A comics novice at his core, JT had never seen any of the MCU movies prior to 2019, when he decided to start this Journey Through Infinity from the start. Follow along for his thoughts, rankings and more!
The Movie: Thor (2011)
Quick Thoughts: As a sucker for mythology, the Thor character and movie intrigued me. I had read a few of the original Thor comics from the 60s and wasn't too into that origin of the superhero, where some random dude finds the hammer and becomes Thor. However, THIS origin and background of Thor spoke to me. For the first time, we leave Earth and journey to space... Asgard specifically, where we get introduced to a whole other world, or a whole other realm really. We got Odin. We got Loki. We got Thor. We got all the mythology baked into this one and it immediately adds a gravity to everything, feeling bigger than what we have seen so far in many ways.
However, Earth is still involved in this story when Thor is banished there by his father for being an arrogant prick. Immediately he encounters Jane Foster and their love story blossoms quickly as Thor's soon-to-be-signature charm and flirting is on display right out of the gate. We also meet Dr. Selvig and Darcy, who will be along for the journey.
I enjoyed the story overall quite a bit as we get Thor established on Earth while also dealing with all of his issues back at Asgard. Establishing him in both settings would be key for future movies, both in this series and beyond. Loki also gets fully revealed for viewers. He isn't just a trickster... he is an occasional piece of shit that simply does whatever he can to earn the glory and adulation of his (adopted) father and brother. However, he also, deep down, does have a heart in there along with some sound rationale, which makes him a bit more relatable than other villains we encounter.
The final fight was really well done, bringing alien mayhem to small town USA, a tried and true cinema trope. I felt they truly had Thor earn his hammer and powers back. I will say, however, that the conclusion gets a bit wonky, with Loki revealing his true intentions and then Thor destroying the Bifröst bridge to stop his plan. Loki seemingly kills himself and we don't really get an explanation as to why Thor needed to destroy that bridge to stop Loki.
The post credit scene is HUGE in the MCU as Nick Fury pops up and we, for the first time, get discussion around a mysterious, glowing cube object. Fury references its power and we don't get much more. Well, we do find out Loki ain't quite gone yet...
Best Non Thor Character: This feels a bit cheap, but Loki is great right away. We understand who he is, what his motivations are and why he acts the way he does. The character is on point the whole way through. Shoutout to Kat Dennings' Darcy as well as she provides some much needed sarcastic levity to offset the very formal and serious Jane Foster.
Worst Non Thor Character: I know many fans of this universe weren't super into Natalie Portman as Jane, but I didn't mind her much here. I thought she played her role well as someone trying to figure out what the hell is going on around her while also realizing this may be what she has been looking for her entire life. That said, I will go with the Frost Giants. It was a real stupid gimmick and they felt a bit heavy handed and over the top here. I mean, they are fine... but we can do better.
Best Scene: That first fight on Jotunheim was well done and brought us immediately into this brand new dimension. Thor is a bad ass warrior and that was proved out to us to kick things off. We also got to get some interesting insight into Loki and the history between Odin and the Frost Giants.
Why it Was Awesome: As I mentioned above, all of the mythology is right up my alley. I dig all that stuff and I was really glad they went all in on embracing it instead of the original Thor origin. Chris Hemsworth is a wonderful Thor, a perfect mix of being super fucking attractive, jacked up, a bad ass and charming all at once. He owns the role immediately. All of the fight scenes were good and I enjoyed Thor trying to prove he was a superhero on earth, something that flies directly in the face of the normal trope where heroes try to hide their powers. The cast is loaded here too, right down to Idris Elba as the gatekeeper.
Also... "do not mistake my appetite for apathy" is an amazing line.
Why it Sucked: I have caused issues with this take before, but I think Loki should have been more attractive. Not that Thomas Hiddleston is an ugly man, by any stretch, but they don't exactly do him many favors. He is supposed to be this trickster god that uses his natural charm and wooing power to sway folks. He should have had more of a suave look instead of being presented as elvish here.
Additionally, a couple of things I mentioned earlier stood out: I didn't like the Frost Giant name or gimmicked, sounds and looked a bit goofy, especially when Asgard is so beautiful and detailed. Also, I thought Thor and Jane fell in love a bit too fast. Thor's conversion into his armor when the hammer comes back to him at the end came off as cheesy, I think just gaining his power back and using the hammer would have been enough there. Finally, that ending was super confusing as to why the Bifröst needed to be destroyed.
Final Grade (1-10): 8/10
The MCU Movie Rankings:
1) Iron Man 2 (2010)
2) Iron Man (2008)
3) Thor (2011)
4) The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Superhero Rankings:
1) Iron Man
2) Thor
3) The Incredible Hulk
Listen to me talk more about Thor on this podcast right here!
The Movie: Thor (2011)
Quick Thoughts: As a sucker for mythology, the Thor character and movie intrigued me. I had read a few of the original Thor comics from the 60s and wasn't too into that origin of the superhero, where some random dude finds the hammer and becomes Thor. However, THIS origin and background of Thor spoke to me. For the first time, we leave Earth and journey to space... Asgard specifically, where we get introduced to a whole other world, or a whole other realm really. We got Odin. We got Loki. We got Thor. We got all the mythology baked into this one and it immediately adds a gravity to everything, feeling bigger than what we have seen so far in many ways.
However, Earth is still involved in this story when Thor is banished there by his father for being an arrogant prick. Immediately he encounters Jane Foster and their love story blossoms quickly as Thor's soon-to-be-signature charm and flirting is on display right out of the gate. We also meet Dr. Selvig and Darcy, who will be along for the journey.
I enjoyed the story overall quite a bit as we get Thor established on Earth while also dealing with all of his issues back at Asgard. Establishing him in both settings would be key for future movies, both in this series and beyond. Loki also gets fully revealed for viewers. He isn't just a trickster... he is an occasional piece of shit that simply does whatever he can to earn the glory and adulation of his (adopted) father and brother. However, he also, deep down, does have a heart in there along with some sound rationale, which makes him a bit more relatable than other villains we encounter.
The final fight was really well done, bringing alien mayhem to small town USA, a tried and true cinema trope. I felt they truly had Thor earn his hammer and powers back. I will say, however, that the conclusion gets a bit wonky, with Loki revealing his true intentions and then Thor destroying the Bifröst bridge to stop his plan. Loki seemingly kills himself and we don't really get an explanation as to why Thor needed to destroy that bridge to stop Loki.
The post credit scene is HUGE in the MCU as Nick Fury pops up and we, for the first time, get discussion around a mysterious, glowing cube object. Fury references its power and we don't get much more. Well, we do find out Loki ain't quite gone yet...
Best Non Thor Character: This feels a bit cheap, but Loki is great right away. We understand who he is, what his motivations are and why he acts the way he does. The character is on point the whole way through. Shoutout to Kat Dennings' Darcy as well as she provides some much needed sarcastic levity to offset the very formal and serious Jane Foster.
Worst Non Thor Character: I know many fans of this universe weren't super into Natalie Portman as Jane, but I didn't mind her much here. I thought she played her role well as someone trying to figure out what the hell is going on around her while also realizing this may be what she has been looking for her entire life. That said, I will go with the Frost Giants. It was a real stupid gimmick and they felt a bit heavy handed and over the top here. I mean, they are fine... but we can do better.
Best Scene: That first fight on Jotunheim was well done and brought us immediately into this brand new dimension. Thor is a bad ass warrior and that was proved out to us to kick things off. We also got to get some interesting insight into Loki and the history between Odin and the Frost Giants.
Why it Was Awesome: As I mentioned above, all of the mythology is right up my alley. I dig all that stuff and I was really glad they went all in on embracing it instead of the original Thor origin. Chris Hemsworth is a wonderful Thor, a perfect mix of being super fucking attractive, jacked up, a bad ass and charming all at once. He owns the role immediately. All of the fight scenes were good and I enjoyed Thor trying to prove he was a superhero on earth, something that flies directly in the face of the normal trope where heroes try to hide their powers. The cast is loaded here too, right down to Idris Elba as the gatekeeper.
Also... "do not mistake my appetite for apathy" is an amazing line.
Why it Sucked: I have caused issues with this take before, but I think Loki should have been more attractive. Not that Thomas Hiddleston is an ugly man, by any stretch, but they don't exactly do him many favors. He is supposed to be this trickster god that uses his natural charm and wooing power to sway folks. He should have had more of a suave look instead of being presented as elvish here.
Additionally, a couple of things I mentioned earlier stood out: I didn't like the Frost Giant name or gimmicked, sounds and looked a bit goofy, especially when Asgard is so beautiful and detailed. Also, I thought Thor and Jane fell in love a bit too fast. Thor's conversion into his armor when the hammer comes back to him at the end came off as cheesy, I think just gaining his power back and using the hammer would have been enough there. Finally, that ending was super confusing as to why the Bifröst needed to be destroyed.
Final Grade (1-10): 8/10
The MCU Movie Rankings:
1) Iron Man 2 (2010)
2) Iron Man (2008)
3) Thor (2011)
4) The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Superhero Rankings:
1) Iron Man
2) Thor
3) The Incredible Hulk
Listen to me talk more about Thor on this podcast right here!
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