1) It’s possibly the best Marvel movie after the first IRON MAN.
2) Chris Hemsworth is perfect for this role -- the best casting on a Marvel super-hero since Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Hemsworth brings the right amount of strength, charm and dignity to the part. It’s nice to have a Marvel super-hero movie that doesn’t, at some point, treat the hero like a joke. (I will still never forgive Hollywood for such atrocities as: a pigeon pooping on the THING’s shoulder in FANTASTIC FOUR, SPIDER-MAN delivering pizzas in SPIDER-MAN 2, etc.)
4)With Hemsworth, the newly buff CHRIS EVANS as CAPTAIN AMERICA, and RYAN REYNOLDS as GREEN LANTERN, this is the first summer ever where all the major super-heroes did not need to have muscles painted onto their costumes. Perhaps we’ve finally reached the end of the era of wimpy super-heroes that began with MICHEAL KEATON in BATMAN.
5) The movie should have been longer. I would have liked to have seen the story fleshed out more. I mean, THOR does not exactly have what you call, um, what do you call those things ... a plot! THOR is banished to Earth, he finds his hammer, big fight, the end. I would like to have seen an extended sequence with THOR trying to adjust to his new life on Earth.
6) The romance with Natalie Portman should have been given a lot more room. I mean, Thor’s feelings for Jane Foster are a crucial plot point -- the whole movie hinges on him falling in love with this girl -- and yet, we are never given any reason why he falls in love with her, other than the fact that she’s hot. Overall, the movie seems to have had about a half hour worth of story cut out of it. Guess we gotta wait for the DVD.
7) The HAWKEYE cameo redefined the word “gratuitous.”
8) It’s great that they showcased the FROST GIANTS, but I didn’t hear any mention of the FLAME GIANTS. I really feel they were slighted! Somewhere, SURTUR is not happy!
9) A couple of the shots of THOR flying reminded me of the first SUPERMAN movie from 1980 in terms of the quality of the SFX.
11) The recent Marvel movies seem to be hewing closer to the ULTIMATE versions of the Marvel heroes than the original versions. This means that SHIELD plays a huge part in every origin story, and the origins of HULK and CAPTAIN AMERICA are forever linked. I liked the origins from the 1960s better, when you didn’t have SHIELD sticking their noses in everything. I mean, in the original THOR origin, the guy just finds his hammer in the forest. He didn’t have to break into a SHIELD base to get it back. Basically the Marvel Comics of the 60s were about ordinary people coming to grips with fantastic powers. The Marvel Comics of the Ultimate Universe are about a super-secret government agency learning of the existence of various super-powered individuals and finding ways to contain and control them. It was a lot more fun before the government got involved.
12) If Odin strips THOR of all his powers before banishing him to Earth, how come THOR is able to summon a storm when he sneaks into the SHIELD camp?
13) I like that Stan Lee’s character this time around is listed as “STAN THE MAN” in the credits.
14) I get that the filmmakers were trying to do a “King Arthur/Sword in the Stone” homage with Thor’s hammer, but really, it was not necessary to have the hammer embedded in the ground. The whole point of Thor’s hammer is that no one can lift it except Thor when he is at his most worthy. Rather than having people try to pry Thor’s hammer out from a rock, they could have just had people trying to pick the hammer up off the ground. (Remember, not even the HULK can lift THOR’s hammer off the ground!) Screenwriters think they are being clever when they take an old myth and try to tie it in to another myth. It’s not clever, it’s just lazy.
16) Thor overhears a trucker mention a fallen satellite in the desert and instantly knows this must be his hammer. Wha? Huh? How does Thor even know what a satellite is?
18) The bit about Natalie P. hitting Thor twice with her SUV was a little too cutesy. Once was enough.
19) I don’t think that even a de-powered THOR could be taken out by a taser gun. After all, he was still strong enough to be hit twice by a car and walk away unscathed.
20) Are SHIELD agents so dumb that they will release a dangerous prisoner to anyone who wanders into their camp with a fake driver’s license? Very sloppy plotting.
21) Why does Thor copy IRON MAN’s pose on the movie poster?
22) It’s always fun to sit through the end credits of a Marvel movie to get to the bonus scene, but why do the credits have to be so long? Sheesh, that was a long wait!
24) All in all, Marvel’s THOR is a fun movie, and a solid introduction to the character to those unfamiliar with him. Now that we got the origin out of the way, next time, we can see him spending a lot more time with his cape and hammer!
25) When the cast of the AVENGERS movie was announced last year, my thought at the time was: Other than Robert Downey Jr., the rest of the cast is very low in star-wattage. With the release of THOR, and the rise of Jeremy Renner’s profile after his role in Ben Affleck’s THE TOWN, suddenly the cast of the AVENGERS is looking more and more impressive. Will Chris “Captain America” Evans have what it takes to lead these guys in the AVENGERS? We’ll find out next summer!
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