I saw Thor. I drooled a lot.

[amanuensis1]

Overview of Thor without spoilers beyond what you'd know from the trailers, so, leaving it uncut.


So I saw Thor this week. It took me a while to warm up to it but once it did I enjoyed the ride quite a bit. Asgard gave me, "Wonder how long these accents are gonna last," pessimism, it just felt so cheesy at the beginning. I was kind of fretting in my seat and thinking, "It's no Iron Man, is it."

Annnnnnnd then something happened, I'm not quite sure where, but I started to find the fun. Could have been in several places. The fantasy backgrounds in this film are so amazingly beautiful it's hard to stay unmoved. SHIELD guy whose name I never remember is such a refreshing twist on the Average Government Suit Idiot character that he perks me up whenever he shows up. The last time I believed a "No, really, I'm played by a gorgeous actress and I'm a brilliant scientist" character was Jodie Foster in Contact, but, still, Natalie Portman at least gave you the impression her astrophysicist never bothers with makeup beyond a swipe of Chap Stick and doesn't own a single pair of heels, so, that was nice.

And Chris Hemsworth really carried Thor. Not just physically (yes, that was me in the middle of the IMAX theatre who at conversational volume announced, "Best. Film. Ever," during his shirtless moment, not at all sorry about that) but in terms of making him 1) likeable and 2) a god and 3) a guy with lessons to learn who is also capable of learning them without sulking. Freaking complicated, that.

When Thor first uses his hammer in battle (*skips all possible punny ways of otherwise putting that*) I did go a little jaw-droppy. That was quite, quite gorgeous, the violence and power of his fighting. Made me cock my head sideways and think, "...you know, maybe swords are a little flash and overrated."

And the whole sent-to-Earth thing could have pinged my fish-out-of-water humiliation squick SO BAD except IT DIDN'T. Thor is still one fine specimen of butt-whuppin' man as an unpowered human, and he's not really capable of being embarrassed by his reproachable actions; he just absorbs he's done something that upset people, apologizes, and is sincere that he won't do it again. He still has the greater power in that situation, so I suppose that's why it didn't upset me. And he's such a gentleman. God, I loved that. I'm such a sucker for a hot paladin. I can't say he and Jane had deep credible chemistry--certainly not of the "I will find a way to cross an uncrossable galaxy for you" kind--but they were darned cute together. Loved the rooftop scene like crazy, oh, yes. And Jane is likeable and it's easy to slip into her viewpoint for a little, "Me girl, me want pretty man too" sighing. I may already have fantasized the two of them doin' it. Multiple times.

On the heels of that, Thor wasn't the only piece of HOLY HELL, ME WANT on that screen--omigod, I am still panting over the (uncredited) appearance of Hawkeye in this film. (My comic cred hit the dust this time around, though, because all through that I was going "CRAP CRAP WHAT THE HELL IS THE NAME OF MARVEL'S ANALOGUE FOR GREEN ARROW AGAIN" and had to be reminded after.) Jeebus christmas, he was riveting for the collective sixty seconds he was onscreen. I wouldn't have called him a consolation prize for the title character, nossir.

Also had pleasant girly twinges for the Gatekeeper guy. Found myself blinking and saying, "I didn't know he was my type, but, golly, I guess NOW I DO." And by the end of it I'd girl-crushed on Sif. I guess I was expecting the Jane-Sif rivalry to be played up and when it hadn't been, at the end, I thought, "Oh, that's all right then!" and plunged headlong into the Sif-love. Sif's actress, by the way, was one of the examples of how this entire film gave me the "I know that actor, what have I seen him/her in?" vibes when it turned out I hadn't seen them in anything at all. I IMDB'd a bunch of them and I hadn't seen any of their stuff. Whuzza? On the other hand, I am not to be blamed for missing Colm Feore under all that makeup!

So, pretty people, gorgeous scenery, genuine laugh-out-loud moments, battle scenes that weren't boring...on paper it sounds like I loved it, doesn't it? Well, I did enjoy it very much, and would like to watch most of it again, for more reasons than Chris Hemsworth shirtless. Though that's not to be glossed over ever.

Comments

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I wasn't quite that overwhelmed, but I am with you on Hawkeye - and am rather hoping that he appears again sometime. And for more than sixty seconds.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

He will! He's going to be in the Avengers movie. I'm so glad!

[eeyore9990.livejournal.com]

THAT'S WHO THAT WAS! OMG, I'm so glad you wrote a recap because it's been bothering me liek whoa who he was portraying. YAY! Now I know and can finally sleep at night again. :P

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as soon as he showed up, I was all, "Wait, that's SOMEBODY. Shit, who's the Green Arrow equiv in Marvel, who who who dammit I've forgotten!"

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I was just going back through this post because I wanted to reread my "the moment when I fell for Hawkeye" post and rereading this comment of yours just gave me mad delighted giggles. &hearts

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

I really appreciated the cheesecake moments in Thor. Like. Really. WHen he comes out wearing her ex's shirt? Best. Revenge. Ever.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

We knew exactly what they were doing with the cheesecake. Beefcake. Whatever. And I don't think we minded at all.

[elizardbits.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to leave this here for everyone's repeated moments of deeply fulfilling personal enjoyment.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, you public service devotee, you. :D

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

Got a gif of him with his shirt off? >:3

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

I was hoping for some shirt-ripping during the mud wrestling scene. The lack was really my only disappointment.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

That really is quite the tragedy, isn't it!

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

I was dissapointed by the lack of Hel. I love Hel. I really wanted her to appear. But I wasn't holding my breath from the get-go, so that's okay. XD;

I was really impressed with Asergard, too-- as well as their intepretation of the Magical Rainbow Bridge (TM). The thing with this movie is that it could have gotten really kampy, really fast. But shockingly, it didn't. It wasn't Ironman, but it had genuinely funny/awesome/cool moments of its own. And yeah. Thor himself. I think I said a few choice things aloud when he took his shirt off, too, and I don't apologize for any of them. XD

♥

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'll get to see some of Loki's children in the sequel... ;)

Just saw it today - in 3D!

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

Thor 2: Raisin' Some Hel

X3

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

I wanna see the Midgard Serpent... ;A;

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

YES. NEEDS MOAR:

1) HEL
2) MIDGASUMER
3) FENRIR

We can also throw in some Loki the Attractive Horse if we wanna go there, but I doubt we wanna go there. XD

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Magical Rainbow Bridge (TM) was particularly pretty, what a great effect! And yeah, it was teetering on camp at the beginning and then it pulled it back, and I was so glad.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

I loved it too! Sif was gorgeous... And I loved Loki and Heimdall's characterizations, too!

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

YES on Sif. ♥

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Was she from Norse mythology, or just a Marvel invention?

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it's been a while since I last studied up on my Norse mythology. :/ BUT SHE WAS STILL AWESOME.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Looks like she was!

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes~ I DO remember that hair-story. (Looks like they got the color wrong in the movie, haha. XD Ah well~ I loved her hair in the movie. ♥ )

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Marvel changed her hair to black all those years ago, I guess. I suppose it was nice to see diversity in Asgard?

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was admittedly amused by the Japanese Norse god. XD

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

She's in Norse mythology! She's Thor's wife!

[crescent-moony.livejournal.com]

YEAH, FUCK YOU, NATELIE PORTMAN. :/

Just kidding, ilu, Natelie~♥

[ariadneelda.livejournal.com]

But what did you think of Loki? ;)

I'm not sure how much I liked the movie because I spent half of it hating the 3D - everything seemed kind of blurry, argh, but then it got somewhat better somehow and I enjoyed the second half much better! I really want to see a good old 2D version at some point and enjoy all the impressive battle scenes and the gorgeous settings of Asgard. And despite my viewing experience being rather unsatisfying, or maybe because of it, I suddenly felt I had to read some Thor comics and been doing just that for the last couple of days! Heh. (I did have a small crush on Thor as a kid, though I hadn't read more than a few issues.)

I found movie!Thor rather unlikeable at first but he grew a lot on me along with his character development. I liked Jane well enough and Sif was quite awesome. I thought Loki was hot, and especially Heimdal - god, so hot.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yes, if they don't film something in 3D, or something, I dunno, motion is affected by 3D viewing, and it's especially distressing if it's dark. I got used to it too, like you said, a little ways through.

I did like Loki! He looked the part, acted well, made a great foil...I liked him very much. I guess he just didn't carbonate my hormones the way some of the others did. ^_^

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

*giggle*
That's made me want to go watch it again with a new eye.
I got a bit bored by it all ...

But whooohoooo, Megatron returns tomorrow :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I found at least one little bit of hot Megatron/Sam, so, the search was not fruitless!

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

REALLY?!?!?!
IN THE NEW ONE???

"at least one bit"??!?!?!

<3 You've made my day :-)