody from Asgard is going to look at Norse Mythology and be like “Hey Loki, they think you’re an asshole.”  A lot of those stories couldn’t have gelled with the Asgardians in the movie, so it would look more like libel than anything else.  “Hey Loki, they also say you turned into a mare and bore Odin’s steed.”

  • http://sofielpedersen.blogspot.com/ Sofie

    Just because I am annoying and want to point it out… they did for ones pronounce “Sif’s” name correct in this movie.

    I am Danish, the very names and their original pronounciations origins in my languet, and that is how you truly do pronounce it.

    Though it should be said, most of the Norse gods names have been changed to fitt the English languet better, not even Thor is pronounced probably and neither is Loki.. Heimdal is correct though.. funny enough.  

  • Anonymous

    you guys are right about the masters of the universe comparison, though thor did show that a decent masters film could be made today, sadly its little chance of happening 

  • Anonymous

    I didn’t really dig the whole “The Asgardians are just aliens” thing. Most of the fun of Marvel’s Thor is the fact that he was a god and that he did battle with mystical forces outside of mortal ken. The idea that there was magic and there were things that were beyond the physical realm made him a unique and interesting character with a unique background environment and origin (not an angst ridden orphan or a mutant weapon gone wrong, but a dutiful if a bit rebellious son). Now he’s just exiled alien #3610784.

    Not to mention that the whole idea seems to step on the beliefs of modern Norse Pagans (two of which I count among my friends).

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

       I think it would have stepped far more on the toes of any Asatru had they claimed those characters in the movie actually were the Norse Gods. This way, as “aliens”, these Aesir are totally removed from any real world mythology. Come on, we’re talking about superheroes from comic books, with capes and spandex costumes.

      Not that I think that Hollywood studio execs really give a damn about not pleasing some self-declared members of not-officially-recognized, neo-pagan, new-age religions like Wicca or Asatru or Neo-druids, or that Hollywood should. But I better stop here lest I “step on the beliefs” of modern neo-pagans. If they really think the Marvel Thor has anything to do with a tribal god of Germanic origin, then my condolences.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

       I think it would have stepped far more on the toes of any Asatru had they claimed those characters in the movie actually were the Norse Gods. This way, as “aliens”, these Aesir are totally removed from any real world mythology. Come on, we’re talking about superheroes from comic books, with capes and spandex costumes.

      Not that I think that Hollywood studio execs really give a damn about not pleasing some self-declared members of not-officially-recognized, neo-pagan, new-age religions like Wicca or Asatru or Neo-druids, or that Hollywood should. But I better stop here lest I “step on the beliefs” of modern neo-pagans. If they really think the Marvel Thor has anything to do with a tribal god of Germanic origin, then my condolences.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jes.jessen1 Bikin Vikin

    I love the fact, that they didn’t copy too much from northern mythology. For example the 20. movie about thor vs. midgaard snake. I’m so sick of these.
    But I liked the fact that they did not chance the core of the caraters. so heimdall is still the only one who never trusted loki.

  • http://www.cuteoverload.com Jacob Barnes

    You should bring back the weekly, or almost weekly, vlogs.  I think I enjoy these almost as much as, if not more than, the other content.  Also, do some more Let’s Plays.  That’d be greeeeat, thanks Peter.

  • Anonymous

    Two words: ‘dutch angles’.  Every. Fucking. Shot. It was Battlefield Earth tier in the cinematography.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jacen-Chen/532265634 Jacen Chen

       And I thought I was the ONLY one that noticed the dutch angles. Funny how the critic didn’t make fun of that or make an I was frozen today joke

  • Anonymous

    The characters being established in Norse mythology and then being new and not knowing anything is not explained in the movie at all, and I’m not sure how they could have done so in the time given.

    My interpretation is this:  In the mythology, Ragnarok ends everything, and then the cycle of the universe begins again.  So you could see it as, the Ragnarok since the Viking times has happened and the cycle has begun again for the Aesir; this would also explain why they’re alien-magic things instead of as portrayed in the myths.

    In that sense, it’s too bad Thor didn’t take a look at the Norse mythology book the scientists were reading at one point.  He could’ve known how Loki was.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Fumero/100000153843491 Kevin Fumero

     I haven’t seen your review yet, but I figured I might as well make a predictable prediction: Spoony hated ‘Thor’. 

    • http://twitter.com/1RabidDingo Dan Cumbe

      Prediction fail, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. 

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Fumero/100000153843491 Kevin Fumero

        Even I had to ‘like’ your response lol 

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Fumero/100000153843491 Kevin Fumero

        Even I had to ‘like’ your response lol 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Fumero/100000153843491 Kevin Fumero

     I haven’t seen your review yet, but I figured I might as well make a predictable prediction: Spoony hated ‘Thor’. 

  • Anonymous

     I like Idris Elba, too. Right now he’s the only reason I’m considering going to this movie, really.

  • Anonymous

     I like Idris Elba, too. Right now he’s the only reason I’m considering going to this movie, really.

  • Anonymous

    Oh yeah, and I read something on Cracked that said that every second of the Green Lantern trailer was ripped from other superhero trailers. That might have been a different trailer, though. I almost certainly won’t see the movie anyway.

  • Anonymous

    You totally need to review The Asylum’s “Almighty Thor” knockoff.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that Kevin Nash is the best actor in the entire movie.

    Ryan
    sarcasmatron9000.blogspot.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jacen-Chen/532265634 Jacen Chen

    Every time Portman walk onto the scene, I get a lot of “You’re softer than sand” jokes. But yeah, she is cute

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1099101219 Joel Savoie

    Idris Elba did an excellent performance as Heimdall , The purest complain since the mythology holds the tradition of him being Albino-like with his skin being white as snow, Idris could have done white-face for better authenticity but ultimately I don’t give a shit that Heimdall is Ebony instead of ivory in the end, Since its just a movie based on a comic which is not even 100% faithful to its source material derived from the Nordic eddas.
     

  • Joshua D’souza

    Surprisingly decently made. I was worried that with all the superhero films these days, there’d be a screw-up that put an end to the genre. Hope Green lantern and Captain America don’t stink (something I’m expecting X-Men First Class to do).

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jose-Batista/100000952184779 Jose Batista

    I figured Loki’s motivation was dual natured, save Odin to be recognized as a hero by Asgard, second get revenge on the father that left him to die by exposure.

  • philip pardoe

     Just to point out Loki in myth is actually the god of mischief hes meant to stir the pot hes not out right evil he only becomes evil in myth when his children are mistreated and he kills balder the most loved of the gods. 

    that’s when he turns against the gods his daughter is Hel the ruler of the underword he has a serpent son who kills thor in the end and Fenrir the great wolf swallows Odin and is killed by Thor.

    So Loki is never outright evil and he has the ability to shape shift into anything and he is granted there propites he often turns into a bird and one story he turns into a female horse to tempt another horse away from rebuilding the wall, if the giant had finished building the wall he would get the sun and moon and thors wife as payment Loki notices the horse actually does most of the work and draws the horse away. It later has sex with the horse and gives birth to a 7 legged horse which is then offered to Odin which later became his trademark horse.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

      Eight legs, not seven. Odins horse Sleipnir had eight legs. But yes, in
      the Edda Sleipnir is the offspring of a giant’s stallion and Loki
      (shapeshifted into a female horse). One of the many stories where Loki
      saved the Aesir’s collective asses, or won magical items for them
      (including Thor’s hammer Mjörnir).

      The movie Loki has next to
      nothing in common with the trickster god Loki from Norse mythology.
      According to the various versions of the Edda, when the gods of Asgard
      decided to have a wall build around Asgard to protect them from attacks
      by giants, a giant mason offered to build the wall, but asked for the
      goddess Freya (and in some version the sun and moon too) as payment if
      he managed to complete the wall in a certain time. The stories do not
      specify what kind of giant, probably a stone giant. [Note: Freya was
      Odin's wife. Either Odin had two wives --Frigg and Freya-- or in some
      texts Freya is just another name for Frigga. Thor's wife was Sif.] Now,
      when the date came closer and the wall was nearing completion, the gods
      were getting afraid and debated if they should simply murder the mason,
      but Loki persuaded them to let him try his way. Loki had noticed the
      giant’s stallion did most of the work, thus he turned into a mare and
      lured the stallion away for long enough that the wall was not completed
      in time… there was still a small gap, small enough that one warrior
      could defend it, but still a gap. When  the gods refused to pay, the
      giant realized he had been swindled and grew angry, whereupon Thor beat
      the giant to death with his hammer. Charming. And poor Loki had to
      suffer the indignity of being the target of fratboy jokes by the other
      male gods, when he gave birth to a foal some months later, gaining him
      yet another byname: Loki Horse-Mother.

      Other nicknames for Loki in the Edda were: Loki Scar-Lip,
      Loki Skywalker, Loki Giant’s Child, Loki Lie-Smith. He wasn’t just a
      shapeshifter, but also an inventor (he invented the fishing net), and
      god of the hearthfire, who gave humans fire. Bit of like Prometheus, and
      like Prometheus he ended up chained to a rock and tortured. Most
      importantly, in the Edda, he’s not flat-out evil, he’s a trickster, he’s
      charming, witty, funny, sarcastic, and sleeps with the other gods’
      wives.

      In the Edda, Lokis was actually married to an Aesir woman
      called Sigyn, and they had two sons, Nari and Wali. Both sons were
      slaughtered by the other gods, their entrails were used to bind Loki to
      the rock. (Gee, no wonder Loki was mad by the time Ragnarök, the Norse
      armageddon, came around.) Loki also had a lover, a female giant called
      Angrboda, who gave birth to the talking Fenriswolf (a.k.a. Fenrir), the
      Midgardsnake Jörmungandr that circles the Earth, and the humanoid
      goddess Hel, who rules Helheim, the underworld. Fenrir was deceived by the god Tyr and bound with magic fetters until the day of Ragnarök, but he bit off Tyrs hand as revenge.

      But
      as for Loki being the child of giants… well, technically they’re all
      giants. According to the Edda, the Aesir of Asgard were, technically,
      also a tribe of giants, just like the Vanir of Vanaheim, who fought a
      war against the Aesir and lost; some of them came to live in Asgard and
      intermarried with the Aesir, among them Freya. The Vanir were said to be
      wise and also spellcasters. While Odin had invented the runic letters,
      Loki learned magic from the Vanir. In the Edda, it’s never clearly said
      where Loki came from, merely that he crossed the sea in a boat and met
      Odin, became Odin’s bloodbrother and helped him create humans (from
      trees!).

      • Anonymous

        Cristina, you make a catholic priest seem short winded.

      • Anonymous

        Thank you for that, Christina. While some here may not appreciate your insight, I for one am glad you decided to share.

  • philip pardoe

     Just to point out Loki in myth is actually the god of mischief hes meant to stir the pot hes not out right evil he only becomes evil in myth when his children are mistreated and he kills balder the most loved of the gods. 

    that’s when he turns against the gods his daughter is Hel the ruler of the underword he has a serpent son who kills thor in the end and Fenrir the great wolf swallows Odin and is killed by Thor.

    So Loki is never outright evil and he has the ability to shape shift into anything and he is granted there propites he often turns into a bird and one story he turns into a female horse to tempt another horse away from rebuilding the wall, if the giant had finished building the wall he would get the sun and moon and thors wife as payment Loki notices the horse actually does most of the work and draws the horse away. It later has sex with the horse and gives birth to a 7 legged horse which is then offered to Odin which later became his trademark horse.

  • philip pardoe

     Just to point out Loki in myth is actually the god of mischief hes meant to stir the pot hes not out right evil he only becomes evil in myth when his children are mistreated and he kills balder the most loved of the gods. 

    that’s when he turns against the gods his daughter is Hel the ruler of the underword he has a serpent son who kills thor in the end and Fenrir the great wolf swallows Odin and is killed by Thor.

    So Loki is never outright evil and he has the ability to shape shift into anything and he is granted there propites he often turns into a bird and one story he turns into a female horse to tempt another horse away from rebuilding the wall, if the giant had finished building the wall he would get the sun and moon and thors wife as payment Loki notices the horse actually does most of the work and draws the horse away. It later has sex with the horse and gives birth to a 7 legged horse which is then offered to Odin which later became his trademark horse.

  • http://twitter.com/Jegsimmons James Simmons

     i really liked thor, but i think the fact it had to make sense for the avengers kinda slowed it, but on it owns this was a VERY well acted had VERY good special effect to the point of wowing me (and i hate overuse of cgi) and the plot,  maby not the best, was interesting. also it was funny.

    id gladly watch this again.

  • http://twitter.com/Jegsimmons James Simmons

     i really liked thor, but i think the fact it had to make sense for the avengers kinda slowed it, but on it owns this was a VERY well acted had VERY good special effect to the point of wowing me (and i hate overuse of cgi) and the plot,  maby not the best, was interesting. also it was funny.

    id gladly watch this again.

  • http://twitter.com/Jegsimmons James Simmons

     i really liked thor, but i think the fact it had to make sense for the avengers kinda slowed it, but on it owns this was a VERY well acted had VERY good special effect to the point of wowing me (and i hate overuse of cgi) and the plot,  maby not the best, was interesting. also it was funny.

    id gladly watch this again.

  • Anonymous

     you see, my teacher was a mad professor. but he never stopped believing in team science. he always backed science 100%. he loved science. so i can say, that religion or no. its still the same old day to day shit. i hate talking about religion. fuck the argument. i like dr.insano!

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/2CPPWAPGJVAZ7A2Z6MLZKXKIPE Anthony

     It should be noted, that a lot of Thor’s powers are intricately linked to his hammer. By himself, Thor is super-humanly strong and has god-like invulnerability, but not a lot beyond that.

    He can’t actually fly, he’s using the momentum of Mjolnir, by throwing it and letting it carry him along with it. The same goes for Thor’s ability to conjure lightning and thunderstorms, both of which are created by the hammer.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

    Explaining the Asgardian gods’ “magic” as advanced technology helps bring the Thor universe in line with the other modern versions of Marvel characters of the past 10 years, especially for the Avengers movie.

    Iron Man: no superpowers, but gadgeteer with advanced high-tech (fusion energy, weaponry and A.I.)
    Green Lantern: alien supertechnology
    Captain America: supersoldier serum plus high-tech shield
    Hulk: superpowers as “mutation” caused by gamma radiation (and possibly genetic experimentation, depending on movie). Also, the scientist and engineer Bruce Banner in the comics invents his own brand of high-tech called “Bannertech”.
    Hawkeye: archer, no superpowers, but similar to Batman in that he uses gadgets and high-tech weaponry and is at the peak of human physical performance

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

    For me, the single biggest WTF? moment was when Thor’s action girl sidekick, Sif, talked about how only Thor had believed in her, blablabla, when she wanted to prove that a woman could be a warrior too! Um. I take it whoever invented that character for the animated Thor series had never heard about VALKYRIES?? You know? The female warriors from Norse mythology? Yeah, those. Apparently the “advanced Asgardians” are more old-fashioned in regard to gender politics than the Vikings. (sarcasm)

    No really, this only proves to me that including those stereotype “token minority” sidekicks in the life-action movie was a bad idea.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDH4QYSUPS7XKHWAJEYCGXH5ZU Aleksi

    What got to me mythologically was that Odin was riding Sleipnir, the badass eight-legged überhorse from the legends. The problem? Loki is supposed to be her mom. In the myth the walls of Asgard are broken from war with Vanaheim and some worksman comes in saying he can fix them if he gets to marry Freya. The gods reluctantly agree if he finishes the job in an unrealistic deadline, but surprisingly he almost succeeds. So Loki decides to distract him from his work by turning into a mare in heat and luring away his horse, at which point the random worksman reveals himself as a Frost Giant in disguise. Loki then comes back a few months later with an eight-legged colt in tow and gives her to Odin as a gift.

    In this continuity Loki is Odin’s son! Shouldn’t the whole thing be all kinds of awkward and disturbing for all of them?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EDH4QYSUPS7XKHWAJEYCGXH5ZU Aleksi

    What got to me mythologically was that Odin was riding Sleipnir, the badass eight-legged überhorse from the legends. The problem? Loki is supposed to be her mom. In the myth the walls of Asgard are broken from war with Vanaheim and some worksman comes in saying he can fix them if he gets to marry Freya. The gods reluctantly agree if he finishes the job in an unrealistic deadline, but surprisingly he almost succeeds. So Loki decides to distract him from his work by turning into a mare in heat and luring away his horse, at which point the random worksman reveals himself as a Frost Giant in disguise. Loki then comes back a few months later with an eight-legged colt in tow and gives her to Odin as a gift.

    In this continuity Loki is Odin’s son! Shouldn’t the whole thing be all kinds of awkward and disturbing for all of them?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

    If the script writers of the Thor movie really wanted to explain why the movie-Heimdall is not only dark-skinned but has these weird red eyes, well, why not claim Heimdall is a Fire Giant from Muspelheim, the realm of fire? Surtr (which in Old Norse meant “black” or “the swarthy one”), the king of the fire giants, has been described in the Edda as carrying a very sharp, brightly shining sword which is either on fire or shines with bright light.

    Only problem with that might be that Surtr is supposed to fight against the gods of Asgard during Ragnarök. But hey… it’s not like the movie bears much resemblance to the Edda anyway. ;-)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

    I agree with Spoony that the SHIELD/Avengers stuff in Iron Man 2 didn’t seem so out of place. Tony Stark has always been involved with the military, he lives in 21st century America, it was a natural development, but the focus of Iron Man 2 was still on Tony Stark and his friends. With Thor, all those Earth characters running around in the New Mexico plot took away screentime from the Asgard background. But if they wanted to set up Thor’s entrance into the Avengers, well by the end of the movie, Thor is back in Asgard and stuck there, he’s not part of the Avengers at all. He merely met some humans who were interested in his hammer, but because he didnt get to see what humans were capable of (if he had met Iron Man, for example), he didn’t seem very impressed.

  • http://thepunkeffect.com Pat

    Kind of strange to talk about the movie for 40 minutes in detail and barely mention Tom Hiddleston’s fantastic performance, was the glue that held the entire film together. It was probably the best acting of any of these Marvel movies so far by a wide margin.

    • Anonymous

      Would have double liked it, but that doen’t work. 

  • chaoticzlegacy

    I disagree with your opinion on Hawkeye’s intro, not that it wasn’t short, but that if it was going to be in that scene, it needed to be brief because it was an essential Thor development moment.  Thor needed to be triumphant and then be brought low when he realized his arrogance made him unworthy for his powers.  Also Loki’s not really evil, he’s sort of a trickster and Thor enjoyed that, that’s why they were good friends and Thor trusted him.  Loki might pull a prank every once and a while but he hadn’t ever done anything like what he did in the movie yet.  Also the 3 warriors mention this and I quote, “Loki may enjoy his trickery but even he would know better than this.”

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MCK6CIYZ2C55FES3NW4BAOTG4E Christina

     http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2011-05-08

  • Timothy Berntsen

    I had no problem with SHIELD in this movie, and I thought their presence in the movie made a lot more sense. It’s a story about an alien from another dimension showing up in a small town, and of course the men in black are going to show up and cover the town in yellow “do not cross” tape. What is wrong with using SHIELD in this movie? Iron Man 2 had no reason for shield to be in the movie, because what little they had to contribute to the plot would have been a lot more satisfying to see Tony Stark accomplish on his own. For Thor though, SHIELD had an important function to serve to the plot. Would the movie have been stronger if SHIELD were swapped out with the FBI or some other generic government agency? I don’t think so. They were the big mean government agency in the movie that established the stakes for Natalie Portman and the other human lead characters, and they presented a challenge for Thor during his time on earth. They were part of the plot in this movie, whereas in Iron Man 2 they were tacked on frivolously to set up for Avengers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/halken Andreas Hallqvist

     Of course they never realise it’s Loki being treacherous and deceptive. He’s the God of Lies! If he’s lying, you can’t tell.

  • Erick Jaudon

    In the move Heimdall does not get deceived by Loki and actually calls him  out on it.

    • http://twitter.com/ihaveno_life Katrin H.

       Because Heimdall can see all. But then they never explained why Heimdall didn’t know Loki was the one who got the Ice Giants in the first time. Yes?

  • Platapusplatoon

    Your brother is far too reserved.   It looks like he has a lot to say but he just looks around the room looking frustrated.  Spoony, you rant for just a little too long and you don’t give Miles the chance to voice his opinion so a lot of meaningful commentary is lost.  This is what I’m seeing anyway, it’s your review and your site, do what you like.

  • http://twitter.com/ihaveno_life Katrin H.

     I have never read Thor, I know the mythology really well though, and I can mostly agree. My favorite part of the film (besides how awesome Asgard looked) was Loki’s back story. I thought it was actually done really well. The fact that they didn’t know what was in children’s books or the fact that they weren’t all norse looking didn’t bother me because they set up at the beginning that they were aliens basically and that human’s had interpreted them as Gods. I didn’t find Loki’s background confusing, if anything I loved it because of it’s subtle character building aspects that contrasted the very predictable plot arc of Thor. And I loved the actor that played him.

    The Odin sleep did confuse me a little and seemed more like convenient plot device, but I went with it. The only thing I did have to ask comic friends about was Hawkeye, since I don’t read those comics. That was the only annoying Avengers moment in the films for me, otherwise I agree with Miles, some government agency would want to investigate alien tech falling from the sky.

    The beginning war scene was badly done, specifically when they froze woman and child in my opinion, but the scene you described with the soldiers bothered me less, having me instead have an awkward Night Watch flashback. The coloring in ice scenes just seemed too stylized, and unrealistic. Asgard has the coronation-y scene that’s very yellow and fake-ish, but it wasn’t as jarring as the blue.

    As for theater vs. rental. I think the cg of Asgard alone is worth the theater, the scope and beauty is just awesome. But, I also can attest that 3D isn’t worth it. I got to go for free to a pre-screening which was in 3D (it took them forever to sync the projectors) and the 3D was subtle and mostly done in post so not even true 3D.

    The romance was annoyingly tacked on, but I must say I was actually surprised at the lack of shirtless Thor. There was only like one short shot. 

    Do we need a description of why Heimdall is so awesome and powerful, I mean.. look at the guy. He just is. 

  • http://twitter.com/ihaveno_life Katrin H.

     I have never read Thor, I know the mythology really well though, and I can mostly agree. My favorite part of the film (besides how awesome Asgard looked) was Loki’s back story. I thought it was actually done really well. The fact that they didn’t know what was in children’s books or the fact that they weren’t all norse looking didn’t bother me because they set up at the beginning that they were aliens basically and that human’s had interpreted them as Gods. I didn’t find Loki’s background confusing, if anything I loved it because of it’s subtle character building aspects that contrasted the very predictable plot arc of Thor. And I loved the actor that played him.

    The Odin sleep did confuse me a little and seemed more like convenient plot device, but I went with it. The only thing I did have to ask comic friends about was Hawkeye, since I don’t read those comics. That was the only annoying Avengers moment in the films for me, otherwise I agree with Miles, some government agency would want to investigate alien tech falling from the sky.

    The beginning war scene was badly done, specifically when they froze woman and child in my opinion, but the scene you described with the soldiers bothered me less, having me instead have an awkward Night Watch flashback. The coloring in ice scenes just seemed too stylized, and unrealistic. Asgard has the coronation-y scene that’s very yellow and fake-ish, but it wasn’t as jarring as the blue.

    As for theater vs. rental. I think the cg of Asgard alone is worth the theater, the scope and beauty is just awesome. But, I also can attest that 3D isn’t worth it. I got to go for free to a pre-screening which was in 3D (it took them forever to sync the projectors) and the 3D was subtle and mostly done in post so not even true 3D.

    The romance was annoyingly tacked on, but I must say I was actually surprised at the lack of shirtless Thor. There was only like one short shot. 

    Do we need a description of why Heimdall is so awesome and powerful, I mean.. look at the guy. He just is. 

  • Anonymous

    I’ve heard theories that Natalie Portman is a clone of Sandra Bullock because Sandra aged, but there were still dozens of roles written for her in her 20′s-30′s.

    The only complaint (not addressed here) I had of the movie was the overuse of background music, like they couldn’t allow for dramatic silence, everything had to be accompanied by a clip of generic fantasy/adventure stock music.  There were only two actual songs credited, but the best way to pretend that you’re listening to the “Thor” movie sound track is just to throw in a “Best of Dio” CD.

    • Anonymous

      I guess, if you are used to TV, you can not stand long, silent scenes without getting bored and the silence needs to be filled by strong acting.
      There is a far to superior actor/Odin in this movie, but Thor himself is not the one we want to see in a pure monologue, or do we?

      • Anonymous

         No, it was the genericness of all of the generic heroic fantasy music that got to me, not the silence.

  • Anonymous

    Marvel-Odin says: “As my father and his father before!” – Odin-Odin has two giants as father and grandfather:)

    Marvel-Odin loses his eye in battle. Odin-Odin puts his eye into the spring of truth and future, clever god.

    Marvel-Frigg is Marvel-Odins wife and Marvel-Thors mother. Frigg-Frigg is Odins wife, Thors mother is one of the 14 other women of Odin. I guess that is why they call him All-Father:)

    Loki never was the son of Odin, but Heimdall is.

    Sif is the golden blond wife of Thor, who gets betrayed by him, while Marvel-Sif gets outranked by Natalie Portman, which faith is worse?

    The breaking of Bifröst is part of the apocalypse, Marvel-Thor does it himself.

    The Marvel heros battle the leader of Jotunheim by beating him up badly. The north heros battle him by competing with him in the disciplines: Eating, grandma wrestling, running, horn drinking and last but not least cat lifting. I rather would have seen that version.

    In the movie a girl calls Mjölnir “Mimir”, who is mythological a giant and a consultant of Odin.

    Jötunheimr is inhabited by giant giants, Marvels Jotunheim is inhabited by the Blue Man Group.

    Marvel-Loki is the Son of “Laufey”. Loki-Loki is too, but Laufey is his mother :)

    PS:I really really hope they make a few Thor movies more and skip the avengers!

  • Anonymous

    This movie was an average no character development movie:  Thor meet Jane, Thor find hammer, Thor fight for Jane.   This is Thor comic fan movie.  I would have preferred the action and story take place at either Asgard or Midgard (Earth).  The dialogue is not bad compared to Star Wars Ep. 3, but it is hammy.  The casting was good.  What was the epilogue point?  After the credits, “Thor will Return.”, should have ended the movie.  Or, Jane should opened the bridge in the end and no scroller.  The would rate this movie below Iron Man 2.  Suggest you make this movie a rental and save your movie for a better movie.

  • Anonymous

    This movie was an average no character development movie:  Thor meet Jane, Thor find hammer, Thor fight for Jane.   This is Thor comic fan movie.  I would have preferred the action and story take place at either Asgard or Midgard (Earth).  The dialogue is not bad compared to Star Wars Ep. 3, but it is hammy.  The casting was good.  What was the epilogue point?  After the credits, “Thor will Return.”, should have ended the movie.  Or, Jane should opened the bridge in the end and no scroller.  The would rate this movie below Iron Man 2.  Suggest you make this movie a rental and save your movie for a better movie.

  • http://twitter.com/RoppongiCoffee Gabriel

    I really did enjoy this movie! I was expecting something cool and I think this is the first time I experienced “fictional” norse mythology in this form I think. I did enjoy Loki, I also thought that his motives seemed kinda messy throughout the movie. Did anyone else imagine Jeff Bridges playing Odin while watching? xD
    Really, Gimli?

    Well, I couldn’t agree more with Spoony about The Green Lantern! The trailer did nothing for me.
    Ryan Reynolds seems just wrong in this movie!

  • Anonymous

    Better then Beastmaster 2?  So whos cuter, Natalie Portman or Sarah Douglas?  Tough choice.

    Sounds decent, hell a comic movie that Spoony seemed to like?….I might have to see it.

    • http://www.facebook.com/Citrakite Joseph Perez

       Natalie Portman. She has an actual career.

    • http://www.facebook.com/Citrakite Joseph Perez

       Natalie Portman. She has an actual career.

  • Anonymous

    Better then Beastmaster 2?  So whos cuter, Natalie Portman or Sarah Douglas?  Tough choice.

    Sounds decent, hell a comic movie that Spoony seemed to like?….I might have to see it.

  • Anonymous

    Better then Beastmaster 2?  So whos cuter, Natalie Portman or Sarah Douglas?  Tough choice.

    Sounds decent, hell a comic movie that Spoony seemed to like?….I might have to see it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Ian-Stacy/1473751695 Matthew Ian Stacy

    i think they did set this up for the avengers. I mean if you stayed through the credits and the ending even said they are making the avengers. I enjoyed the movie but it wasn’t the greatest thing ever. I’m more exited about the green lantern than anything.

  • http://twitter.com/MartianBethany Bethany Hoyt

    I totally dug on this movie, but I can see where it might have been better had it been more about Thor.  That being said, I really doubt this movie would have been made WITHOUT the run up to the Avengers. Even if it had, it would have been given a teency budget.

    What would be nice is if they make a SHIELD-less sequel, probably after the Avengers movie.  Give it the same kind of budget and keep it mostly in Asgard, and see what you can do with it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gary-Guillot/1662473298 Gary Guillot

    When you brought up Heimdall and the Warriors Three, I was just itching to get this point across, and if I may: In the film, the Asgardians are shown more as aliens from another planet rather than gods. During the opening scenes when Odin was explaining how they reached the Nine Realms, it seemed to me that the rainbow bridge and the mechanism they use to travel is more of a transporter than a gateway “into heaven,” or “into mortal realms,” so to speak. So when the casting choices were made public, I didn’t care that Heimdall was portrayed by a black actor or that Hogun was played by an asian actor. In the comics, Hogun always looked asian, I mean, look at his helmet! But the idea that they’re aliens makes much more sense, and it portrays the Asgardians as a race of beings who just happen to be immortal. I think it’s an easier pill to swallow, especially for a Marvel film, to just say that they’re aliens instead of gods.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1416077681 Jeffery B Eppes

    I’ll tell you why you can do this with Thor and not HeMan or Beastmaster.

    First, with the Beastmaster and HeMan franchises, you never get any sense that these worlds have any relationship with Earth, let alone Modern Earth (or Earth as we know it.) Thor, on the other hand, is a god with a long relationship with the mortals. In the comics they take it still further with Thor being banished to Earth and becoming a superhero.

    So the audience goes in knowing Thor will interact with modern day mortals. This character has been doing this for nearly fifty years now. We’ve had fifty years to get used it to and to figure out how to make it work.

    And like you said, its on purpose here as opposed to being a budget saving manuever.

  • Anonymous

    Thor’s hammer is apparently a limit break. Probably the most awesome thing of the entire movie. 

    “Just the sheer fact that they didn’t fuck it up is a big plus.” Agreed. Transformers, anyone? Thor wasn’t a brilliant film, but it was a good solid action movie with competent acting (loved the fact that they got Anthony Hopkins as Odin, although I felt putting an actress of Natalie Portman’s talents in the superhero-love-interest character was a bit of a waste). I always hate the “hero from another place comes to earth and is confused by everything” plot, but this was the one time it was done well, and it was relatively minor part of the movie so I didn’t mind it so much. The Asgard scenes were great and I have no idea who they cast to play Loki, but he did a great job, I’ll say that much. 

    I haven’t read the Thor comic, so I don’t know how they played it in that, but I thought that really the best thing about the setting set-up was that they treated Asgard and its inhabitants not as Gods from another dimension, but as an alien species whose science and technology has advanced to the point where it is actually magic. They really cornered the market on “sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic”, and I really loved that, even if it was just a handwave. 

    I did think it was a bit strange that Loki is the god of mischief and Chaos and no one really suspected him, but I thought that maybe it was just that in the marvel mythology he had become the god of Magic instead (someone said a line somewhere about that). In any case, I liked the fact that his motives weren’t really evil or treacherous – in that he found out that he was the son of the frost giant king and he wanted to get revenge on Odin – but that he loved Odin despite the fact that he wasn’t his biological father and wanted him to see him as as worthy or better than Thor. I mean he was a bit like a whiny teenager about it, but his actions came from him wanting to earn Odin’s affection and stop any threat to Asgard. And initially, before Thor learns humility, both Loki and Thor have the exact same mentality – in fact, Loki has some points over Thor because he’s smart enough to see the situation for what it really is and can actually accomplish what Thor tried and failed to do. You can’t help but think that Odin could have avoided all of this if he’d slapped both his sons across the face and sent them both to earth to figure out humility. Probably would have saved some problems in the future.  

    I actually liked Thor better for setting up The Avengers. Maybe thats just because I’m a bit of a Marvel comic fan and seeing the marvel universe brought to film just seems awesome to me. That and I really like the Shield subplots in the movie – although I didn’t even notice the introduction of Hawkeye really, apart from noticing that he put down a sniper rifle to pick up his bow. Thor was an okay movie, but it was made better by integrating elements of the Marvel universe and setting up for the massive cross-over we’re going to get.   

    Just one note on the Green Lantern. You cast RYAN FUCKING REYNOLDS AS THE GREEN LANTERN! WHAT THE FUCK??? You already DESTROYED Deadpool in Wolverine Origins and that wasn’t enough for you? DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH! 

    Also, Bridesmaids was a really good movie. Very funny. It isn’t a hollywood chick flick by any means, but it does appeal primarily to women, so I really have no idea what the general consensus for guys is on it. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DBM2ALKS5N7JNOKBBVRKDG6JDA Daam

    You should review The Almighty Thor, Thor gets to shoot an uzi :-)

  • http://www.facebook.com/lou.nolastnamegiven Lou Nolastnamegiven

     I didn’t really like this take on Thor. The whole “aliens not gods/advanced technology not magic” thing I thought was just stupid.  The draw of Thor in the comics is that he represents forces and entities that are beyond mortal and utilize magics that defy mundane explanation and require a different discipline and manner of handling (or you could end up jumping up and down and losing your cool like Mr. Fantastic does in one comic where he absolutely goes berserk everytime someone tries to explain that what he witnesses in Asgard is magical in nature). The excitement with these kinds of characters is that they represent the metaphysical, that which can only be grasped with the soul. They challenge our perception of reality and challenge the idea that mortals are masters of all Creation.

    The attempt to “de-mystify” the Marvel-verse Asgardians not only just made them more absurd (and I mean in the “no plotline credibility” way, not in the cool way) , but also reduced Thor to nothing more than just another super-powered freak.

     

  • Nicolae Carpathia

    Oddly, I think the thing that REALLY helped out here was Kenneth Branagh’s training in classical theatre. Working with a Shakespeare director can really help when you’re trying to lend real gravitas to scenes where either the main character or every character is speaking Renaissance Faire English.

  • Aaron Pinsoneault

    It wasn’t a LOVE plot, per sey. More of a mutual lust subplot.

  • http://www.facebook.com/emily.kilbourn Emily Kilbourn

    I loved Loki’s character arc, it made the movie awesome.

  • IHeart28

    I watched Thor on demand recently and I really found it enjoyable. While the plot was a bit too big for it’s britches per se, I still really had a blast. It was a fun time and I especially enjoyed Chris Hemsworth(Thor) and Tom Hiddleston(Loki). Those two made the entire movie for me, they made their characters extremely likeable.

  • Mavros St. John

    Out of all the Lead-up movies to the Avengers, Thor was the best. I don’t even LIKE Thor, and I found the movie awesome. I respect your opinion, and I acknowledge the fact that he should have seen the betrayal by Loki coming…In the end it was an okay movie, not the best, but just okay.

  • Brett

    I think it would be a fairly interesting idea if the old Norse myths turned out to be prophecy in the Marvel cinematic continuity as opposed to ancient history. That would explain why everybody trusts Loki until midway through this movie. We don’t know that these myths in the movie’s continuity are the same as the ones we have in real life, so maybe they could make it work. Maybe there was a human prophet at some point in Earth’s distant past who wrote down these visions of the future as a warning, but the Asgardians had already broken contact with Earth. Still working out why they are made to look like fairy tales, but the idea has potential.

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