Thor

My Rating:

So I couldn't wait for the Avengers to come out. It looked AWESOME from the previews, and all the reviews for it was pretty steller. But I had a few days still to wait. That's when I realized that I had really only seen Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2. I hadn't seen Thor, Captain America or this version of the Hulk. So I decided that maybe it was time to catch up, before the Avengers came out. I'm glad I did.

I started with Thor, which I know, is a weird one to start with, as I think it's the last to come out before the Avengers. I don't know...maybe it was Captain America, but that's beside the point.

I had low hopes going into Thor. I had heard some pretty bad stuff about the movie, so I had never really had any interest in watching it.

I am not won by the movie at all. I would have expected more from Kenneth branugh. BUT I am happy I watched it. Especially now that I've seen the Avengers. The story is pretty important to the overall story in the avenger world. PLUS: I just met one of my new favorite villains of all time. Loki. So...worth it.

So the movie starts out with Natalie Portman, playing the same character she plays in every film, hit someone with her car. Then we jump to Asgard, where Thor is from. He and his brother Loki are just boys at first. Both seem eager to impress their father, the King, Odin. They grow older then, and it's apparent who impressed him most, Thor. Thor is about to be crowned future King, when the Frost Giants break into the vaults of Asgard. Everyone is upset, and everyone questions how they got past the gatekeeper, Heimdall, who can hear and see everything going on in the universe.

Odin, says no harms done, as the people who broke in were destroyed...by the destroyer (a big robot guy). Thor is pissed though, as they ruined his big day, and wants to go attack them. Odin forbids it.

Thor walks around being all pissy, when Loki cleverly tells him that he's right, but they cannot do anything without defying father. So Thor decides to defy his father. Loki, Sif and the Warrior Three all go to the Frost Giant's planet. At first they just talk to Laufey, the King of the Frost Giants, but it gets them nowhere. Well, not nowhere. They find out that there is a traitor in Asgard that let in those frost giants in the first place. Loki manages to talk Thor away. They are about to retreat, when Laufey calls Thor a princess. Oh damn.
Then they attack. Something weird happens to Loki's arm though when the frost giant touches him. It doesn't burn him like it does one of the warriors, instead his skin turns blue (the color of the frost giant's skin). At this he gets upset and kills the frost giant. He also has a cool disappearing trick. Love it. Thor beats a trillion frost giants up with his hammer, and his team does well, but they obviously cannot defeat everyone on their own. They are eventually surrounded and are only saved with Odin comes to rescue them. At this Laufey, the king of the frost giants, declares war on them for the attack they just suffered.

They all rush back to Asgard. Odin is VERY angry with Thor for bringing this war on them...as he should be. He strips Thor of his right to the throne and exiles him to Earth, and makes him mortal. He throws his hammer down too. His hammer is useless though, as no one can pick it up unless they are worthy of it. Kind of sword in the stone like.

As he crashes to Earth, he hits a car, which ends up being Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster. In this version of Thor she's an Astrophysicist. Interesting change. In the comics she's generally a nurse.
So they take Thor to the hospital where he goes...well crazy.

Meanwhile up on Asgard, Loki, Sif and the Warrior's Three have a kind of disagreement. Loki admits to telling the guard to tell Odin that they've gone to the frost giants. The warriors are torn. They can't believe he betrayed Thor, but kinda happy he did. Otherwise they would be dead. Sif however knows that Loki's always been jealous of Thor, so she begins to suspect him. She then reminds the others that there was said to be a traitor in asgard, and she now suspects it was Loki.

So Thor lives on Earth now. It's kinda boring. Probably because of my hatred for Natalie Portman, I find it boring but still.

He finds his way back to his hammer, and hurts a lot of people doing it. At this time SHIELD is surrounding the hammer. Agent Coulson (AWESOME) is there. He tells Hawkeye (in an uncredited role, played by Jeremy Renner) to go up and shoot Thor. But by the time Thor gets all the way through, he is impressed and tells Hawkeye to stand down.

Thor gets to his hammer and is unable to lift it up. It's stuck for him too. He's sad.

He is then later recovered by Natalie Portman's friend/boss, Erik Selvig. Erik takes him to a bar and they drink alot. Erik decides to like Thor.

Back at Asgard, Loki confronts Odin about his...er...'differences'. Through some coaxing Odin admits that Loki was the son of Laufey, the Frost Giant. When they were at war before Odin took him, as he was a small giant, and was abandoned. Loki gets furious wanting to know why he would do such a thing, but Odin just says that he hoped that Loki would be the key to uniting them, but it was too late for that now. As Loki continues to yell at his father, Odin falls to the ground.

Odin lays in his 'sleep', but his mother is worried that he will never wake. Loki is concerned, but the concern turns to more plotting when his mother states that she believes Thor is not gone forever. In a cut-out-scene, that I think would have made more sense to leave in, you see the guards coming into the chambers and hands Loki Odin's staff. His mother looks at him and tells him that now that Thor is banished and his father unconscious, he is King.

As King he sits on the throne of Asgard. Sif and the Warriors Three come looking for Odin, but find him. They are unhappy by this, and ask to speak to his mother, but Loki states that she refuses to leave Odin's bedside. With this they beg Loki to end Thor's banishment, in which he refuses, saying that he cannot undo the last King's last order.

He goes and visits Thor, when he is still held captive by shield. No one can see him apparently. He tells Thor that he is king now, that their father is dead. Thor begs to come home, but Loki states that their mother has forbidden it, and that their truce with the Frost Giants is conditional on Thor remaining in exile. Thor is depressed, but thanks Loki for visiting him.

Loki then visits the Frost Giants and tells them to kill Odin, and they can take from the vaults the casket that was stolen from them during the last war. They agree to this. Loki returns and Heimdall, the gatekeepers realizes that he couldn't hear or see Loki. Heimdall is now suspcious, but Loki envokes his loyality to his King, and says that he cannot betray him, as he is sworn to obey.

However, that doesn't really work out too well. Heimdall opens the bifrost allowing the Warriors Three and Sif to go to Earth. Well when I say he opens it, I mean he turns his back to them allowing them to do it. So they go to Earth to find Thor. Then one of the funniest lines in the movie occurs. As they walk down the street in that small New Mexico town, the SHIELD agents report that "Xena, Jackie Chan, and Robin Hood" have arrived. Ha. So they find Thor and tell him that his father's not dead and that Loki lied to him. At this Thor looks a little heartbroken.

Loki finds out they left, and sends the destroyer out to deal with Thor. Meanwhile, he freezes Heimdall, and welcomes the Frost Giants to Asgard.
Thor and his friends face the destroyer. Realizing they can't win, he sends his friends away, and faces it alone. He tells Loki that he is sorry for whatever he's done to him, and begs him to take his life and end the destruction. At first it looks like the destroyer shuts down. We see Loki watching and seemingly considering what Thor says. Then with one swing he knocks Thor to the ground, killing him.

Well with this brave and sincere act the hammer dislodges from the ground, and Thor's suit of armor magically appears back on him, and he grabs his hammer and destroys the destroyer.
They walk back to the bifrost portal. He kisses Jane goodbye, promising to be back. Heimdall, still frozen, hears him call. He breaks out of the ice kills the Frost Giants surrounding him and allows Thor back into Asgard.

At this time Laufey has made his way to Odin's chambers. He sweeps away Odin's wife, and is about to kill him, when Loki kills Laufey. He does this all as a show to his mother and father. He hugs his mother and swears that he will end this war with the Frost Giants once and for all.

That's when Thor enters, and starts to yell at Loki. The second best line of the movie is when Thor says "You've always been a good liar, brother" and Loki quickly states, "It's great to have you back." Thor tells his mother how Loki sent the destroyer out. They both begin to fight, and end up on the bifrost, which is kinda a rainbow road. Lol. It's funny.

Loki turns on the bifrost, and leaves it on, which will destroy the Frost Giant's home planet, and kill all of them. He does this to save Asgard from war, and he finds it necessary, and thinks they all should die. He says that he is proving to their father that he is a fit king.

One of the most important lines in the movie happens here. I think it describes Loki well. I say he's my favorite villian, and there's a reason. He's complex. He's not just evil for the hell of it. His evilness comes from real psycological factors. He is an adopted son, who was stolen from the enemy planet. He was always pushed aside by Thor. Their father only really paid much attention to Thor. He is often neglected. All he wants to do his make his father proud, and he is doing so with the powers he has, magic, mischief and deception. The line is "I never wanted the throne. I only ever wanted to be your equal." I think it's perfect. It shows that he's not just power crazed. I mean he is a bit, but he just wanted to be equal to his brother. Isn't that any classic case of sibling rivalry? It's so basic and instinctual. And Tom Hiddleston does the part....perfectly. It's even better in the Avengers. I mean...he's even more evil in the Avengers....but just perfect here.

So they battle on, and Thor finally decides the only way to prevent the bifrost from destroying the Frost Giant's planet, he has to destroy the rainbow road thing. So he starts to break it apart. Loki freaks out at him, and reminds him he'll never see Jane again if he breaks the portal/road thing. Thor keeps at it though. They both nearly fall when it breaks, but Thor is caught by Odin, who is now awake, and Loki also is holding on. Loki tells Odin that he could have done it. He could have done it for him. He could have done it for all of Asgard. Odin just shakes his head at Loki, and says No. Loki looks extremely sad, and let down. You can feel his heartbreak. He lets go and falls into the nothingness. Thor screams for his brother, who he still loves.

They mourn for Loki in the end. And Thor misses Jane. The End.

After the credits SHIELD recruits Erik Selvig to work on something from Odin's realm that they found. Through the window you see Loki looking down at the object and says "that's worth a look". After Erik repeats the line. Foreshadowing what's to come.

So Loki is obviously not gone. Good. I love him. Of course I've seen the Avengers now, and if you've seen any preview you know, Loki's back. It's him against 8 superheros.


So.....yeah.....this was a long review for a movie I said I hardly liked. I liked it.....because of the bad guy. Honestly....a good bad guy is really hard to do. The best bad guy for me was Anthony Ainley's version of the Master in Doctor Who. The second is probably the newer guy who plays the Master. He did REALLY well. Of course the Joker in the Dark Knight was OUTSTANDING. Poor Heath Ledger. He was so brilliant at that role. There are others, but this is just a few. I think badguys that have some kind of interesting psychological crazed background....are the best. And I think it takes a talented actor to pull it off. Good job Tom Hiddleston!


--LJ