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Off the Clock: Thor Review

Yesterday I had my last final for the semester, my fiance and I hadn't been out on a real date for a while either so we went and grabbed some tickets to the midnight premiere of Thor in 3D.

My thoughts on the movie as a whole

I must admit, I wasn't all that excited to this movie. I was thinking "meh, another comic book movie. I'm not at all familiar with this character though."

While the movie was very much the typical Marvel-comic-made-movie, it was a fun ride and worth the price of admission (minus the extra cost for 3D, but more on that later).

The movie is very much like Iron Man, lots of explosions and humor mixed in. The screenplay is pretty cohesive with only one real notable cliche used for a plot convenience. But I'll let that slide since the visuals were great and the acting was well done. Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. They were very believable in the roles and the dialogue for the most part didn't seem forced. The aforementioned cliche is the only piece of dialogue that stuck out in my mind as not making any sort of sense with what was happening.

Between the two Iron Man movies and Thor, I believe there's a stride that's really starting emerge with a good formula for these type of movies. Very believable characters (from a comic book perspective), mixed with some decently compelling storyline, and gratuitous amounts of explosions in the mix. Along with the obligatory appearance by Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury of SHIELD (after the credits have rolled of course).

I really hope future Marvel movies follow suit so we don't end up with sh*t-piles like both Incredible Hulk movies and the 3rd Spiderman.

A rant about 3D

What is Hollywood's current obsession with 3D? So many movies have had 3D lately and quite frankly I'm getting tired of it.

3D adds 0 to the actual quality of the movie. If things are done well or even if they're not done well 3D really just makes for a visual distraction from the suspension of disbelief that's the whole reason for going to a movie anyway. I love seeing plenty of explosions and cool visual effects, but it seems like it gets used as a crutch for lack of meaningful content in some cases. *cough* Avatar *cough*

I admit I can't see the effects because of a depth perception problem, but I've talked to friends who can see it when they talk about it, it seems pretty pointless. They've never said to me "yeah that part where you saw stuff flying at you really helped convey the feeling that the character was boxed into an inescapable situation."

I suppose things may change where the 3D camera work may be used as more than just a cheap visual crutch for dipsh*t fanboys but I haven't seen it yet.

My verdict

Thor made for a good movie going experience, I wanted a superhero movie and it delivered. Plenty of mythology, plenty of story that introduced a new character. Yet at the same time the movie itself wasn't bogged down by trying to do too much. The were plenty of laughs and it was serious when things were about to go down. The only downer aside from the 3D was a bit of plot convenience and cliche.

I'm planning on going again with some friends, I imagine this as being one of those movies that gets better the second time you see it.