Ebert didn't like Thor :(

I generally look forward to reading what Roger Ebert thinks about movies, especially ones that I like.

Not only because he's a very experienced and well-respected film critic (and thus, his opinions do hold water in the film community), and apart from his tending to like the kind of movies I like, he writes with wit and clarity about what he doesn't like about a film.

The more scathing the review, the more fun to read, so to speak.

[Except for Transformers 2, of which I seem to be the only person who enjoyed it.]

Also, he was the only one that had given Spider-man 2 a (deservedly!) higher rating than Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in a time where everyone else were praising Harry Potter 3 for its dark and more sombre turn, as compared to the lighter mood of the first two movies.

HP3 was a mess. But I digress.

So I was decidedly bummed when I read that Ebert didn't like Thor, because I absolutely loved Thor. And since we're on the subject of 'mood-dampeners', my office has gone with the majority and will be watching Fast 5 on Movie Night this Wednesday.

So much for watching Thor a second time for free :(

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Thor (2011)

My first movie of the year.

I've been excited about Thor due to it being part of the Marvel line-up in conjunction with The Avengers film that's gonna be out May 2012, and it doesn't disappoint.

The theatre projector, on the other hand, died within the first damn hour, and made us lose 15 minutes of the movie. What's worse is that it died a SECOND time, during the POST-CREDITS SCENE, a scene which I had WAITED TEN MINUTES after the movie proper ended FOR, and, based on WIKIPEDIA, a scene that is NOT TO BE MISSED, and is EVEN BETTER than FINDING MJOLNIR in the DESERT.

DAMN.

*spoilers*

On the day of his coronation, titular character Thor is exiled to Earth and stripped of his powers for wreaking havoc in an enemy's realm in which they have a fragile truce with, until he learns to mature up and not be so arrogant and rash. After Natalie Portman's 4WD runs into him twice, he redeems himself very quickly, and returns home to Asgard, where he finds out that his brother Loki was behind the events of the entire movie, in his bid to be King and win the approval of their father, Anthony HopkinsOdin.

A lot of work was put into making Asgard look the way it should, and it looks absolutely gorgeous! This movie is second on my list of movies I should've watched in 3D (the first being Avatar). Really, all the time spent on the non-Earth realms makes it worth the 3D ticket price.

As beautiful as Asgard was, too much of the movie was spent in Asgard (apart from the necessary scenes with our scheming throne-usurper Loki and Thor's friends trying to bring Thor back) at the beginning, leaving us with very little time on Thor learning the errors of his ways. Seriously, if we look at the timeline, it took him at most half an hour (probably five days in the movie) to be able to go back to Asgard.

Just that simple. And all because of Nat Portman.

Eyeroll on speedy life lessons aside, storyline was good enough to keep me interested, most probably because I'm very unfamiliar with Thor canon, and watching this movie is like learning everything for the first time. Action scenes were also super special awesome. I'm actually surprised that the movie had quite a focus on action, because it was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who is a Shakespearean actor and director, and is more noted for drama-heavy films, like the fairly awful updated version of the classic Sleuth, which originally starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

["Eggs in the morning", wtf.]

One of the main highlights of the movie for me was Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki. Even though Loki was conniving and devious and hurt a crapload of people, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, because all he ever wanted was Odin's approval, and just couldn't see that all this backstabbing schtick is totally not working. It certainly did not help that Odin looks to be favoring Thor more.

[I'll bet it's 'cuz Thor's blond and big and Loki has dark hair and is skinny. Loki is also adopted, which sooo did not help.]

And in the end, Loki's demise wasn't even a result from being bested in combat. While hanging on to his scepterGungnir (when the Bifrost bridge was destroyed), Odin verypretty much implied that Loki couldn't live up to his expectations, and Loki just gave up, let go and fell to endless space.

[Just like in The Mummy Returns, where Imhotep was barely holding on to the edge and his stupid girlfriend runs off to escape all the falling rocks. Stupid Anucksunamun.]

Hiddleston was absolutely fantastic (even though at one point or two he seemed to be overacting a tad), and what we got was a very sympathetic, tragic anti-hero rather than your typical run-of-the-mill ambitious brotherly foil-to-hero who wants to be King. Also, he's evil cute.

[If you haven't caught on yet, this is partially a fangirl post.]

One thing I don't get. How could Loki have teleported his way to Earth to tell Thor that Odin's dead (he lied), without catching the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., who were all over the place due to Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), and who would most definitely have caught on to something like a rainbow bridge lasering itself onto Earth? I mean, they certainly noticed when Thor's friends dropped by.

Oo, oo, HAWKEYE CAMEO FTW!! :D

Bottomline, despite Thor having a change of heart and attitude so quickly because of a girl, which is fairly ridiculous, Thor is a great movie, and a fantastic way to start off the summer movie season.

P.S. the post-credits scene is pretty pivotal, so do be sure to stay and watch. However, if the projector breaks down sometime in the movie, then don't waste your time in the theatre. You'd be better off YouTubing it.

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