Thor (2011)

New Boyfriend and I are trying to get caught up on the first two Thors before Ragnarok hits in November.   I know we're starting a little early but we have to carve out time where we can.  This summer has been really hard for me, time-wise.  I don't want to harp on it, but a lot of stuff has happened in a relatively short amount of time and I'm doing my best to keep up, but I am slipping.  I know this.  You know this.  Just bear with me.

Originally posted 12 May 2013.  Ok, so I re-watched this from my Marvel Phase One box set.  I didn't get to the special features but the quality of the Blu-ray is outstanding. 

I was a little concerned that the movie wouldn't be as good as I remembered but I found that I was actually more tolerant of its minor flaws.  It's still hilarious, it's still gorgeous, and it's totally worth a buy.  Below is my original post from two years ago when I saw it in theaters.  Enjoy.    Ah, summer blockbuster season.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

1)  Thor

This was the first great movie of 2011.  No, really, I went to Wikipedia and looked at all the films that have been released so far this year and none of them were as awesome as Thor.  I confess that I am slightly shocked that Marvel/Disney has managed to make so many viable hits out of comic book characters.

Plus, Thor isn't exactly a lovable guy.  He starts out kind of an asshole, the spoiled entitled brat son of Odin All-Father.  After defying a direct order from Daddy and storming the homeworld of the Frost Giants, shattering a peace treaty, he gets banished to Earth and his magic hammer taken away.  Then Natalie Portman hits him with her car, Kat Dennings Tasers him, and absolutely no one seems to understand that he is the son of a god and should not be treated so badly.

Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson has to clear all the rednecks away from trying to pull the hammer out of its meteorite a la the Sword in the Stone so he can bring in teams of scientists to study it.  He confiscates all of Natalie's research and captures Thor after he tries to break in and get his hammer back.  You get almost a full minute of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, which is way more than I expected.  He'll be getting his own movie here in a couple of years, after The Avengers comes out.  Anyway, Coulson detains Thor for a hot minute, long enough for his brother Loki to come down and inform him that his behavior was so bad it actually killed Odin and that their mother had forbidden him ever return.

Tom Hiddleston does a great job as Loki, despite having to wear a green and gold antelope helmet.

 Look at how cute a doll he makes!  Ahem, excuse me, action figure.

Anybody who knows anything about Norse mythology, or the comics knows exactly how full of shit Loki is, but it does serve to make Thor think about how his actions have caused other people to suffer.  From there it gets pretty predictable but no less awesome for that.

I saw this with my friend, Joe, and he commented on how much he appreciated the humor in the movie and how glad he was that it didn't seem forced or shoehorned in.  A lot of that credit goes to the actors.   Thank you, Natalie Portman, for being as intelligent as you are beautiful.  It makes it so much easier to believe that you could be an astrophysicist as well as a love interest to a Norse god.  And Chris Hemsworth does a great job of the physical humor of the character without seeming like a clown.

This is definitely a must-buy and for those fanatics, go ahead and get the blu-ray.  You will not be disappointed.