Thor

[Lakov_Sanite]

Introducing a character that does not fit with a particular setting and not explaining it in any way is just bad film making. You had thor/odin/loki/red beard/silf-maybe/queen all seeming to be set in a sort of european renfaire mentality when then you get random british guy and random samurai out of fucking nowhere.  Could asgaard have been a whole planet, complete with an entire set of racial diversity hat near exactly matches our own? sure but it's not fucking likely and it's a big stretch. could asgaardians have inspired mythologies and other cultures beyond the norse? sure they could have but its never explained.

Stop being complete idiots, if the movie even half-heartedly tried to explain things it would have been fine.

[HaemishM]

Go ask Stan Fucking Lee and Jack Fucking Kirby. They created the looks of all of those guys and never really did much explaining of why they looked like they did either.

You are obsessing over something REALLY FUCKING PEDANTIC. Stop it.

[Lakov_Sanite]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogun

That seems like a lot of explaining to me, also are you using comic books as the standard for good storytelling?  Besides I'm not obessing, I'm just bored at work and when I made a comment about an unexplained character being 'jarring' peoples jumped on the racism bandwagon like someone threw meat in the water.  Let's face it, not a lot of controversy happens here and it gets boring so I understand why but come on.

Doesn't matter is he was asian, british or a krogan it still begs the question "why is that dude there?" if anything it made me want to know more, not that he ought not be in the movie.

[HaemishM]

Come on, you know the fucking answer to that question. He's there because Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had him there in the original stories and his exclusion would be a pretty bad use of the source material.

As for your dig at comic writing being, there is good storytelling being done with comic book writing. At the very least, comics tell modern mythological morality plays palatable to a wide audience across multiple mediums.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Go to that wiki page look at picture, read that backstory and tell me that's great comic writing. Lee and Kirby had style and fun but literature was never their strong suit.  Again, I'm fine with hogun if they had given even a couple throw-away lines about asgaard or hogun or anything. We just got dropped these four warriors with no explanation, hell they didn't even really do much with thor besides go down to the planet, we see little to no interaction between them and I argue they had any impact on the story what-soever which is sort of the point, they were pointless.

[Sheepherder]

I just don't see how people can't understand that it is a bit jarring to have random earth culture inside a supposedly alien world. It wasn't even skintone so much as "this dude is captital A-Asian, heavy accent included" the british dude was every bit as heavy-handed and stupid, don't think for a second I felt he was any better, just not as noticeable.

Danelaw



Hun


Completely Unrelated: Best name ever?  Harald Bluetooth.

[Khaldun]

See, I wasn't even going to go there, but when someone digs in their heels this hard on a completely retarded point, it's hard not to bomb the position from orbit. Someone who thinks that steppe-riding "Asiatic" peoples don't belong in a "Nordic" setting to the point that it requires some kind of complicated twenty-minute digression in a summer-fun movie about superscience aliens who act like superheroes isn't just someone who misunderstands the requirements of efficient storytelling, the superhero comic as a source fiction, and the fine points of "when am I being a racist". That's also someone who doesn't know fuck-all about North European history from the late Roman to the late medieval period.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Hogun seems out of place, I didn't say he doesn't belong there and you don't need twenty minutes to explain shit. you could have had a simple narration when they were flying over asgaard saying it was a place for people of all realms or some shit.  It doesn't matter if hogun was an asian or a lizardman, the result would have been the same in that he and the brit seemed out of place.

As to your real-world examples, no shit? hogun would have actually seemed MORE credible in norway than he would in space asgaard, earth has tangible and established reasons for having people of different cultures.

It just baffles me you are trying to defend a comic book movie for one of the most common sins:Adding tons of characters and not explaining them(but they were in the comic!)

[Ratman_tf]

Hey what about Heimdall?  I didn't know there were Black Viking gods!   

Blacks get a free pass because being racist against them is old and boring.

[Khaldun]

You amuse me. Seriously. "There were characters who were not fully explained! I demand full explanations of why Volstagg is fat, Fandral styles himself after Errol Flynn, and Sif is allowed to fight, since in my imaginary vision of Norse culture, women should be baking bread. No, it would not detract from the film to give me expository turd-bombs explaining that Asgard is indeed a whole planet, Hogun comes from some almost-Nordic realm of steppe-riding nomads, Sif is a lesbian volleyball coach from the stars, Volstagg has a small black-hole generator in his colon, and Fandral just loves 'Captain Blood' when he saw it on the etheric Asgardian TV".

[Khaldun]

Somewhat relevant:

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/05/25/comic-critics-163/#more-80646

[Lakov_Sanite]

Your paraphrasing is reaching critical mass for stupid.  I never said they needed to fully explain the characters and I actually think the British guy is just as heinous. Silf was just there and I never had a problem with her, though I think she and the warriors were underplayed in fighting ability. 

I'm not even sure you are replying to my posts anymore, there's no need to spend twenty minutes per character but there are better ways do film ensemble casts

[MuffinMan]

 

[Chimpy]

What the fuck is with the mega-neckbeard ragefest?

 

[DLRiley]

Hey what about Heimdall?  I didn't know there were Black Viking gods!   

Theres one now.

[Margalis]

Simple narration is the hallmark of any good film!

[Ingmar]

If this was supposed to be a movie version of the Prose Edda or something I would be right out there on the ledge with Lakov, but it's fucking Marvel Comics Space Alien Thor, you just have to let the   wash over you.

[LK]

And I thought I nerded out to extremes at times.  I feel tame by comparison to this witch hunt for a world that makes sense.

You know telling a good story was a bigger priority for them than explaining every part of their fiction. It's a movie, not a technical manual explaining how something works. It looked cool and for most people that's enough because most people don't give a shit about fictional superheroes being 100% accurate to life or their comic origins.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I think introducing a lot of characters without depth in the vein of x-men 3 is a bad move. BAtman begins and Iron man really set the bar for how a good movie could be about comics but first and foremost they were really good movies. Thor was not bad by any stretch but it wasn't up to the standard set.

[Jimbo]

I used to read Thor in the 80's, and my girlfriend has never read comics, we both loved it!  I can't wait for Captain America and eventually the Avengers!  Did you all spot Hawkeye in it?    She now wants to watch the other Marvel movies with me, trade off is I have to watch the Twilight stuff with her (hey I can cheer for shark boy!).

[Sand]

Was that the guy with the bow and arrow hanging from a crane in the rain?

[Evildrider]

Yep!

[Sheepherder]

If this was supposed to be a movie version of the Prose Edda or something I would be right out there on the ledge with Lakov, but it's fucking Marvel Comics Space Alien Thor, you just have to let the   wash over you.

Yes, but then he'd be wondering why Odin's horse refers to Loki as "mom."

[Sjofn]

Seriously, Norse people, what was your problem.

[Sheepherder]

They like to get high and party in bear fur coats.

[Ratman_tf]

Seriously, Norse people, what was your problem.

Zeus was a pretty freaky fucker too.

[Chimpy]

Seriously, Norse people, what was your problem.

Haven't you ever drank a slurpee REALLY fast and gotten brain freeze? Didn't it make you just a tad bit crazier than normal? It is COLD in scandanavia.

[DLRiley]

I actually like the Norse mythology more than the whatever passes for story telling that Marvel pulls out of ass (not even getting to the advanced race of sword wielding space aliens).

[Ironwood]

Just came back from this.  Started strong, ran out of energy by the end.  Not much more to say, beyond they made a Thor movie that I could laugh along with, rather than at.  That's not a bad thing.

Nothing special, but not horrid either.  Consider the source, that's kinda high praise...

[HaemishM]

Finally got a chance to see this today. Much better than any sort of Asgardian as magi-science aliens in a world of superheroes had any right to be. It felt like it fit in perfectly with the Iron Man line of films, which is the new gold standard for all Marvel movies. The only weak roles in my opinion were Thor's mother and Hogun - neither had enough to do. Hogun in particular should have been bigger and more physically imposing. Falstaff should have been a lot fatter, and the movie could definitely have stood with more of the Warriors 3 altogether. The effects were really good, and the art direction on the Asgardian stuff in particular stood out as being otherworldly and unrealistic yet beautiful to look at. I especially liked the Rainbow Bridge. The actor playing Loki did a bang up job - his performance stood out the most. The others weren't bad but weren't outstanding either - serviceable is probably the best description. Hemsworth totally worked as Thor. Lots of little nods to the fans, probably a lot more than I noticed on first viewing. I have real high hopes for Captain America and the Avengers.

[Tannhauser]

Yeah, I thought the Asgard scenes were really well done myself.  Just beautiful to look at.  I do remember thinking that it had some of the best outer space visuals ever done.  Of course it's a cutting-edge modern film, but still.  I really liked how Thor flew and the hammer spinning wasn't as  as I thought it'd be. 

Kudos to them for bridging the gap between science and magic for Asgard.  To me, it was their biggest hurdle and they stepped over it easily.

Day one Blu-Ray purchase.

I may be getting ahead of myself, but I think Marvel's entering the Golden Age for their films.  IM, Thor, New XMen (allegedly) are all very well done.

Going to see XMen tomorrow, then Green Lantern (not a big fan but felt the same about Thor) then Cap later on.

Just when I thought I was burned out on super-hero movies, they PULL me back in.

[NowhereMan]

I should not I saw this in 3D (because the place I went to was listed on-line as a 2D showing, they weren't) and I felt like the the 3D effect on all the long shots made it feel like I was looking at a model-set. It really put me off a bit, the same kind of feeling you get from tilt-shift photography. I really wish studios wouldn't shoe-horn in 3D to movies that don't benefit from it in any way, shape or form and I really, really wish cinemas would at least have the 2D version available.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, I skipped the 3D version. Until I hear people say a particular movie really needed or took advantage of 3D, the studios can take that 3D surcharage and shove it right up their asses. I saw Tron in 3D and thought it made the screen murky for not much benefit.

[WayAbvPar]

Saw it in 2D yesterday, since that is the version that was starting when I got out of the courthouse (hurray for early release for jurors). Very meh. Mostly just a giant CGI wankfest with as little story as possible to still patch Thor into The Avengers. An extended shower scene with NP and KD would have definitely made it a lot better.

[Margalis]

Watching this on On Demand right now. What is with the Dutch angle shots? I find it really distracting. I think I've seen more dutch angle shots in the first 30 minutes than I've seen in the last year of movies. Like there is an establishing shot of a town that for some reason is done with a dutch angle, then 30 seconds later some characters are walking through a hallway and it's another dutch angle shot. I don't remember seeing this in any reviews but to me it's super noticeable.

Edit: Well according to a quick google search I'm certainly not alone in noticing this.