Movie: Thor (2011)

All the spoilers all the time.  You have been warned!

My Thoughts While Watching:

Again, I will say, I am continually struck by the arrogance of Marvel heroes.

You think me strange. Strange how? I don’t know why but I immediately thought of:

Crossbow….oh yeah, I forgot!  So you are going to just crossbow what could be some rando redneck local? You have not one single No Trespassing sign.

“Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.”  This could apply to the majority of books/movies that capture my attention!

Wait….did they dye his eyebrows.

Simultaneous FORGIVENESS (+) SELF SACRIFICE …. should be every hero’s M.O.

Where da fuq is SHIELD already??

There is a thing I hate in the male-dominated super hero movie world – every one of them seemsto have a specific SuperBoyfriend moment: Superman flies Lois Lane above the city.  Spider-Man hangs upside down as Mary Jane removes his mask enough to kiss him.  Iron Man and Pepper.  Then this movie – “Wanna see the Rainbow Bridge?”  No, bitch. I wanna see equal treatment of heroines with their side boys, giving some sugar to the little man before charging into battle.  <end rant>

Another Ponderance comes to mind (for a later blog) – Why is RED always used to show power?  Capes, flags, suits?

Also, I chuckle to myself while trying to remember actors’ names.  I try to use familiar references to work out names like “The chick who played the waitress?”  OR “Is that Vampire Eric’s dad?”

The end credit – does Loki have power over the old dude?

When I rewatched this movie, it was a binge of ALL MCU (movies) prior to the release of Endgame.  I ranked them as I watched them.  At this point, this was Thor’s ranking:

Iron Man 1

Thor 1

Iron Man 2

The Incredible Hulk

I received some blow-back at the end of my binge when I posted a picture of my rankings list.  I call ’em as I see ’em!

Some Interviews and Extra Video:

IMDB Synopsis: The powerful but arrogant god Thor is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.

Starring:

	Chris Hemsworth	…	Thor
	Natalie Portman	…	Jane Foster
	Tom Hiddleston	…	Loki
	Anthony Hopkins	…	Odin
	Stellan Skarsgård	…	Erik Selvig
	Kat Dennings	…	Darcy Lewis
	Clark Gregg	…	Agent Coulson
	Colm Feore	…	King Laufey
	Idris Elba	…	Heimdall
	Ray Stevenson	…	Volstagg
	Tadanobu Asano	…	Hogun
	Josh Dallas	…	Fandral
	Jaimie Alexander	…	Sif
	Rene Russo	…	Frigga

Director:  

Kenneth Branagh

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My ranking scores –

0-19 Levels of: Ugh

20-39 Levels of: Meh (aka I cannot reach the remote)

40-59 Levels of: I don’t hate it?

60-85 Levels of: That was solid.

86-100 Levels of: I Loved It!

I rank this movie a 47.19 – I didn’t hate it.  I just didn’t think it was the greatest during the binge… 

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Trailer:

Additional Movie Info:

It received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 77% Fresh.  It received a Rotten Tomato audience rating of 76% liking it.  Average Rating: 3.85/5 with a number of User Ratings: 246,987.

Movie Reviews:

• Roger Ebert
• NY Times

Specs:  Release date: 6 May 2011 (USA) / Runtime: 115 minutes / Budget: $150M

IMDB Trivia:

• The final choice for the role of Thor came down to brothers Chris Hemsworth and Liam Hemsworth. Chris found it funny: “We both came all the way over here from Australia and ended up battling against each other.” He, however, bore no ill-will towards Liam, claiming he was rooting for him to get the role.
• When Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Sir Anthony Hopkins (Odin) saw each other in full armor for the first time, Hopkins said, “God, there’s no acting required here, is there?”
• (At around forty-seven minutes) Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) mentions a comrade who got mixed up with S.H.I.E.L.D., whom he described as “a pioneer in gamma radiation”. This alludes to Bruce Banner, whose experiments in gamma radiation mutated him into The Incredible Hulk (2008). A deleted scene also has him mention Hank Pym, from Ant-Man (2015).
• Executive producer Stan Lee claimed he’d always wanted to play Odin, but was happy with Sir Anthony Hopkins’ casting and performance in the role.
• According to director Sir Kenneth Branagh, the closing credits sequence was based on images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and took eighteen months to create.
• (At around twenty-eight minutes) Director Sir Kenneth Branagh asked Sir Anthony Hopkins to improvise his reaction to Thor’s yelling at him in the banishment scene. Hopkins agreed, and when the scene was filmed, many of the cast and crew present were sobbing. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston later said they had to struggle to keep their composure during filming that scene. Hiddleston later complimented Hopkins, to which he said, “Ken’s fantastic, isn’t he?”
• An entire town was constructed in Galisteo, New Mexico, to serve as a fictional location for this movie.
• The artifacts seen in the Asgard weapons vault are of various mystical objects seen in the Marvel comics. They are, in chronological appearance: The Tablet of Life and Time, a slab that can extend one’s lifetime. The Eye of Agamotto, a mystic artifact wielded by supreme sorcerers of Earth. The Warlock’s Eye, an artifact that can control people’s minds. The Eternal Flame, a mystical flame that cannot be extinguished (played a major role in Thor: Ragnarök (2017)). The Casket of Ancient Winters, an enchanted container filled with frosty winds (played a major role in this movie). The Infinity Gauntlet, a glove encrusted with six reality-bending jewels. However, later on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos had started to construct the Infinity Gauntlet, and Doctor Strange (2016) revealed the Eye was being held in Kamar-Taj. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) fixed this inconsistency by having some of the items in the vault be considered as fakes.
• The agent that grabs a bow and arrow when Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is attempting to recover Mjölnir is referred to as Agent Barton. This is Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), also known as the archer Hawkeye.
• “Mjölnir” is ancient Norse for “grinder”.
• (At around one hour and eighteen minutes) When the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents track the Asgardians in search of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), they spot Sif (Jaimie Alexander), Fandral (Josh Dallas), and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), but not Volstagg (Ray Stevenson). A deleted scene has Volstagg knock out the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, having tracked them by their food, and then steal it.
• In Norse mythology, Thor’s nickname was “protector of mankind” (which is apt, considering Thor’s superhero status today). Scandinavians to this day wear Mjölnir-amulets, referred to as “torshammare” (Thor’s Hammers).
• There is a billboard in the town advertising for New Mexico tourism with the slogan “Land of Enchantment – Journey into Mystery”. “Land of Enchantment” is the nickname of New Mexico, “Journey into Mystery” is the title of the Marvel comic book where Thor made his debut (Journey Into Mystery #83).
• (At around thirty-two minutes) The crater that is created by the impact of Thor’s hammer Mjölnir forms the design of Captain America’s shield (a set of concentric rings, with a star-shaped center).
• A Thor cartoon was planned to air in 2010 as a precursor to this movie, but it never came to pass.
• Mel Gibson turned down the role of Odin.
• This is the first movie in the MCU to be released in 3-D.
• Stan Lee cameo at around thirty-six minutes.  Executive producer and creator of Thor in 1962 appeared as the truck driver who attempts to tow Mjölnir out of the crater in which it landed.
• (At around three minutes) The Norwegian village Tønsberg, seen in the flashback, is the same one the Red Skull invades to steal the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
• (At around one hour and twenty-nine minutes) Thor, after learning about Loki’s deception, states that he “would have words” with Loki. This is a famous line Thor said in regards to confronting the Avengers’ villain Ultron: “Ultron, we would have words with thee.”