Frigid watched Thor

[frigidmagi]

Yeah I know everyone else has already saw the movie. I don't care, I had finals. On to the movie. As always, spoilers below.

I should note that to no one's surprise I've been an on and off reader of Thor since I was a wee pup. My favorite ones were always (and I mean ALWAYS!) the Thor comics not set on Earth. When Thor wasn't on Earth, it was like some strange mix of Kirby, Tolken and various scenice fiction writers and young frigid gobbled that up like it was a magical ice cream that tasted like ice cream but was super good for you. Thor on earth was kinda... Meh for me. Unless he was hanging with Captain America or Spiderman, in which case it got awesome real fast.

All that said, it should be no surprise that my favorite parts of this movie... All take place off of Earth. If anyone is listening if there is a Thor 2, Let it all take place off of Earth. Let the story be Jane Foster and Thor's galactic tour! That would be Epic! Embrace the epic Hollywood. You know you want to.

*cough* Sorry. Moving on.

The Asgardians in the movie have a real Kirby New Gods feel to them. They're a super advanced group of immortals who have defended at grave cost the other worlds against unprovoked aggression and even now they watch the Jotun and serve as protection for humanity and others. They see themselves as a beacon of hope and enlightenment in a dark universe (this is actually pretty American so may help my enjoyment of them).

Saddly our bad guys the Jotun (or scruffy pawns of the real bad guy) are not Apokolips or Darksied, but then, who is? Still you get a sense that at one time they were as advanced as the Asgardians but given their defeat after attempting to create an unending ice age on earth (for colonization I'm assuming) they've been reduced to squatting in the ruins of their former greatness, the source of their power locked away in a vault in Asgard. I can kinda see why they're bitter.

The movie is a basic character arch centered around Thor, but with Loke also going through his own arc. It's their desires, ambitions and failings driving the plot and it's them playing off of each other (I'll get to this) that drive their growth and movement.

The prime force of this plot is Thor and the fact that in the beginning he is a self righteous, vain, selfish, unthinking boy with the power of a god. Loki knows this and believes his ascension to the throne would be a disaster for Asgard. It's hard to disagree in the first 20 minutes. Let me explain, in the ceremony meant to put Thor on the throne so Odin can go power nap, Loki lets in 3 frost giants to try and steal the Caskets of Winter. They fail because frankly they had no chance to start with and Loki knew it.

Thor wants to know why and find out what the frost giants are up to. This is a valid thing. He's right to want this. However he pushes for it in the most jackass way possible (Diplomacy? Kings don't need that!) and his actual operation doesn't imbibe me with much confidence in his leadership skills. His Grand Plan being, we go to Jotunheim against orders, yell at the Jotun King and get into a fight that almost gets all my friends killed! No wonder Odin is pissed off.

Thus Thor and his hammer are casted down to earth. Here's where the characters start moving. Now everyone wants to say it's Jane Foster that causes Thor to change, I call bullshit. While Jane did help by being someone who demanded Thor behave himself, she's at best indirectly responsible. No, there are 3 events that destroy Thor's up to now impenetrable self confidence.

First, not being able to lift his damn hammer. Thor is getting rejected by his greatest weapon and asset. In short, he's being told the power isn't his by right anymore.

Second, the capture by shield, being held handcuffed to a chair is confidence slammer for anyone, trust me.

Lastly, the event most important in reshaping Thor into a person worthy of godhood? Loki's visit. In short, Loki is directly responsible for Thor's change and as such, Loki blew his own legs off. Whoops.

When Loki visits Thor, he's at his lowest (or so he thinks) rejected by his father, cast out of his home, made mortal, rejected even by his hammer and then he's told that he is directly responsible for his Father's death and his own Mother wants him to stay gone. That's the moment you see the change. Jane frankly is incidental (a very pretty incidental but still).

As for Loki, the trip to Jotunheim is also the beginning of his downfall. Only unlike Thor, Loki just sinks deeper and deeper. It's on that trip that he finds out that he is not in fact an Asgardian, he's a midget Jotun. He's the monster under the bed that mothers threaten their children with. And that becomes his driving spur. He believes that's why Thor was favored, that's why he never fit in, that's why he was always second place. And here Loki decides he's going to prove he is an Asgardian and Thor's equal. No matter the cost to everyone else.

I also enjoied the warriors three and Sif, although I wasn't a huge fan of rewriting Sif and Thor to make way for Jane. Plus while Portman does a good job of acting her part, there's really just not much there that adds to the story. Hell the best Jane scenes have nothing to do with Thor, it's about her and facing off with Shield. Otherwise it often feels tacted on and I wonder if the director just wanted to get back to Asgard in some scenes.

Overall I give this movie a B-. I enjoyed it and would watch it again but the Thor-Jane relationship kinda drags the movie down. Still a good movie though.

[LadyTevar]

Nit and Tev both just got back from seeing this, and yes, I fully agree with Frigid. Kenneth Branagh built layers of Shakespearean tragedy into Loki's discovery and descent, but kept him true to one fact: he wanted to be truly Odins Son.

Thor's journey is a more traditional hero's journey, from boy to man. Great story, and I agree that the points Frigid mentioned that a lot to do with Thor's growth, more than Jane. However, the promises Thor made to Jane also mattered. Warriors do not take vows likely, and Thor made sure to keep his to the best of his ability.

Now, the imagery was fantastic. The BiFrost bridge was a rainbow bridge, and also made a lot of sense as a 'Wormhole'. We saw how it affected Midgard's weather patterns, so a sustained time on target would logically cause a lot of problems. It was clear BiFrost was building more and more energy the longer it was on. I don't know if the 'ice tree' Loki locked it with had anything to do with it, tho.

Speaking of the Ice Tree: The Norse imagery in the archetecture, in the 'landing pad' for the BiFrost bridge, it was all so beautifully done without being anything more than background imagery. The room Sif and the 3 Warriors relaxed in showed this most: beauty and function.

Sidenote: the firepit the 3 sat around, versus the cooking brazier Jane and Thor were enjoying. So very Viking