EntertainMEN?t

I'm going to start this off by telling you about Thor and how much I love it. IT. The comic, not the dude. I did not watch this movie because I want to rub myself all over Chris Hemsworth, even though I’m sure he does have some tasty man meats. No, I’m a fan of Norse mythology and comic books, and when I found out Marvel did a Thor comic I almost wet myself. When I found out that a movie was being made out of said comic I was 100% sure it was going to be a terrible bastardization like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, which I’d like to pretend doesn’t exist. Also Thor is rad because he’s a God and he’s totally badass. He gives Iron Man a savage beat down in Siege:

My concerns:

“Normals” (non-nerds) aren’t familiar with Norse mythology. If I go up to a normal dude and start talking about Loki or Odin he’ll look at me like I’m a crazy person and not know what I’m referring to. These aren’t well-known characters in mainstream culture; most people have just heard the name “Thor”, but know nothing about him.

Concern #1:, “How will characters be introduced?” The director’s going to have a hell of a time giving a mainstream audience a crash course in mythology while making the plot interesting.

#2 : Making the plot interesting to mainstream audiences has a great potential to leave my precious comic book fantasies all screwed up so that only flashy and easy to understand plot devices are conveyed, and the result is little to no relevance to the original imagery or plot.

#3 Casting– it had better be freaking perfect. I was more worried about casting for Loki than anyone else. He’s a complex character (duh, God of Mischief) and he has to be good at looking innocent AND devious, while appearing somewhat similar to comic book depictions. Also, in the storyline used in the comic, during this period in the Marvel Universe Loki is manifested as a woman. (Because everyone on the internets knows, the best way to trick boys into doing things for you is by being a girl).

In the movie Loki was a dude (obviously) but again, for simplicity’s sake they kept it closer to the mythology than the comic so the viewer wouldn’t have to follow the comic to get it.

Casting was perfect. Super rad. I’m only slightly grouchy that Heimdall was a black guy because it’s inconsistent with the comic and Norse mythology, but I’m not mad. Technically Sif is Heimdall’s blood sister…but since that’s not brought up in the movie I’ll just forget the continuity error and say Idris Elba did a fantastic job of portraying him.

Bro and sis??????????????

There are some good comedy moments (much like in the comics) where Thor and the warriors three don’t really fit in to a small town in New Mexico.

Just look at the casting and costuming on Thor’s BFFs “The Warriors Three” - From L - Hogun the Grim, Fandral the Dashing, and Volstagg the Valiant. An excellent job was done translating this comic to film.

The movie had great integration of J. Michael Straczynski’s Thor run and elements of the Marvel Siege story arc into the currently developing Avengers concept they are piecing together with the Hulk, Iron Man, Deadpool, Thor, and Captain America movies. It was VERY true to the comic. Probably because Straczynski was one of the writers on this film. Good move, Marvel. They kept things a little simpler for the movie by not including some major plot points like the city of Asgard being transported into Oklahoma (which leads into the Siege plotline and isn’t discussed in the film), but they had iconic shots in the city in New Mexico that were obvious homages to that imagery in the comic.

Characters are introduced organically, through context. As viewers of Marvel movies, we’re already familiar with SHIELD, so SHIELD’s presence and Jane Foster (lol human Sif in the comics) make for a smooth transition for the audience to understand the originating Norse mythology as Jane learns about it WITH SCIENCE. Comedy option moments like Thor throwing down his cup at the diner when he wants more coffee might seem kind of contrived, but that’s the kind of humor that’s in the comic when Asgardians go to Midgard. They have their own culture, and they’re in culture shock. Even though it’s slapstick comedy it could theoretically be an accurate situation, so I like that and I’m glad they kept that stuff in the screenplay.

In the comic Loki sends the Destroyer after Thor, Thor’s banished to Midgard (Earth) and Thor takes on Donald Blake’s form. You can see adaptations of this in the film – but I’m not going to give away the whole movie.

You can see how Kenneth Branaugh (a British dude) directed it, because the British filmmaking style is clear when Loki’s scheming is more subtle than in the comic. I would have liked a few more evil looks in asides to the camera because that’s one of his things… but I can see how that could be pretty corny when translated to film.

There’s a cameo with Hawkeye, so that’s cool.

Stay after the credits, as with all the Avengers movies, there’s a little rad thingy with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

I give this movie 5 ladyboners up.

-B-Tans