I'm one of those people who never jumps on a bandwagon when it's first taking off. I'll stand around either ignoring it and hoping it goes away or watching it to see what happens. If what happens piques my interest in any way, I do a lot of research about it before I decide to run and catch up with the wagon and hop on. That's the way I've been with this whole Marvel comic-books-turned-to-movies series. I wasn't even interested until all the stuff started coming out about the second Thor movie last November. And after watching a trailer or two, I decided that it looked kinda cool. So, I did what I always do: I looked it up on Wikipedia after it hit theaters to read the storyline. I hadn't realized until then that it was just a small part of a big conglomeration of movies. I had figured that since it was called "Thor 2" that it was a sequel, but other than that I had no idea. I had heard vaguely of Ironman and I remembered when Captain America first came out, but I hadn't realized that they were all connected and interwoven with each other. So I started investigating several of the different main characters, both on Wikipedia and on YouTube. And after doing that research, I came to a couple of conclusions. The most important one was that I really wanted to see "The Avengers". I guess it's the idea of a bunch of heroes all coming together for a common goal that appeals to me the most (I'm currently working on a novel that has a similar theme, just not with superheroes). I also knew that I don't have the time to watch all of the movies that come before it, but a friend had told me that that is really the best way to watch them, in order. So I decided on a compromise: I'd watch the first "Thor" before I watched "The Avengers". Not only would that give me the needed background on the latter's villain (Loki), but out of all the members of the Avengers' cast, Thor is the one I've come to like the most. I guess it's the history buff/old legends lover in me. (Cap is a close second in my favor, but from what I've seen it looks like his first movie could be a bit more graphic since it's set in WWII, which is not one of my favorite periods. Correct me if I'm wrong). So a few nights ago I finally got to watch "Thor". And I enjoyed it. It wasn't as graphic as I had been afraid it would be and the storyline was pretty interesting. Since the movie is pretty well known, I'm going to give my impressions of each main character instead of giving a movie summary.
Thor: When the movie started off, my first thought was "What an immature jerk. He knows he's a hot shot and isn't afraid to let everyone know about it." It was great watching him "grow up" and become a pretty amazing guy. By the end of the movie I was thinking "Where in the world can I find a guy like that? He doesn't need to look like him, just act like him (although the looks would be a bonus)." ;) And I love that his vocabulary is superb, which is very intriguing to this wordsmith wannabe. I also really like the fact that in the movie they don't portray him and his fellow Asgardians as gods but as super-humans from another world (just like Superman) who were seen as god-like by the ignorant Vikings.
Loki: One question: Is he bi-polar or something? At the beginning of the movie, I actually liked him better than Thor. While he was a little jealous of Thor, he truly seemed to care about his brother and wanted to protect him from his own stupid decisions. But after he discovers his real identity, he seems to flip-flop between being a power-hungry, greedy dictator and a wounded son who wants to earn his family's love. He's seriously like two different people. The wounded son one you just want to hug and tell him that he really is loved, but the other one...keep me away from that creep! The one major complaint that I have about the movie is related the Loki: they don't do a good job explaining his shape-shifting skills. If I hadn't known ahead of time that he could do that, I would have been confused at several points during the movie.
Jane: After watching the movie, the cynical side of me was like, "Really? An intelligent woman like that is going to fall in love over the course of a couple of days with a stranger whose sanity she questions?" But then the romantic side of me responded, "Yeah, but that stranger was a pretty buff guy with good looks, a deep, soothing voice with a cool accent, and a flair for chivalry and old-timey honor. I mean, c'mon, wouldn't YOU get weak in the knees if he'd kissed your hand?" The romantic side of me won that argument. You're excused, Jane. You're one smart girl, but you're human, too. I also liked the fact that she has a one-track mind. It made her more believable as a character. :)
Odin: What a guy. What a ruler. What a DAD. Some people think that Thor's banishment in the movie came about because of Odin's temper, but I didn't see it that way. The way I saw it, he was willing to do what his son needed the most to become a better person, even though it ripped their family apart. Wow.
Sif and the Warriors Three: Sif is really the only one of Thor's band of friends that you get to know anything about. What you learn about her is she is one tough girl and that she is obviously in love with Thor. And he probably has no clue (which would be typical of that kind of thing. He didn't help matters any when he touched her face as he told her to retreat during their fight with the fire monster. You could see in her eyes that she was about to swoon). As far as the Warriors Three go, I learned enough about Volstagg from a deleted scene I found on YouTube to make him my favorite of the three. He's just a big ol' teddy bear! (just as long as you don't make him mad).
(Skip forward to 3:15 to see the part with Volstagg).
I'm glad that I watched this movie first. I think it did give me some good background. Be on the lookout for a post on "The Avengers" in the next week or so! :)
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