Looks fun to me. Anthony Hopkins as Odin brings to mind Marlon Brando as Jor-El, sending his son to Earth where he becomes its part-human, part-superhuman savior. Great archetypal story.
With that cast and Kenneth Branagh directing, how can you go wrong? Is there anyone more qualified to direct a mythological epic full of faux-Shakesperean dialogue than the star and director of Henry V, Much Ado and Hamlet? Winner I tell you, winner all the way!
There was a secret screening last night on the lot. They were handing out tickets but didn't give any hint of the title. The FX shots weren't done but they reaction seems to be positive.
At first I thought you wrote, "I'm more in a 'Ranjo' mood."
With the movie they seem to be taking the angle that this Thor is the actual (interplanetary? interdimensional?) person that the mythological Thor is based on. Kind of a "Chariots of the Gods" approach.
Remember there was a Carl Barks Scrooge story based on this, where the Ducks meet the extraterrestrials upon whom the gods were based?
That Barks page is from the story I'm referring to. In the story though, not only do Odin and Thor appear, but Vulcan, whose hammer can turn a bar of iron into a bar of gold. (Barks did know he was mixing mythologies.) But every time Vulcan used his hammer, the gods' planet slipped closer to Earth threatening collision.
I think Vulcan needs to use his hammer on THIS movie, 'cuz to my eyes it looks far from a bar of gold...more like a bar of pooh.
The real comic book Thor is so cool! I can't believe you guys are giving them a pass on this!
Thor was always one of the Marvel heroes I thought best suited for CG animation. They coulda done something GREAT.
Prob here for me is it's very hard to capture in live action the other-world nobility of the character as written by Kirby/Lee--and these guys don't even seem to be trying! Kirby's Thor lived in a world that was a little zany, a little Old Gods melancholy, and lots of chivalric restraint. That all seems painfully absent here.
I personally cannot get into scenes of The Mighty Thor roughing up hospital orderlies. Seems like he's been grafted into a Hulk story. All this focus on how Thor comes to earth seems typically Hollywood, the misguided "origin" story (and done like a million others, from BATTLE LA to War of the Worlds to Signs to Hellboy--"Look, signs in the ground! Look, lightning from above! Look, a being sent from another world to hasten/prevent the end of the world!!" to which I say, "yawn.").
Face it, this movie only got the greenlight because they thought throwing a hammer in 3D will look cool.
OK, that's too sour. Because I want to go see it! Ellis and Tom, let's make a date! And anyone else who cares to go! (Jeff, Scotty, Alejandro? you listening??)
Well, Marty the problem is "Your right on this". It looks cool but it is dumbed down from the ACTUAL source material. The WHOLE problem is Hollyweird has this mental disorder of believing people won't buy into something if used as is. They use comments like "IT WOULDN'T BE BELIEVABLE". All the while promoting this as FANTASY. I mean the Frost Giants are NOWHERE near the 20 to 30 feet AS they SHOULD be. I was hoping for MORE of the Shakespeare speak but they went with a LOTRs approach. This whole IDEA that people won't buy it or it would LOOK stupid on screen says it all and they LIMIT the vision by dumbing it down. Isn't what we go to the movies for is to suspend our disbelief and SEE something BIGGER than ourselves. This ongoing mindset that one HAS to make a FANTASY, SC-FI or ACTION picture believable is ABSURD. I want to see the unbelievable and the fantastic. It's OK to buy into 14 foot Smurf people in AVATAR but a 50 foot GALACTUS would be too unbelievable in a movie with a stretch guy, rock guy, flame guy, inviso chick and a sliver dude on a flying surfboard. Yeah, thats believable.
Plus THOR comic has all the trappings of a 1940's costume sword and shield picture. And I like those. SO I SAY TO THEE NAY, BASE HOLLYWOOD VILLAIN LEST I SMITE THEE UPON THOST CRAGGY NOGGIN WITH THE FULL MIGHT OF MOJINIR!!!!
Who has ever translated comic book to screen, straight? It's nigh impossible. Batman straight from comic book to screen looks closer to Adam Ward than it does to Dark Knight. You can't run down the road in a typical Kirby design and not get laughs. Thor having to walk two steps, changing rooms while in full caped glory, would get a laugh. I'm with Marty , CG could allow the Kirby comic to happen. The hammer does look like Kirby's. Proportions, everything. They didn't mess with that.
I agree that a lot of the origin stories don't translate well to the screen... an 8 page explanation or superpowers in a comic can be deadly boring for the first 2/3 of a movie.
I also agree that Thor would make for an interesting totally animated film.
The way I enjoy these films is to accept from the outset that they are never going to capture how I see these heroes in my mind's eye. These are stories that bear some resemblance to the stories I love and may and the heroes may possess some aspects of these characters that I find compelling about the originals, but they are 2 different things. In this way I don't get hung up on the details and whatnot and just go along for ride.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
For the most part I do think it's hard to dress the film super-heroes in brightly colored longjohns and not get laughs.
The one exception seems to be, and has always been, Superman. Even the old George Reeves version is, well, believable.
Maybe it's just that the costume is so iconic that you just accept it because it just CAN'T be changed much. Skin tight pants, red booties, underwear on the outside.
Superman, Santa Claus and Lady Gaga - they can wear whatever they want.
22 comments:
Looks fun to me. Anthony Hopkins as Odin brings to mind Marlon Brando as Jor-El, sending his son to Earth where he becomes its part-human, part-superhuman savior. Great archetypal story.
If the action scenes are cut well and the backstory of Earth friendship making isn't too cutesy, it might make an entertainment.
With that cast and Kenneth Branagh directing, how can you go wrong? Is there anyone more qualified to direct a mythological epic full of faux-Shakesperean dialogue than the star and director of Henry V, Much Ado and Hamlet? Winner I tell you, winner all the way!
There was a secret screening last night on the lot. They were handing out tickets but didn't give any hint of the title. The FX shots weren't done but they reaction seems to be positive.
I'm more in a Rango mood I guess. I'm getting old. I suspend disbelief on talking lizards easier than I do Norse Gods I grew up with.
At first I thought you wrote, "I'm more in a 'Ranjo' mood."
With the movie they seem to be taking the angle that this Thor is the actual (interplanetary? interdimensional?) person that the mythological Thor is based on. Kind of a "Chariots of the Gods" approach.
Remember there was a Carl Barks Scrooge story based on this, where the Ducks meet the extraterrestrials upon whom the gods were based?
And who can forget "Who Morns for Adonis?"
That Barks page is from the story I'm referring to. In the story though, not only do Odin and Thor appear, but Vulcan, whose hammer can turn a bar of iron into a bar of gold. (Barks did know he was mixing mythologies.) But every time Vulcan used his hammer, the gods' planet slipped closer to Earth threatening collision.
I think Vulcan needs to use his hammer on THIS movie, 'cuz to my eyes it looks far from a bar of gold...more like a bar of pooh.
The real comic book Thor is so cool! I can't believe you guys are giving them a pass on this!
Thor was always one of the Marvel heroes I thought best suited for CG animation. They coulda done something GREAT.
Prob here for me is it's very hard to capture in live action the other-world nobility of the character as written by Kirby/Lee--and these guys don't even seem to be trying! Kirby's Thor lived in a world that was a little zany, a little Old Gods melancholy, and lots of chivalric restraint. That all seems painfully absent here.
I personally cannot get into scenes of The Mighty Thor roughing up hospital orderlies. Seems like he's been grafted into a Hulk story. All this focus on how Thor comes to earth seems typically Hollywood, the misguided "origin" story (and done like a million others, from BATTLE LA to War of the Worlds to Signs to Hellboy--"Look, signs in the ground! Look, lightning from above! Look, a being sent from another world to hasten/prevent the end of the world!!" to which I say, "yawn.").
Face it, this movie only got the greenlight because they thought throwing a hammer in 3D will look cool.
OK, that's too sour. Because I want to go see it! Ellis and Tom, let's make a date! And anyone else who cares to go! (Jeff, Scotty, Alejandro? you listening??)
I promise to hold my bile....
Well, Marty the problem is "Your right on this". It looks cool but it is dumbed down from the ACTUAL source material. The WHOLE problem is Hollyweird has this mental disorder of believing people won't buy into something if used as is. They use comments like "IT WOULDN'T BE BELIEVABLE". All the while promoting this as FANTASY. I mean the Frost Giants are NOWHERE near the 20 to 30 feet AS they SHOULD be. I was hoping for MORE of the Shakespeare speak but they went with a LOTRs approach. This whole IDEA that people won't buy it or it would LOOK stupid on screen says it all and they LIMIT the vision by dumbing it down. Isn't what we go to the movies for is to suspend our disbelief and SEE something BIGGER than ourselves. This ongoing mindset that one HAS to make a FANTASY, SC-FI or ACTION picture believable is ABSURD. I want to see the unbelievable and the fantastic. It's OK to buy into 14 foot Smurf people in AVATAR but a 50 foot GALACTUS would be too unbelievable in a movie with a stretch guy, rock guy, flame guy, inviso chick and a sliver dude on a flying surfboard. Yeah, thats believable.
Plus THOR comic has all the trappings of a 1940's costume sword and shield picture. And I like those. SO I SAY TO THEE NAY, BASE HOLLYWOOD VILLAIN LEST I SMITE THEE UPON THOST CRAGGY NOGGIN WITH THE FULL MIGHT OF MOJINIR!!!!
Who has ever translated comic book to screen, straight? It's nigh impossible.
Batman straight from comic book to screen looks closer to Adam Ward than it does to Dark Knight. You can't run down the road in a typical Kirby design and not get laughs. Thor having to walk two steps, changing rooms while in full caped glory, would get a laugh.
I'm with Marty , CG could allow the Kirby comic to happen.
The hammer does look like Kirby's. Proportions, everything. They didn't mess with that.
I agree that a lot of the origin stories don't translate well to the screen... an 8 page explanation or superpowers in a comic can be deadly boring for the first 2/3 of a movie.
I also agree that Thor would make for an interesting totally animated film.
The way I enjoy these films is to accept from the outset that they are never going to capture how I see these heroes in my mind's eye. These are stories that bear some resemblance to the stories I love and may and the heroes may possess some aspects of these characters that I find compelling about the originals, but they are 2 different things. In this way I don't get hung up on the details and whatnot and just go along for ride.
I agree with Ellis, except for the part about Adam West and Burt Ward combining their DNA to create Adam Ward.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
Once you accept the idea, IT WON'T WORK, you set limitations on you imagination and accept failure to believe it. It's like making a film about Greek mythology but you never show the Gods because you decided that it would be TO SILLY to show them. I don't buy it. A closed mind and sense of wonder is why so much garbage gets made today.
Ward Adam Westburt the third, at your service. My card.
Tom- Sue and I just had a good laugh with that one.
For the most part I do think it's hard to dress the film super-heroes in brightly colored longjohns and not get laughs.
The one exception seems to be, and has always been, Superman. Even the old George Reeves version is, well, believable.
Maybe it's just that the costume is so iconic that you just accept it because it just CAN'T be changed much. Skin tight pants, red booties, underwear on the outside.
Superman, Santa Claus and Lady Gaga - they can wear whatever they want.
Lady GaGa would be a good Krypton villain
Ellis! You've missed your calling as a casting director!
Post a Comment