Hammer to Fall

A friend of mine and I left work a bit early on Friday to go see Thor, finally. We got there a bit earlier than originally planned, thinking we'd get some food before the movie. But we went to get the tickets first anyway, and found that there was a 3D showing only a few minutes from that time. So we got a bit more snacks than planned, and headed in.

One thing that was weird was that the first several previews were not in 3D. It was the first time I'd seen 2D previews before a 3D movie, which had me wondering if we wandered into the wrong theater, somehow. But the last trailer was for Captain America, which was in 3D, so that was a lot more promising.

Finally, the movie started, and did so with a bang (literally, as a truck rumbling through an atmospheric disturbance crashed into a man). It then went into some back-story, giving the background of the broadest (and barest) outlines of norse mythology. That background quickly ran through to the "present", with Thor disobeying Odin to investigate how some giants got from Jotunheim to Asgard. This led to a huge fight (unsurprisingly, especially given Thor's attitude), ended by Odin but with a war declaration between the Aesir and Giants.

That led to Thor's banishment to Earth, with Mjollnir magically locked away from him until he is worthy of its power. And when Thor appears on Earth, in the middle of an atmospheric disturbance, he is immediately hit by Natalie Portman's truck as we saw before the background.

So we've pretty clearly got the whole plot detailed now. Natalie Portman's scientist with Thor, his quest to find Mjollnir, and the question of who helped the Giants to reach Asgard.

The whole was well done, and visually spectacular, but there was one pretty major flaw. His quest for worthiness, and the two falling in love, takes place over only a couple of days. There needed to be some indication of more time passing, because it just ended up being too pat. And there just wasn't enough time (or shared struggle) for them to fall so deeply in love as was implied at the very end.

I enjoyed the whole thing, from beginning to end, but afterwards, thinking back, it just felt rushed. Really, much of my problem could have been alleviated by the mere suggestion of time passing. But a man doesn't grow up from an arrogant boy to a confident man overnight, and that's literally what happened here.

So enjoy the ride, but don't expect any real depth.

Oh, and like most of the recent Marvel movies, there is a reason to stay through the end of the credits.

Oh yes, and one of Portman's scientific partners (the exact relationship was a bit unclear) was Stellan Skarsgård, who I hadn't seen since Good Will Hunting, but who did do a very good job (oops; missed that he was also in Mamma Mia!).

Anyway, overall I'd give it a not-bad rating. And, as I said, it was certainly visually spectacular, and worth the extra for 3D.